Is this true?

Jan 9, 2007
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#1
My last attempt at goldfish (don't have any more...lol) The lady at the pet shop said 1 gallon of water per fish. Is that true?

My next question is IF my guppy fry reach adolescence or adulthood, how many guppies can you keep in that 10 gallon tank? I'm asking because I don't have room for a bigger tank at the moment. I promised some of the fry once older to my sister, but if I have all 3 females and save 4 each, that's 12 fry + the 6 we have, overcrowding would be an issue.
 

Nov 14, 2006
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Fishers, IN
www.myspace.com
#2
Can't answer the guppy question as Ive never kept them as for goldfish, I believe the rule of thumb with them is 10G per fish, it's definitely not 1G/fish! Plus you need a ton of filtration as they are very messy!
goldfish are really not meant for bowls or 10G aquariums they need much more room once they start growing, it's good you switched to guppies, those guys stay little! :)
 

Jan 9, 2007
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#5
oh yeah, I decided no more goldfish, they were too hard. That's why I went the guppy route. But I didn't realize how many fry the guppies would have at a time. I guess I thinking they were like dolphins having 1-3 max...lol

I may end up with another 10gallon tank and putting it in my room
 

IDunnoWhy

Superstar Fish
Nov 16, 2006
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Deerfield, WI
#6
I've heard 1 gallon water for every 1 inch of fish (Adult sized, not including fins), But I'm not sure if thats a broad answer for all species. So lets say your guppy is 1.5 inches fully grown (I actually have no idea how big an adult guppy gets, but for math's sake), you could have up to 6-7 in a 10 gallon tank, or so I've been told. I'm sure more people will chime in on this.
 

Jan 9, 2007
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#7
I have the 6 and the african dwarf frog and an algie eater but the algie eater pretty much is on the tank non-stop and the frog is at the botton non-stop so the 6 have plenty of room at the moment. They're not crammed in there.

Is that rule of thumb for room or oxygen factors?
 

Oct 25, 2006
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Coolville, Ohio
#8
I have heard the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule as well. However this does not mean you can have a 10 inch fish in a 10 gallon tank. The rule of thumb is for a number of things, including space, and water quality. This rule can be broken but is usually not a good idea unless you have excellent filtration and frequent water changes. On a side note what kind of Algae Eater is it? Most "Algae Eaters" get quite large so identifying it would help to determine to get rid of it or not.
 

Last edited:
Jan 9, 2007
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#9
I'm not sure the name of it. It's black with a pointed tail and has white spots all over it. Has a few long fins. I bought it in the pet store. I'll look ans see if I can find the name of it. I can't get photos to come out well enough for you to really see anything
 

MissFishy

Superstar Fish
Aug 10, 2006
2,237
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Michigan
#13
Looks like a common pleco from what I can see. Keep in mind that each guppy female can have up to 50 babies a piece, sometimes more. My most recent guppy female dropped over 30 fry. If you have 3 females, and all give birth, you might have upwards of 100 guppy fry on your hands. Time to plan on what you will do with these. Your current 10g is fully stocked in my book. The rule of thumb for goldfish is 20g for the first one and then 10g for each additional one in the same tank.
 

Oct 18, 2006
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Oceanside California
#14
it is a common pleco, will get big. I would trade in for otos or some small 2.5 inch algae eater. Fry... guppies have lots of them, but if you let them go natural in the tank lots will get eaten. So if you want to breed them then you will separate, if you just want the adult fish and a few fry let them go with no seperating and you will get a few here and there that survive. I have 10 gallon with like four guppies, 1 female and 3 males. 1 CAE and a butt load of fry, was like 25 then some died, then female birthed again, now i lost count but i don't worry bout the amount of fish in tank as long as i get some to mature i am doing it right. started with 25 fry down to about 18-20 now so not to bad.
 

MissFishy

Superstar Fish
Aug 10, 2006
2,237
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Michigan
#16
Depends on what kind of care you give them. All 30 of my fry have survived, but I've taken very good care of them. If you leave them all in the main tank, some will get eaten, hard to say how many.
 

Fuzz16

Superstar Fish
Oct 20, 2006
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Wellsville, KS
#18
ya id say if you dont want fry get something that eats them. sadly, all my beautiful platy fry have a life span of about an hour because of the discus. *sniffles*
but ive actually housed guppies, of all sizes, in a 10g for about a month or two while setting up new tanks. then they all got ich and died, my bad i know. but there were like 15 of them. mainly small. given to me by a neighbor so he didnt have to flush them.

your pleco will also eat the fry maybe.