|  |  | 
November 14th, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| ok, I need to own up....
....I'm an idiot! After the loss of one of my guppy boys last week, I went to my LFS to replace him. There were no male guppies, so I decided to get 2 girls instead. Then I fell in love with some tiny neons (they must be young i think) and bought 6 of them too. And guess what? I'm overstocked again. What a moron! I really do know better, I don't know why I keep doing this stuff. Needless to say, my guppy boy thinks all his christmases have come at once with his 2 new girlfriends. Everybody else is very happy and settled, and I'm being very particular about my water changes. Water parameters are staying constant and are good. I LOVE my neons. Should I try to get rid of my guppies? And before anyone suggests that I get another tank (Shawnie), it's truly just not within my budget at the moment.....Aghhhhhh! what do I do? 
hehe - forgot to mention my tank is 11-12g
Last edited by scatty; November 15th, 2009 at 02:46 AM.
| 
| | |
November 15th, 2009
|
| | Moderator
| Hello Scatty. I would suggest that you keep up on your water changes and check your readings and go from there. Too, if you have room to place more bio media in your filter or hidden in your tank somewhere this will help to prevent ammonia issues as well. The more surface area you have for bacteria colonies the better off your tank and fish will be. If you have something Terracotta (pots or ornaments) that you can place in the tank it will collect a lot of good bacteria since it's also porous.
Ken | |
| | |
November 15th, 2009
|
| | Moderator
| I agree with Ken. Keep a close eye on your water parameters, keep up with your water changes, add some more space for the beneficial bacteria to grow, and see what happens. If your tank can handle the bio-load and you keep a close eye on things, that's the best indicator on how overstocked you truly are.
You should also keep an eye on how your fish are acting. If they're getting plenty of exercise and there is no aggression issues, and your tank can handle the bio-load, I'd keep the guppies. However, you will need to think about the fry that will be coming and finding a home for them if they survive.
Good Luck and please keep us posted  | |
| | |
November 15th, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| umm...I was kinda thinking about feeding the fry to my betta? I found a good home for the guppy family today, but I am kind of attached to them, so I haven't yet decided what to do, but If I need to, I have something sorted for them. I have a pretty big piece of driftwood (well, knotted and gnarled, loads of SA) in the tank, and I suspect that could be helping with surface area for bacteria - is that likely to be the case?
Honestly, I know there's probably too many fish in there, but they are all very active and happy-looking, so I thank you Ken and BB for your wonderful advice, maybe we'll cope after all. Can anybody tell me what kind of waste-producers these fish are? I suspect the corys may be up there, and the neons are tiny, so prob low? I'm guessing, but it would be nice to actually know.  | |
| | |
November 16th, 2009
|
| | Moderator
| Good morning Scatty. I think the fish you have listed are all pretty much low waste producers. Too, I think the driftwood adds a lot of surface area for good bacteria.
Have a good day today!
Ken | |
| | |
November 16th, 2009
|
| | Moderator
| Quote:
Originally Posted by scatty  umm...I was kinda thinking about feeding the fry to my betta? I found a good home for the guppy family today, but I am kind of attached to them, so I haven't yet decided what to do, but If I need to, I have something sorted for them. I have a pretty big piece of driftwood (well, knotted and gnarled, loads of SA) in the tank, and I suspect that could be helping with surface area for bacteria - is that likely to be the case?
Honestly, I know there's probably too many fish in there, but they are all very active and happy-looking, so I thank you Ken and BB for your wonderful advice, maybe we'll cope after all. Can anybody tell me what kind of waste-producers these fish are? I suspect the corys may be up there, and the neons are tiny, so prob low? I'm guessing, but it would be nice to actually know. | I'm sure your betta would LOVE guppy fry  I know my JD's do.
I agree with Ken. They're all pretty low waste producers, so I don't think you'll have a problem Keep us posted on their progress  | |
| | |
November 23rd, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| Update time...One of the guppy girls dropped her first fry and not long after dad started getting aggressive with the other fish. I decided to give the 3 guppies to my friend as I couldn't stand watching my peaceful tank turn nasty. I caught the 2 fry i could see and fed them to my betta....well, put them in his tank and watched him unsuccessfully try to catch them. It was quite funny, don't know what I was thinking, but he didnt have a hope, and lay on the bottom staring at the plant one had escaped into for ages. He's very cute my betta boy. Anyway, later i discover another 2 guppy fry in my tank and they are just so cute, cruising around with all the other peaceful fishies like they own the tank. I'm considering keeping them....that is until zach caught them and fed them to the betta last night while I was at work. Ah, it's a circus here... | |
| | | |
