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A guby aquarium for starter

12K views 115 replies 9 participants last post by  SinCrisis 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi!

I always wanted to have a fish tank and recently (2 hours ago) i got the seal of approval from my mom to let me have a fish tank (she always afraid of me not taking care of it and end up taking care of it for me, but that won't happen since i know im really serious about this). Im in college right now and this is my final week so im thinking of starting to make one like a week from now so this week, beside from study and playing WOW, imma gather information of how to make, and maintain one. I been doing a lot of research on it and i have a some questions, answers and advices are always welcome and appreciate.
For me, taking away life is a very bad thing (i never kill an ant in my life after i know things) so unless the guby died of aging, otherwise if it die, i would feel really bad and blaming myself so i need to know what the heck im doing here so any advice is deeply appreciate.

1. I planning to have a 3 - 4 gallons aquarium and my fish of choice is guby, so how many guby is a good number for the tank?
2. Algate control, how many time in a week do i need to clean the tank and what are some other method to control algate like fishes that eat algate and go together with guby?
3. The only spot in the house that i can put the tank is damn close to a heater and there is no way to change this around so is there any problem cause i know guby is sensitive to temperature and what is the right temperature for a guby tank? (if the problem is critical, then i will consider to place the tank at a different spot).
4. I need to know how test the ph in water and what is a critical ph level for guby and what is an ideal ph level for guby?
5. The place where i place the guby tank is the living room so it kinda high traffic place so will the guby gonna have a lot of stress?
6. How long is guby life expectancy?
7. How do you tell the difference between female and male guby?
8. I planning to go very far with this like to the day i died and after im good with all the basic stuff, i want to breed guby.

Thank you for reading
 
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#3 ·
cycle your tank. Should be the first thing u do. As for guppies, they breed so either you get a bigger tank or only get same sex guppies. In a 3-4 gallon tank, u can gave a max of 4 with no algae eaters or anything else. Algae can be controlled with water changes and live plants. As mentioned above, if u get 4 guppies u cant have any algae eaters. Go with 3 guppies and u can have 1 oto but otos prefer to live in groups so its a tough balance. AS far as i know guppies do fine between 76-80. whats the room temprature of the place ur living? there are mini heaters that add 3-4 degrees to ur water on top of ur room temprature. Unless ur water out fo ur tap is ridiculusly high or low over 8 or under 6, your guppies should be fine as long as u acclimate them properly. High traffic is fine as long as nobody stomps around, or bangs on the glass continuously. Life expectancy is completly dependent on water conditions. Males and females are usually sperated at the sotre for you. IF you want to breed guppies, thats a whole other tank setup. You will need at least 15 gallons, two tanks, one with a spong filter for the babies and, in all likelyhood, breed your own baby food, since buying it really adds up. Good luck. But the most important thing, if you dont want to harm any guppies, is make sure you cycle ur tank. Look up fishless cycling.
 
#4 ·
Nelphie,

I'm glad you cleared up the "guby" thing, I was beginning to wonder, lol. SinCrisis has gave you some great information to get you started. Like he said, the most important and crucial aspect to keep fish healthy and happy for a long time is to cycle your tank from the start. If you cycle you tank, you will make things easier for you in the future. Trust Us.

Sin's post was great, i just wanna add a "check list", if you will, of things which are neccessary to maintain a healthy aquarium.

Make sure you only get one sex guppies, or you will see babies everywhere, like everywhere.

Dechlorinator (Prime or Stress Coat are highly reccommended)
"cycle" (a bottle of this stuff will help jump start your cycle)
Gravel, or other subtrate for the bottom of your tank
Filter
Ammonia (this is used in the cycling process, JUST MAKE SURE IT IS PURE AMMONIA)
Small heater
Thermometer
Hood and Lights
API Master Liquid Test Kit (this will be the best $25 you spend on your tank will save you daily trips to the fish store during your cycle stage, make sure it's the liquid drop kit, not the strips)
Any decor you may want (can be cleaned by using a diluted water/vinegar solution)

The only thing I could be aware of with a tank in a living room is sunlight. If the tank is in a spot where sunlight will hit it throughout the day, algae will be a problem. See if you can keep it out of sunlight

There's some more basic information for you....if you have more specific questions, feel free to ask!!!
 
