20 Gallon Tank Thoughts on keeping guppies

Sorry this might seem very basic question, considering guppies are one of the most common in the hobby. I trust the consensus here so much that I thought I'll ask some opinions from experienced guppy owners

I have 2 handsome male guppies in a 20g. I'm now considering getting a few females for them looking at how bored they seem (I know its a human take but I suppose they experience something similar). For most of these guys feeding and sexy time would be the only fun things to do I d imagine. But I do worry about the population boom. Its not practical for me to give away or sell the fries. I only have two display tanks. Am I overestimating the population explosion? How soon am I likely to see a tank full of guppies? Would there be die offs among juveniles? (Its a heavily planted tank so I do think frys will survive).. i also heard males dont live long so the population can't explode as I think. Any tips or callouts or suggestions would be a massive help in making up my mind on this.

 

If you got females then I would try getting 6 bloodfin tetras to help eat the fry. They’re fast moving fish and should help with population control. However, if you can’t give away or sell any fry then unless you are willing to net some out and use them as feeders I wouldn’t recommend getting females. I would get some more males instead. A group of 6 would be a decent sized group.

 

I love guppies! My advice is to have some other fish in the tank with the guppies. I have a mix of males and females with Honey Gouramis and they eat some of the fry too. You can also use the fry to feed the other fish in the other tank- my betta loves the little snacks. What size is the other tank and what do you have in it?
If you get females, I would get 4 females- better to have 2f to 1m so the female isn't exhausted by being chased around all the time.
As for plants, do you have floating plants? The fry hang near the top in my floaters roots so that's how some of them survive. If you don't have floaters there's more of a risk they will get eaten.

*Edit: Sometimes all male guppy tanks work, but they can get aggressive with each other.

 

Guppies are amazing! I do believe they have a good personality - I've got 3 toegther from a horribly run fish store with the hope of bring them back to good health. I've treated them with Paraguard and Aqua Salt for 2 weeks. During this time, the most good looking one with a purple body and pinkish hues died. He would rest near the filter for an hour so everyday - wherever he rested, the other two would swim beside him. I've never seen this behaviour. And the day he died, the other two (who are usually active) were extremely lethargic and would settle into the bottom of the tank. In fact that's how I realised the purple one died.
Now that they are back to health - they are back to their energetic selves but it seems a lonely place for them... or I would like to reward them with some ladies' time!
I've already got 7 ember tetras, they are quick but not sure if they would eat the frys looking at their sizes. Kattiq: I like your idea of honey gouramis (I always wanted a couple) who can keep the fry population in check.
My other tank is 10 gallon - i could move my embers there and turn this 20 into a Guppy - honey gourami Harlem. Thank you for the wonderful suggestions!

btw, I do hope one of my guys is a guppy (he looked different and had a sword-shaped tale!). Frankly I picked him because he had dark spots on him (possibly worms) which now seem gone. Here are some pics (Sorry about the average quality). In the second pic, you can see my Orange guppy photobombing.

 

Perfect! They both could possibly have a little endler mix in them too. I have a few like that as well!
And if you did do HGs you could probably do a trio 1m to 2f. I LOVE them, especially in a social group- they are so much more dynamic and display more natural behaviors.
I have several videos of my HGs chasing around the fry in the tank. My numbers stay pretty under control thanks to the other fish in there. I could have a mom pop out 10 fry and only have 3 or so left in the morning. I have plenty of fry right now but it's only because my frogbit went crazy and they had a ton of hiding places.
I think it would be a good idea to move the tetras! They are smaller than guppies so they probably won't even be interested in eating the fry.

 

Thank you! This has solved my problem! Well almost. Will get some ladies for my guppoes. And for honeys, sexing might be a challenge at the fish store (They cant tell). Main goal, of course is to avoid getting two males - dont mind other 2 combos. Will move embers as soon as the honeys arrive (next week).
Last Q. My 10 g is an open top, but getting some red root floaters for some cover. Do you think adding a betta there would be a bad idea? (She/he will certainly have the live food with the frys). Thank you again, this is why I love posting here!

 

The blue one is a japan blue lowersword guppy. It's not an endler. Japan blues are guppies and no endler itself. Commercial trade labeled them as being endlers but they're guppies. But there are japan blue hybrids (both guppy & endler blood) on the market as well.
The blonde red one is a commercial strain. It's blonde based flamingo guppy with zebrinus pattern (those vertical stripes). It's a common fancy guppy.

 

Thank you for the ID. I'm positive it's a Japan Neon Endler Guppy hybrid from the search images. They are beautiful, though I am not a fan of these hybrid and cross breeding practices.

 

Thank you! This has solved my problem! Well almost. Will get some ladies for my guppoes. And for honeys, sexing might be a challenge at the fish store (They cant tell). Main goal, of course is to avoid getting two males - dont mind other 2 combos. Will move embers as soon as the honeys arrive (next week).
Last Q. My 10 g is an open top, but getting some red root floaters for some cover. Do you think adding a betta there would be a bad idea? (She/he will certainly have the live food with the frys). Thank you again, this is why I love posting here!

Male HGs are smaller, slimmer, and way more colorful than the females. The ladies are bigger and paler in comparison.

Female

Male

 

Both of them look gorgeous! Thank you.

 

Sorry this might seem very basic question, considering guppies are one of the most common in the hobby. I trust the consensus here so much that I thought I'll ask some opinions from experienced guppy owners

I have 2 handsome male guppies in a 20g. I'm now considering getting a few females for them looking at how bored they seem (I know its a human take but I suppose they experience something similar). For most of these guys feeding and sexy time would be the only fun things to do I d imagine. But I do worry about the population boom. Its not practical for me to give away or sell the fries. I only have two display tanks. Am I overestimating the population explosion? How soon am I likely to see a tank full of guppies? Would there be die offs among juveniles? (Its a heavily planted tank so I do think frys will survive).. i also heard males dont live long so the population can't explode as I think. Any tips or callouts or suggestions would be a massive help in making up my mind on this.

I'm sort of in a similar situation as you, although I already had the population explosion... I think I am almost to the point that I need to give a lot of them away to a lfs...