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If you set on Guppys, and do not want them to breed, (as they breed like rabbits) then go for all the one sex. Like all females or all males. Probably more towards males, as they are smaller than the female and in most casts more colourful. Males do at times pick on one another, but like all fish, just watch and see. I have 3 males in a communtity tank, 4 footer. Most of the time they are together. Some times though I see one swim off on his lonesome. I think he wants time-out. I did have a guppy pick on another until he died from all the stress. This happen once or twice. But most of the time it has worked out fairly well with all these males together.

You could put a couple of mollies in there! those are cool and soon you would have too many~

Thanks everyone

I have a good idea of 3 set-ups i might want:

1) Male guppy
2x female guppy
(or maybe all female...not sure what i would do with fry)

2) 2x Cherry Barb
(or maybe 1 with a compatible fish)

3) Paradise fish
(unless Tiger is the only one who thinks its a good idea)
(Any companions for the paradise or would that overstock?)



Any ideas or modifications?

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

1.i think thats too small for guppies as they need swimming room
2.cherry barbs wouldn't be good in there either
3.no opinion on paradise fish

how about a couple female bettas i have 2 and there awesome

I also agee with Greenmonkey, a couple of FEMALE bettas. But be careful, they can be a bit nasy to one another, or they could be the best of friends. My inlaws have a lovely white female with neon blue fins. If you want to keep a couple of fish, I would go this way. Try and get the females from the lfs at the same time. That way they probably already sorted themselves out. Before buying, watch them carefully. Get a couple that look like they are getting on well with each order. Not a bully. The Paradise fish will grow to 3 1/2" around abouts, so anything else is going to be cramped. If any thing, something small: like Glowlight Tetras. These fish are pretty. When cleaning the tank, they hang around checking out what you are doing. Cheeky fish. I have a small shoal of 3. They get on well with everything that I have (see profiles) and they don't grow too large.

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile62.html

http://www.geocities.com/shtinkythefish/pfish

http://www.petfish.net/female_bettas.htm

[span class="edited"][Edited by TigerAngel 2004-07-06 09:41][/span]

I then put him into a smaller tank, and he swam around alot more.

Tiger, just out of curiosity, what size tank did you put in him?

cherry barbs wouldn't be good in there either

I can't see any reason they wouldn't be. They are generally more timid fish, and like to be alone or in pairs, not schooling. The colors of a pair would look great in a tank that size.

Female bettas are nice but I would be really, really careful. I just happened to have a couple bad experiences and finally did some tank arrangements so there's no more agression with my girls. I have 2 girls in a 6g who are doing fine together.

I saw some exclamation point rasboras at the lfs, apparently they're also called 'least rasboras' (Boraras urophthalmoides). Very pretty and they max at 1" so if you could find them they'd make a nice school in your tank.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I first had the Paradise fish in a 17.5 gal tank. All he wanted to do is stay in one corner at the top. I then put him into a 10.5 gal, and he was a happy fishy.

1 male and 2 female cherry barbs, a few small plants, and some ghost shrimp for the bottom?????

Wow thank you for all your help guys.

My LFS does have Female bettas, but they arent usually in good condition and have little color or energy.
The glowlights and least rasboras sound interesting, but im not sure my LFS would have them. I also am not sure if they stock cherry barbs. The only thing i am sure of is guppies. I checked Guppies.com and many of the people there keep a trio in a similer sized tank. I think im going to just look at what they have in stock and use commen sense.

ETA: The female bettas are in cups like the males. So they arent used to shareing a tank.

[span class="edited"][Edited by katieb 2004-07-06 12:25][/span]

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

A 20 gallon is over a 2" tank. I had a Paradise Fish in a 2 footer, and he just layed around like a betta. I then put him into a smaller tank, and he swam around alot more.
I think he didn't like the open spare, while the smaller tank made him more comfortable.

Okay first I just want to say that if you have an all female trio, there is a chance that one of the females will become a male so that they can bred, that is if they are happy and all their needs are met.
I had various livebearers over the years and had many multiplying problems so i decide to separate them and this did happen, over time.
That is my other point, the guppies would be coming from a LFS and they are exposed to males there and they can store the sperm for up to several months after.
So you are going to have fry either way you look at it.
Please take that into consideration.
Also if you let nature take it's course and you don't use breader nets and since it is a 6g, a lot of the fry will get eaten anyway.
Hope that helps, I didn't mean to be so negative, I just wanted to pass on info from my experiences.
LIB

How does a female become a male so they can breed????? im a tad confused! i dont think they do that!

I've had this one group of female platies for years about 3 years. All by themselves, they are the only ones in the tank other than 2 otto's. I still get fry on a regular basis as if there was a male and i'm positive that i don't have a male.
One of my neighbours study's fish and other amphibians as part of her job, she has everything from spiders to turtles, snakes, tons of fish.
She been observing my 4 for quite sometime, it's not the first time she's seen this, and probably not the last.
It's happened with her molly's and guppies she use to have.
I can't explain it, she just told me that when they are in a comfortable setting and a male is needed a female will take on the characteristics of a male so they can reproduce, apparently it's instinct or something.

On a side note, I have the eclipse system 6 and it's great!
I would totally recommend it.

I'm not sure, but I think I read in another thread a while back that a dominant female livebearer will take on male characteristics if no male is present, but will not be able to breed. How long have you been getting fry? A male could have mated with the female(s) at the store and livebearers can store sperm for up to...I don't remember the exact ammount of time, but it's somewhere around 6 months I think. I think maybe 2 Dwarf puffers could fit in there. But I don't know much about puffers so they may not fit. Hope that helps

I heard this thing about females turning to males before., and I don't know what to believe. I have a tank full of mollys in both sexs, and the other day I notice 2 of my so called females are males. Now these 2 are not small fish, so I don't think I missed them being males. They act different too, to both the males and females. They act confused and shy, and not chasing or fighting like males are. Slowly they are finding the interest in the females, but not aggressive like. Very gentle. And this surprises me as the males chase the females like there is no tomorrow. Many times the females lay on their bellys to escape the attention of the males. Sadly I have seem at least 3-4 males onto 1 female. So the behavour of these 2 males? are really different. They don't even chase each other, like males do.
So anyway my suggestion: 3 male guppys. I never heard of a male turning into a female.
I also don't think a live-bearer can store sperm for over a year.

[span class="edited"][Edited by TigerAngel 2004-07-07 20:48][/span]

i dont think guppies are sopposed to live for over a year!

Ive never heard of guppies going from female to male. But if thats their life choice

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

A Paradise fish with a couple of Glowlights Tetras would look good. Glowlights will not bother the Paradise Fish.


[span class="edited"][Edited by TigerAngel 2004-07-04 05:40][/span]

if you are thinking of a small school of neons, then you will have to raise the tank. Also you will most likely have to fish-less cycle it in order to keep the neons alive.

HTH

Racso

Thanks. Right now i can only get a tank in the 5-7 usgal range. Would a few guppies do well in there?

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.