Lots of Guppy Questions

[Soli]

Hello all!

I'm interested in buying fancy guppies! But first, I have a few questions:

1. Can I keep a school of just male guppies?

2. What is the minimum number of guppies that should be kept together?

3. I've seen a lot of different kinds of guppies on the Petsmart website. Are they all the same subspecies with different color variations, or are they different subspecies?

4. If they're different subspecies, are they still compatible?

5. Can platys, male fancy guppies, and honey gouramis be kept in a community tank? How many of each would fit in a 29 gallon?

6. Can shrimp and guppies live together?

Thanks!

 

[TexasDomer]

Hello all!

I'm interested in buying fancy guppies! But first, I have a few questions:

1. Can I keep a school of just male guppies?

Guppies are not schooling fish. But yes, all males is fine! And recommended so you're not overrun with fry

2. What is the minimum number of guppies that should be kept together?

Since they're not schooling fish, you can keep any number, even just one.

3. I've seen a lot of different kinds of guppies on the Petsmart website. Are they all the same subspecies with different color variations, or are they different subspecies?

Same species, just different color variations. The exceptions would be the guppy/endler hybrids.

4. If they're different subspecies, are they still compatible?

Same species, and all compatible.

5. Can platys, male fancy guppies, and honey gouramis be kept in a community tank? How many of each would fit in a 29 gallon?

Yep! As platies aren't schooling fish, and livebearers tend to be a bit obnoxious and mob-like at feeding time (outcompeting more timid fish like honey gouramis), I would not do that many of each (or not as many as you could have of schooling fish).

6. Can shrimp and guppies live together?
Yes. Guppies may eat baby shrimp if you get dwarf shrimp.

Thanks!

For the 29 gal, what about something like this:

2-5x Honey gourami
3x Male guppies
2x Male platies
10-12x Harlequin rasbora, cherry barbs, or another small, peaceful schooling species
8-10x Cories (all one species) or kuhlis

If you wanted just guppies and platies, you could do something like this:

10-15x Male guppies
8-10x Male platies

 

[Soli]

Thank you so much for the info! But wow, I didn't think that many fish would be able to fit in the 29 gallon! That's a lot more than I expected!

I really like the way guppies look, so what about 12 male guppies, 3 male platies, 5 female honey gourami, snails, and shrimp? I also like neon tetras - are they peaceful/ would they be compatible? If I decide not to get neons, how many more guppies, platies, snails, shrimp, and gourami would fit before it became overstocked?
Also, are female honey gourami yellow like the males?

 

[TexasDomer]

Thank you so much for the info! But wow, I didn't think that many fish would be able to fit in the 29 gallon! That's a lot more than I expected!

I really like the way guppies look, so what about 12 male guppies, 3 male platies, 5 female honey gourami, snails, and shrimp? I also like neon tetras - are they peaceful/ would they be compatible? If I decide not to get neons, how many more guppies, platies, snails, shrimp, and gourami would fit before it became overstocked?
Also, are female honey gourami yellow like the males?

You could replace the harlequin rasbora with the neons in my suggestion above.

For honey gouramis, you can mix males and females without issue. Males and females look very similar.

I would not add so many guppies with the honey gouramis. I would worry the guppies will outcompete them for food and bother them.

 

[Soli]

Gotcha. I'll get fewer guppies and add a small school of neons. Thanks so much for your help!