#5 ·
Thanks Sin and John for your information, it was very helpful to me.

For Sin: im thinking of getting the tank around 5-10 gallons now since i want to have more guppies but i think 10 gallons tank is too big for the space i have so i have to go to my lfs to see what is the biggest tank i can fit there (i probably gonna do this this Saturday). My room usually at around 70-80 but during the summer it could be a little problematic since my ac is really bad, so the room temp can rise up to 90+ which i guess is a bad thing.

For John: Thanks for the tip, i know what equipment i need to buy for the tank now. And im a night person, i don't really like sunlight so i keep the curtain closes 99% of the day and the tank is not place under a place where sunlight can hit so i guess i saved with this.

For algate control, i probably gonna do some research on fresh water plant seem it sound more ideal then algate eater and it make the tank look nicer too.

Oh, petco sells guppy ranging from 3-5 dollars each depend on species so is that a reasonable price or not? and they are fancy guppy.
 
#7 ·
oh wow 90 and up? opening the id to a tank helps cool it but then you water evaporates like crazy. I know people who do water changes on hot days and put in slightly cooler water to regulate temperature. However, if the temp change is too much it might shock some of the fish. As for pricing, 3-5 dollars sounds standard for pet store costs. However, if you can find a breeder, the fish will probably be healthier and be a bit cheaper. Also note, bigger tanks are less affected by room temperature. Meaning a 10 gallon tank will not heat up as much on a hot day than a small 3 gallon one. as for plants, since you probably don't want to spend a bunch of money on getting superb lighting and higher level substrates, go for low light ones that are hardy. Plants like Java Moss are both good for keeping nitrates down and serve as a good plant for guppies to spawn on. Also note, i believe guppies have the tendency to eat their young occasionally so for the highest yield in babies, the parents need to be removed. Also whatever filter you decide on, put filter foam or floss on the intake so the babies don't get sucked in. You probably don't want to breed immediately, but if you decide on getting mixed sex guppies, there is a good chance you'll get them.
 
#9 ·
Thank you all for your helps!

I just did some research on fresh water plant and here are what i probably gonna get for my tank, cabomba, java moss and pearlweed.

For the 90 degree stuff, at first i was thinking of putting ice down to cool the tank but Froglady hit me ice bottle and it just better so thanks here for the icy tip.

I have decided to postpone the guppies breeding program to whenever i have a bigger place to fit a 30+ gallons tank so in the mean time, i will get all male guppies.

Another thing i consider is i probably gonna get a snail for algate control and they can eat off the plant so they don't grow too big too.
 
#10 ·
cabomba is a moderate light plant. As for pearlweed, i dunno. BUt with Cabomba, you will need to invest in special bulbs for your hood. If the snail you get is a herbivore, it will decemate your plants. Snails should not be used to control plant growth. They are also usually terrible algae eaters unless you find nerite snails. Trumpet snails will also munch on algae, especialyl useful for thread and hair algae, and will not eat your plants but are still not huge eaters of algae. a 10 gallon can hold around 8 guppies and 2 otos. THe Otos are excellent algae eaters and, after cycling, will consume the brown diatom bloom that many tanks experience. Also think about using amano shrimp for algae control. Shrimp have a smaller bioload than fish but amano shrimp are harder to find. ALso with any invertibrates make sure the food you feed do not have copper.
 
#11 ·
By oto u mean Otocinclus macrospilus right?

Just doing some research on cycling and now i have some questions.
Do i cycling first than add the pebbles and the plant or add the plant & pebbles first before i do cycling?
Do i change water after i cycling or i don't need to change water after my tank is cycling?
Once the tank is cycling what do i do to maintain the cycling or once your tank is cycling, you don't have to do anything else except for put in your fishes and enjoy it for a long heck of time?


I just talk to a friend and he said he has many fish tanks of different sizes and he will let me have one (like if he not, then he will in for a world of hurt, jk jk!!!) so it look like i can get one soon and save myself some money. (SCORED!)
 
