How many guppies does it take...

[ishar]

I was just inquiring about how many guppies one could keep in a 20GH tank. My tank is planted, and other inhabitants include 5 neon tetras and one amano shrimp. I wonder because the fry are beginning to survive and thrive, so I am wondering what a limit should be before I start taking fish to my LFS (I will obviously take the females ).

I do a 50% wc every week, check amo, trite and trate lvls roughly every 3 days or so, and am very willing and able to do water changes more often than that. What do you think?

 

[MissFishy]

You will generally be able to keep fewer fish in a 20gh, rather than a 20gw since the wide tank has a larger footprint and surface area. However, a 20gh is a decent size. With the 5 neons in there, you should be able to keep perhaps up to 10 adult guppies in there. Provided that you are willing to keep up on the water changes. Keep in mind that water changes get old very quickly, so do not overload the tank. Also keep in mind that all the fry will be adding to the bio load, so include perhaps 2-3 fry = 1 adult guppy in terms of waste.

I'm sure there will be people that will tell you that you can squeeze in more than this...but remember that smaller tanks will stunt the growth of the fry. Also, if you raise the males and females together, they will both be smaller and perhaps less colorful.

 

[watson]

i agree with miss fishy about the ten adults. you may want to bring more back and get some other varieties of fish so you don't just have the tetras, shrimp, and guppies. guppies don't school so you don't need at least five. may i recommend a few loaches...i have two angelicus botia loaches and they are great. you may want to look up the size for each loach because they vary