How many guppies??

[mixixe]

How many guppies would u guys put in a 33 gallon tank? I think my tank is overstocked, but the water parameters are fine. I dont' even know how much I have in there after I got a bunch from Melody :)

[Melody]

Weeeellll it depends....lol....store Guppies are often weaker and need pristine conditions, which are difficult to achieve when the conditions are crowded. You also have to take into consideration if the tank is planted, your experience level, etc. For all intents and purposes, you can go by the one inch of fish/gallon rule for small bodied fish like Guppies, who aren't big waste producers. As long as you're big on maintenance and the Guppies are healthy to begin with, you should be fine. The larger the tank, the more you can push your limits, and for a Guppy tank 33G's is a decent size. They're still prone to disease more than other fish I find, so crowding then could backfire on you if the situation comes up.

In short, I see no reason why you couldn't have 30 Guppies in a 33G with plants and excellent maintenance practices. That's my opinion anyways :D .

People may look down upon the lowly mutt Guppy, but one of the prettiest tanks I've ever seen was a heavily planted tank full of only Guppies. :smile:

[mixixe]

well my tank is heavily planted :) I don't think I have quite 30 guppies. I just feel guilty looking at it now but it does look pretty. I like those snakeskins!

[Melody]

Most of the Snakes I can't take credit for - they're the accomplishment of Mr. & Mrs. BC_Kron & I agree, they are beauties!

Sometimes a tank just looks too full when you add a bunch of fish at once, plus the plants take up swimming space so it looks like there are more in there. They'll fill it with babies very quickly though. :wideeyed:

[mixixe]

then I guess I can trade guppies for plants!

[mykiss]

oooppppsss..... well, in my planted 33g I must of had over 100 guppies in there! I couldn't stop them from reproducing.

[CACAdmin]

well my tank is heavily planted :) I don't think I have quite 30 guppies. I just feel guilty looking at it now but it does look pretty. I like those snakeskins!

Time to get out that nifty new camera again! ;)

[Melody]

oooppppsss..... well, in my planted 33g I must of had over 100 guppies in there! I couldn't stop them from reproducing.

We're not talking about what WE do, Mr. Mykiss, because if I admitted that, they'd fire me....lol. I think we can go back to the 'experience level' thing for overstocking :yes: .

That tank must have been breathtaking....

You need to post pic's! You go do that, I'll wait here.

[BC_Kron]

Ahhh...good to hear someone is enjoying the snakeskins....most of those colors and mottled look came just from breeding them. I don't think I ever bought one w/the snakeskin look....How many fish were in that bucket, Melody? Cuz every one of those, (including the swordtails), were in a 30-33g tank for the last little while, plus I kept 3 males & 6 or so females, not to mention all the fry that were ALWAYS multiplying!!!! As Melody has said experience helps too, keep a keen eye on them...loss of color & fin nipping were heplful indicators for me...guppies aren't (to my experience) big on nipping, until cramped....

Good luck, Jackie

[Melody]

There was approximately 242 fish in that bucket.... ok that could be a slight exageration.;)

I think its more tail degeneration than nipping when they're crowded, or at least in my tanks. Those tails always show their tank conditions, but that's not what it looked like on yours so you must have been doing ok:smile: . Swordtail females will nip the Guppies because they get a tad too amorous and no means no...lol. Bettas will attack Guppy tails because the flashy flowing fins remind them of other male Bettas - that could have been what you were seeing. There was no finrot or thinning there whatsoever so it was definitly an outside factor, in my opinion.

The Snakeskin genes appear to be dominant (duh Melody...lol). You must have had a female who was hit by one in the store or something. The cool thing is you have at least three different snake types there - Lace, Leopard and Mosaic for starters.

It worked out perfectly for Ms. Mixixe because we were planning on the trade so she could get some fresh Guppy blood. Then you contacted me so she waited and got an even more diverse gene pool :D .

[mixixe]

Now I want more too!

[Melody]

I still have too many males and you're welcome to them :smile: .

[mixixe]

lol... yay! I can probably pick some more plants out of my tank as they are a mess!

[Melody]

No worries. Of course, we would have to decide this the day after I dumped them into a 90G which is next to impossible for me to catch anything in :laugh: , but I'm sure I'll get my hands on some.

[mixixe]

hmm catching fish is so much fun though! ;)

I will pm you soon :)