New Mysterious Guppies

Okay. Here we go (for those of you who don't know me... )
Three months ago I got a fishtank. I'm fully addicted! I bought 3 platys to start, 2 died. I bought 2 balloon mollies and one died, and the last platy died. Now, three months later, I test my tank with an API test kit.. and it still hasn't cycled. Strange I know.

SO! I came home yesterday, (I live with my family during the summers) and my mom told me she has been feeding Pinto (my molly) to make him "happy" because he is depressed living in a 10 gallon tank by himself. I have been feeding him also! I wanted to wait to buy more fish until I knew the water was set... however... I woke up today and in my tank, there are 9 fancy tail guppies in there with my molly! Apparently.. one of my little brothers friend told my mother that he needed to get rid of some fish and she said "sure! Amanda would love them!" and she put them in the tank without me.

I have to have a talk with her about not touching the tank first off... but now, I have all sorts of problems! Pinto is holding his own but there are just so many of them! They are all little enough (for the time being) that the tank is only really at it's limit, not quiet overstocked yet... until they grow up and get some baby makin' going on!

Can guppies survive in a bowl without a filter? In the long run, I only want to keep 2 of these guppies in my 10 gal tank. My neighbor has a son who comes over to see my tank ALL the time. I was thinking about giving him a bowl with 2 in them but I don't want to set him up for disappointment and have them die since I really don't know anything about guppy care. **sigh** help?

 

guppies like any other fish needs a filter and because they are tropical they need a heater too. Just to let you know as well if you keep some of them keep at least 3 of them and if you can 2 females for every 1 male. They will be better off with 3 of them in a group.

Gwenz

 

gwenz is right, a group of 3 helps establish a pecking order that usually doesn't leave 1 fish always picked on. 3 males would ensure no fry. Guppies need filtration and aeration and 2 in a bowl would probably give them 2 or 3 weeks.. they don't tend to be the hardiest of livebearers.

 

Wow! good luck with all of your issues. I know what it's like to have other people "helping" with the fish. My wife's brother took care of our pets while we were on vacation, and he fed the fish way too much.
As far as the guppies go, I agree with everything that's been said here.
If I was in your situation, I would enlist my mom's help in getting a new tank for the guppies, but I've got a good relationship with my mom, and she loves animals and hates when they are mistreated.

 

**sigh** Okay. So giving them to a neighbor isn't a good idea unless I buy them a small tank with a heater and a filter. Can any fish suvive without them? It seems like I see Bettas everywhere in bowls.

I can barely see how many I have, they are so jumpy and fast, nevermind try and sex them. Is there an easy way to see which are male and which are female?

Arg. What about taking them to a LFS if I couldn't find anyone to take some? Would they take them?

By the way, I thought having all these fish would help speed up the cycle process. So far, just high ammonia, no nitrites or nitrates.

 

While bettas can survive in bowls without heating/filtration, they can't thrive. They will die long before their time, will be lethargic, and won't show their true colors (I mean that literally, they are much brighter when cared for properly). However, because they can survive for awhile, fish stores use that to sell them to people who don't want to buy the whole setup.
Goldfish can survive without a heater (in fact, they are coldwater fish), but still need some sort of filtration.
More colorful usually means male in guppies.
LFS could very well be willing to take them.
It probably is speeding things up a bit, but without using BioSpira or whatever, it still takes time for the bacteria to multiply.
Good luck again.

 

Hate to be the nay sayer here, but my guppies thrive with no human made filtration.
They are, however, kept stocked at a low level and are in heavily planted tanks.
As well, they receive 50% weekly water changes.

 

Hate to be the nay sayer here, but my guppies thrive with no human made filtration.
They are, however, kept stocked at a low level and are in heavily planted tanks.
As well, they receive 50% weekly water changes.

but have they received their fish alien DNA or not?

 

Hate to be the nay sayer here, but my guppies thrive with no human made filtration.
They are, however, kept stocked at a low level and are in heavily planted tanks.
As well, they receive 50% weekly water changes.

You have succeeded at something that I have failed at, a low-tech tank.
I tried setting my betta tank up as a planted tank, but I ended up killing off most of the plants with too much light.

 

I tried setting my betta tank up as a planted tank, but I ended up killing off most of the plants with too much light.

we killed off the live plants in the mahachaI betta tank with too little light.. can't seem to win with live plants, but these real good silk plants that we've started getting from DFS are great.

 

lol Little update (and I mean little)...

I came home last night and went over to look at the tank before I shut off the light. Down in the very front in between the gravel and the glass was a little fry! Not a newborn, not born since I had them... But I asked my brother and I guess the kid that "Gave" me all of these fish also gave me 2 fry! I can't be sure that they are both alive. I've seached all day but I can't find them, however, there are tons of places to hide. It was so little! A 3cm fish! ;D

Once I give away 6 of the guppies... I want to add a last fish. I want something that will go well with the molly and guppies... but I want something that might stand out from them also. Any suggestions?

 

Hmm.. you need a peaceful fish that's happy by itself.. and probably small if I remember your tank size and the space used by the livebearers. A few cherry shrimp might be a good idea or there's a type of loach that is small and ok by itself (I forget the name but you could hopefully get it googling or from another member.)

 

hmmm.... sounds good.

Question: I have no live plants. When I bought my balloon mollys, the LFS told me they live better without live plants. However, I get a lot of algae. Could an oto live happily as long as I feed it other sources of food? ;D I think they're adorable!

 

hmmm.... sounds good.

Question: I have no live plants. When I bought my balloon mollys, the LFS told me they live better without live plants. However, I get a lot of algae. Could an oto live happily as long as I feed it other sources of food? ;D I think they're adorable!

Yes! An otto can live on the algae alone! You would only need to feed it if it didn't have a full tummt all the time, and my 2 ottos that live with 2 mollys in a 10 gallon have plenty of algae to feed them all the time

--R

 

Where you at?? I'll take some of them guppies off your hands, then maybe my 2 guppies will stop schooling with my neons!!!

 

Boston, MA. You?

 

FL....kinda a long drive!!!! Don't think they would make it.....

 

hahaha OR! And this is just brainstorming here... I could just release them, give them your address and hope they make it to you!

 

There we go, you can release them in the atlantic, hope they don't get eatin before they get here!!!