#12 ·
add the gravel or pebbles and cycle with that. Ive been told its fine to cycle with plants since they aren't affect by ammonia spikes. No water changing during cycling. i dunno about changing water after cycling, i personally dont, i just add a couple of fish at a time and do daily water tests. Once cycles ur tank is good. Cycling builds up bacteria and a lot of it is in ur gravel and filter. When u clean ur filter use old tank water to rinse it because tap water will kill all the good bacteria. As long as you dont lose a lot of bacteria at once, your tank should be fine. thats awsome ur friend is giving you a tank. Although its good to save money, dont skimp on the filter and test kit since those are super important in the long run.
 
#13 ·
I believe you are supposed add the pebbles and decorations before you start cycling (I don't know about the plants) so that the beneficial bacteria has more places to grow on. I'm not sure about whether you are supposed to change the water or not, but I didn't while cycling my tank, and it seemed to work fine. While the tank is cycling, you add a little ammonia every day to feed the bacteria while monitoring your levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (you can find test kits for these at pet stores, the liquid test kits are the best). It's not a good idea to add fish until after the cycle is finished, because ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish. During your cycle, the ammonia will rise first, then it will begin to drop and the nitrite will begin to rise, and eventually the nitrite will drop and the nitrates will start to rise. When this happens, you have your beneficial bacteria and you can add fish (although I believe you are supposed to do a few water changes over the next few days before adding fish). :)

If you get a fish tank from your friend, it will probably already be cycled, so you might not even need to worry about the cycling. ;-)
 
#14 ·
If you get a fish tank from your friend, it will probably already be cycled, so you might not even need to worry about the cycling. ;-)
Lol, my friend gave me the tanks because he got too many tanks and his fish are all die now due to not knowing how to cycling and never spend the time to look up how to properly care for a fish.

Oh, today i found out that one of my best friend is an expert at taking care of fish. She is one of my best bud but i never knew she know such thing until today, although i knew she running a 2 years old tank. She said she gonna help me with buying the kit and everything and teach me how to cycling too but she advice me not to get guppy because it extremely hard to raise. She told me that she used to have like 16 guppies but they are die like really quick. She also told me not to get neon tetra because they die very quick too. T.T I love neon tetra!!! But anyway, im probably won't heed her warning and will start out with 5 guppies and see how it go. I went to a lfs today and they didn't have a great fresh water selection but the good new is they sell 3 guppies for 5 dollars so that is way cheaper than Petco, and they got this one fish called Redwag Platy and the fellow is quite cute so im thinking of getting a few of those guys too, what do you guys think? Oh, i picking up the tank tomorrow so im so excited now.
 
#16 · (Edited)
ah damn, that is too long, im a very impatient person if i know there is a shortcut, and this shortcut will be imma ask my friend for the cycling water because at the end step where the water is cycling, they need to do a big water change (75%) so i just ask for 25% of her water and add to my tank 75% new water and continue feed ammonia from there.
 
#17 ·
oh well if that's the case ask her for a used filter foam and float that in your tank. Just be sure you condition your water so u don't kill the bacteria on the foam. Also there's a couple of bacteria cultures out there that help accelerate the bacteria growth in your tank but even the quickest shortcut will still force you to wait about a week before adding fish.
 
#21 ·
so i should just cycled my tank first then plant the java moss but cabomba and pearlweed shouldn't be a problem right?

And after a serious amount of consideration, i decided not to take the shortcut cause i want to learn from the very basic and the basic is always important. Imma take my time with the fish since this is a live and death situation here, i have to prove to my friend that i can raise guppies better than her. I will pick the tank up like in 4 hours from now after my final then imma go buy the pebbles and everything and hopefully cycling the tank tomorrow morning.
 
#27 ·
Ok, finally i done with my finals and stuff, it felt like forever. Anyway, i got the tank, and it is a 5 gallons tank. I was thinking of having 3 guppies (all male), 2 platy, and 2 shrimps. Imma plant the live plants and cycle the tank tomorrow once i get all the equipments after work. I will post a pic tomorrow if i have time. Also, is the plan out for the fish good?
 
#30 ·
my betta is 2 inches and still growing, i heard they can reach up to 3 so also pushing your limits. 3 guppies and 2 ghost shrimp would be a good amount for a 5 gallon tank. Unfortunately, 5 gallons are very limited. most 5 gallons vie seen usually house 1 betta and 1 apple snail or 1 betta and a couple of ghost shrimp. Also note, although it may be a bit cramped, if you really want to overstock, there are things u can do to make it work. stronger filtration and more surface agitation would allow you to have more fish than the incher per gallon rule. Just note that more surface agitation = less co2 in your water = bad for live plants.
 
