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I have a five gallon hex that houses two guppies, but I'm going to buy a third soon. I'm confident that the guppies will be happy in this situation. (They're happy in trios, right? And I have good filtration.) I think I would like to purchase an apple snail (or other type of snail?) for the aquarium but don't know much about how that would affect stocking. One website says I would need 2.5 gallons per snail. Since my tank will be fully stocked, would adding a snail cause it to be overstocked? Would it be better to add a snail and just keep the two guppies, not getting a third? Would it be better to not get a snail at all, and a third guppy? Or is two guppies fully stocked? I really think I could add something else. What do you all think?

Applesnails can get quite large and are a bit messy. Usually one of the smaller applesnail species should be considered equivalent to a midsized tetra. A guppy while it would require more swimming space would probably add less bioload. I know others have done it but I probably wouldn't put an applesnail in a 5g longterm along with fish. I've grown some out in small tanks but an adult sized snail looks a bit large in such a small tank. The larger applesnails wouldn't even physically fit in that tank. You can find info on identifying the type of applesnail a store is selling and care info at: http://www.applesnail.net/

If you really want inverts you could get shrimp. They add alot less to the bioload and guppies won't bother shrimp. You could easily add around 5 cherry shrimp or ghost shrimp. Otherwise you'd probably be better off sticking with just the guppies.

The shrimp would probably be good if they could truly live in freshwater. My friend has had bad experiences because shrimp that were sold as freshwater shrimp could have thrived in brackish water, but didn't do so well without the salt. Are the guppies fine in just a pair? I will definitely look into getting some shrimp. Thanks!

I believe that you could get a third guppy and a blue or black mystery snail. The ones I have have been pretty small for a while now. Or if you really dig the shrimp, they are a good alternative to a snail. Personally, I prefer snails. I love watching their mouths when they are on my glass. It's pretty cool.

I don't trust applesnails with guppies. I have had an applesnail corner my guppies and eat them Shrimp can live in freash water and if you get 3 you should be okay. I wouldn't add anymore guppies though

Inky

What will you do with the guppy fry?

Chris

I think we're only talking about male guppies here so no chance of fry. A trio would be fine or they'd probably be just as happy as a pair.

There are brackish water ghost shrimp but if you look in the tank you can usually tell. A tank full of freshwater ghost shrimp will always have some carrying brightly colored eggs and have shrimp of varying sizes swimming about. A tank of brackish ghost shrimp will have no eggs, several dead bodies, pretty much only adult shrimp, and the shrimp will be frantically searching the bottom with usually very few shrimp swimming more than an inch or two above the bottom. The only other brackish shrimp you will encounter in a freshwater tank are amano aka algae eating shrimp and these will survive in freshwater just fine but they need brackish water to breed.