Cosmi wrote:Hello everyone! I'm moving into a dorm in about a month and would like to get some guppies/tetras!
Any pointers for owning guppies/tetras? Do guppies/tetras tend to do well as tank mates? How many would you recommend putting in 5 gallons, 4 gallons, or 3-gallon tank? As a note, I most likely will get a 5-gallon tank; I want the fish to have as much room as possible!
Most importantly, does anyone have any sites with some cheapish tanks or know a place where I can get a decently priced 5gal or less tank? I've looked at stores like PetCo and their tanks really don't have great ratings. The aquarium store I went to also had tanks, but their selection seemed to be very similar to PetCo, so I'm losing some hope.
I don't know much about fish, so I would also like to ask about tank maintenance! I heard that fish need a certain pH and bacteria in the water, so could someone explain that to me?
I'm sorry for all the questions everyone! I'd like to keep the new fish I get happy and healthy for as long as I can!
EDIT: Here are some tanks I've thought about buying! Anyone know if they would be okay for the fish I'm getting?
5-gal tank, most wanted. The only problem is that I might want a loach down the road and someone said their loach was able to fit through the filter slots.
3 gal The second tank I've looked at! It's okay, but it's very similar to the first and smaller.
3.5 gal. Seems okay, but I would rather have a 5 gal tank.
Unfortunately 5 gallons isn't really big enough for any of the fish you want. 3 gallons is definitely too small and isn't recommended for any fish. You could get some cool shrimp and snails though.
Tetras are really active, need to be in groups and need lots of horizontal space to swim. It's generally recommended that they have at least 20 gallons depending on the species. You can get away with 10-15 if you get a smaller type.
Guppies are similar. You could get away with maybe 3 males in a 5 gallon but you might have issues with bullying. You can't get females in a tank that small as you'll most likely end up with loads of fish forever, guppies breed very easily.
If the biggest tank you can get is 5 gallons it's a great size for a betta c: Or if you want multiple fish you could try endler's livebearers which are very similar to guppies just smaller. Or have a read through this for more stocking ideas: http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/Sto ... allon_Tank
If you can get a bigger tank we'd recommend 20 gallons. You have so many options with a tank that size and could definitely get a nice big school of both guppies and tetras and maybe even some loaches depending on the kind you want c: Places like petco and petsmart often do dollar per gallon sales on fish tanks so you could maybe wait for one of those and pick up a bigger tank if that was an option.
Keep in mind that even though it sounds backwards, bigger tanks are easier to look after. A larger volume of water is more stable and forgiving of mistakes than a smaller one.
You need to cycle a tank before you put any fish in it. This is called fishless cycling. Fish produce ammonia which is bad, luckily bacteria grow that eventually turn ammonia into nitrite (also bad) and then nitrate which is much less harmful and removed with water changes and/or live plants. You cycle a tank by adding a source of ammonia and a place for bacteria to live (your filter) and waiting for the bacteria to do their thing. There's a handy guide here with an ammonia calculator at the bottom: https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_ ... rticle.htm or search for fishless cycling and loads of things pop up.
pH isn't too important for hardy fish so we wouldn't worry about it too much. It's more important that your pH is stable rather than exactly right so as long as you're testing it occasionally you should be fine. Have a look at the API freshwater master test kit, it includes tests for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate which is pretty much all you need for cycling and maintenance. It's a bit expensive but accurate and lasts for ages, we use ours on two tanks and have had it for over a year.
But as said it's maybe few scales large bold spot basically. I may have hit the tank with bit too much CO2, so I did turn that sort of off, but as said no other fish is showing any symptoms of there not being enough oxygen. Either way did a water change for now and hopefully he perks up. I'd hate to loose yet another center piece fish, even though he's super shy and timid he's also stunning.
I really hate this part of fish keeping where fish just drop dead seemingly without a reason. And here I thought I was finally having a good streak with the fish and had just started to get the algae situation under control as well... -_-