#31 ·
Today, when i went to buy the equipments, i found out that my tank is actually 10 gallons, not 5, and don't ask me how could i mistake it for a 5 gallons tank. Anyway, i set up my tank already and that how it look like below. Didn't like the big gravel a bit, damn, I screwed up again. I bough all the equipment at petsmart. It cost me around 100 dollars. The guy who works there look like he really knows about fish. He told me that i don't need to cycle the tank, just set up everything and let the tank run for 5 days to a week and test the water first to see how it is then if it good then just add the fish in, but he said after i let the tank run from 5-7 days then it should be good for the fish. He told me to buy dechlorinator and add it to the tank when i got home which i did.

In the tank right now:
the right side is a thermometer and a heater
the left side is a filter
around is some cabomba





 
#35 ·
You tank will need more than 7 days to cycle! Unless you are adding existing filtration media from another established tank. If you are doing a fishless cycle, you are looking at atleast 3 to 4 weeks. PetSmart, PetCo and all the generic pet store chains generaly are clueless on how to acutally take care of a fish tank.

Have you decided if you are cycling with or without fish? If you going fishless you will need to pick up some ammonia(make sure it is pure ammonia). If you are going fish-in, you will need to a few fish which are hardier than guppies or a betta....zebra danios are a popular choice. Fishless cycle involves adding ammonia daily and testing daily......Fish-in involves daily test and daily water changes.

As for your supplies, you will need to get a better test kit. I would return the ones you have for a API Master LIQUID test kit. The dip strips are unreliable and often give a misreading. During your cycle you will be testing your water on a daily basis and need a reliable to test. the API master kit is one of the best on the market....definetly the most reccommended on here.

I would pick up a bottle of "cycle" too, it will aid in the establishment of your tank and help jump start the process of getting things running right. Prime, Strees Coat and Stress Zyme are also very popular choices for the weekly maintenace of a fish tank.
 
#36 ·
WOW, that guy knows NOTHING about fish if he tells you not to cycle. That's terrible, i hate misguided pet store employees. You stated before that you would hate to hurt the fish and i can guarantee that if you choose to not cycle you will kill at least a couple of them. JohnnyD44 is absolutely right on the test strips. They're terribly unreliable. Moreover, they will become really expensive int he long run. Guppies can be very fragile fish. Many are inbred because breeders often try to breed them to get better colors so they sell better. Doing a fish in cycle with guppies will stress them out terribly. As Johnny said, a betta would handle the ammonia much better thana guppy.

For future reference, 95% of employees who work at petsmart and petco tell you fish care data to promote their sales. For example, by telling you that you dont need to cycle, its almost guarenteed fish will die in the ammonia spike. Thusly, you will need to restock within a couple of weeks. this means more money for the store. Although i'm sure most of the employees dont tell you the false information on purpose its what they're trained to do since most of them don't go into the job having a petcare background. Listen to the people on this forum, many have way more experience and will help you a lot more.

Lastly, excellent choice on the filter. Going for a filter designed to filter double what your tank size is, is often the right choice to ensure ur water is kept best. However, i must warn you, i used to use aquaclear, and if you do not keep up with filter maintenence, it will clog and overflow. I had major water damage in one part of my house because I left for school and my parents enver changed the filter. In 3 months the filter clogged and we switched to a canister. Also in your picture i see no filter media. To cycle right, you will need the media IN. The filter foam is a huge aprt of cycling for bacteria growth. Without it, cycling could take much much longer. I must implore that you cycle your tank before stockign it.

Bah, i keep forgetting things. As per plants, i see you got dechlorinator, but i hope you used it before adding plants. I've heard that chlorine can damage plant roots. Also, you may want to consider some for of fertilization since your water is clean right now and should be devoid of nitrates and other forms of trace mienrals needed for growth. Also your tank has no hood, at least not in the picture. Are you going for a natural light setup? If you do you must amke sure the water is balanced to avoid too much algae growth. If you do ahve a hood, its a top fin one probably from petsmart and your plants will require one with a higher spectrum to imitate sunlight because your cabomba is a medium light plant.
 
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