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Hello and thanks! Here's my sad (but humorous) story:
I inherited my Mom's small 2.5 gallon tank with one 2-year old Betta fish. After a year, the betta passed away (this was just about 4 months ago). So I decided to play around and I put a male and female guppy in the 2.5 gallon tank just for fun (oh and 2 mystery snails)..... I knew they'd have babies and they'd probably get eaten but it would be fun to watch them swim around and have little babies. Well.... after about 2 weeks, the obsession began!
The female guppy started getting Ich... which I researched and "discovered" was probably stress-induced Ich. Oh no... I have can't just let that little $1.00 fish feel that way! So I bought a 5 gallon tank and 2 more females (and 2 little shrimp too!). Shortly thereafter, the male guppy started showing some spots. So I treated the tank with Ich medicine from Petco. Good thing I had the 2.5 gallon tank to house the invertebrates while the 5 gallon tank got treated. Whew! A few days later, all is good and I put the snails and shrimp back in the 5 gallon tank with the family of 4 lovely guppies. The male was having quite the good time and the females talked about him alot.. and none of it was good.
Fast forward a few weeks later and one of the females is looking like she's gonna have those babies any minute! Cool!!!! but... now I'm starting to feel a little guilty because those babies are going to be eaten nearly immediately.... and I'm not even giving them even a small chance! I can't do that.... so I run out to Petco at the last minute and buy up some floating stuff and live plants so at least the babies have an opportunity to survive. That night, here comes the first baby fry and I got to see it happen! That was cool! I counted 5 little ones before I went to bed. Oh the obsession continues!
And then the realization.... yeah, a 5 gallon tank ain't gonna cut it and I'm not gonna be able to sit here and watch baby fry get eaten constantly. So, yes... I went and bought a bigger tank. A 10 gallon maybe?? who was I kidding.... last week, I bought a 20 gallon tank! Since my first little frys came, the other 2 females have had babies but I didn't actually get to see them get born like that first one. And the male guppy... well, I'm pretty sure the females secretly killed him. He started acting a bit sick or weird.... and the next thing I saw was one of the mystery snails eating the dead male guppy body. He was gone within 48 hours of him acting a bit sick.
Currently, I have 3 female guppies, 2 mystery snails, 1 cherry shrimp and 7 baby guppy fry in a 5 gallon tank. My 20 gallon tank has been water cycling for almost 2 weeks. I've added some spider plant babies and wandering jew clippings along the top to help establish some live plants growing at the top. I'm just playing with that idea. I bought 5 neon tetras to put in the tank just 2 days ago, but tested the water just before I added them and (OH NO!!) discovered the ammonia was still between 1ppm and maybe 2ppm (almost)..... so apparently one week was not long enough to cycle the 20 gallon tank. So those 5 neon tetras got dumped in the 2.5 gallon tank with the guppies, snails, and little single shrimp. They all look happy and healthy right now... every once in a while they chase one another but nothing that seems like they are stressed out. This obviously cannot last much longer. God willing, this tank will get finished cycling by Sunday night, then I can move the tetras and snails to the 20 gallon tank. I was planning on moving any guppy fry/babies that turn out to be males to the 20 gallon tank too. My original 2.5 gallon tank is now housing my grandson's betta fish because apparently this fish obsession is a catching disease and I've passed it to him. LOL
Glad to have found this forum! I've learned a ton of stuff just reading through the information. I decided to join it today. I am seriously obsessed now. LOL
I inherited my Mom's small 2.5 gallon tank with one 2-year old Betta fish. After a year, the betta passed away (this was just about 4 months ago). So I decided to play around and I put a male and female guppy in the 2.5 gallon tank just for fun (oh and 2 mystery snails)..... I knew they'd have babies and they'd probably get eaten but it would be fun to watch them swim around and have little babies. Well.... after about 2 weeks, the obsession began!
The female guppy started getting Ich... which I researched and "discovered" was probably stress-induced Ich. Oh no... I have can't just let that little $1.00 fish feel that way! So I bought a 5 gallon tank and 2 more females (and 2 little shrimp too!). Shortly thereafter, the male guppy started showing some spots. So I treated the tank with Ich medicine from Petco. Good thing I had the 2.5 gallon tank to house the invertebrates while the 5 gallon tank got treated. Whew! A few days later, all is good and I put the snails and shrimp back in the 5 gallon tank with the family of 4 lovely guppies. The male was having quite the good time and the females talked about him alot.. and none of it was good.
Fast forward a few weeks later and one of the females is looking like she's gonna have those babies any minute! Cool!!!! but... now I'm starting to feel a little guilty because those babies are going to be eaten nearly immediately.... and I'm not even giving them even a small chance! I can't do that.... so I run out to Petco at the last minute and buy up some floating stuff and live plants so at least the babies have an opportunity to survive. That night, here comes the first baby fry and I got to see it happen! That was cool! I counted 5 little ones before I went to bed. Oh the obsession continues!
And then the realization.... yeah, a 5 gallon tank ain't gonna cut it and I'm not gonna be able to sit here and watch baby fry get eaten constantly. So, yes... I went and bought a bigger tank. A 10 gallon maybe?? who was I kidding.... last week, I bought a 20 gallon tank! Since my first little frys came, the other 2 females have had babies but I didn't actually get to see them get born like that first one. And the male guppy... well, I'm pretty sure the females secretly killed him. He started acting a bit sick or weird.... and the next thing I saw was one of the mystery snails eating the dead male guppy body. He was gone within 48 hours of him acting a bit sick.
Currently, I have 3 female guppies, 2 mystery snails, 1 cherry shrimp and 7 baby guppy fry in a 5 gallon tank. My 20 gallon tank has been water cycling for almost 2 weeks. I've added some spider plant babies and wandering jew clippings along the top to help establish some live plants growing at the top. I'm just playing with that idea. I bought 5 neon tetras to put in the tank just 2 days ago, but tested the water just before I added them and (OH NO!!) discovered the ammonia was still between 1ppm and maybe 2ppm (almost)..... so apparently one week was not long enough to cycle the 20 gallon tank. So those 5 neon tetras got dumped in the 2.5 gallon tank with the guppies, snails, and little single shrimp. They all look happy and healthy right now... every once in a while they chase one another but nothing that seems like they are stressed out. This obviously cannot last much longer. God willing, this tank will get finished cycling by Sunday night, then I can move the tetras and snails to the 20 gallon tank. I was planning on moving any guppy fry/babies that turn out to be males to the 20 gallon tank too. My original 2.5 gallon tank is now housing my grandson's betta fish because apparently this fish obsession is a catching disease and I've passed it to him. LOL
Glad to have found this forum! I've learned a ton of stuff just reading through the information. I decided to join it today. I am seriously obsessed now. LOL
