new to it all

hi
ok i have a new set up for tropical fish its a 21uk gal tank....i got the temp at 25c and a large filter....sorry if i dont make sence but i am learning here and am hoping to get some info from some of you
ph level is hish...8.0 but is same as shop i got them from is this ok?

fish i have in it are 2 male guppys and 4 female....1 male swardtail and 2 females....not sure if i should have more in there or not??

also wondering if 2 of my guppys are pregnant....thay have large bellys and the black spot i see some of you talking about on the forum...is someone has pics of what it should look like please could i see

any advice you can give would be great
flint

 

The fish you have in your aquarium are an excelent choice. hardy, and happy to live in a ph of 8.0. Most tropical fish will tolerate this PH and live fine.

You also have the correct ratio of females to males. 1 male to 2-3 females. As you proberly know, Guppies, sordtails, mollies and platies are all live bearers. this means they give birth to fully swimming fry. Some fish are egg layers, or mouth brooders etc.

The black spot you see in your females is a Gravid spot. this is where the babes are stored and grow. As the mum gets bigger, it is possible to see the frys eyes in the mums tummy.

When she is ready she will 'drop' (give birth).

Unfortunatly, the guppies and most fish have little to no regard for their babes, and with guppies in particular, the mum and other fish will try and eat the babies.

You must perform water changes every 1-2 weeks, remembering that when you clean the filter, that you clean the media (foam) in tank water, not tap water as this will remove the benificial bacteria built up in the filter media. tis benificial bacteria is what controls your nitrate, nitrite and amonia toxins in the aquarium.

You do have an oxygen supply in your tank?

you could look getting some scooling fish such as tetras as they only grow a couple of inches and look lovely in their schooling groups.

Remember to test your water regularly, for high ammonia (fish waste) and nitrates (harmful toxins).

If you need to ask anything specific or generally dont hesistate to, PM is you want to.

Take care.
x

 

i do have an oxygen supply in the tank from the filter it also has a small thing on it that sucks air down into that water....am not sure if there is to much going into it tho if there is such a thing as too much air in a tank

my fish seam very active is this because of strees or are they always like that??

 

the more fish the more active they will, for example. when i had 4 fish none were moving much just moping around, now tht i got 7 its a full lively tank with all of em swimming happily

 

you could never have to much oxygen, but you have too stronger flow, youd know this it the fish are being blown around the aquarium.

You may well have a flow adjuster on the filter, to turn the flow down.

 

thx for all thh help peeps
one of the fish i think is pregant keeps sitting away from other fish and not moving a lot....this is a black guppy or the tail is anyway and i find it hard to see the spot yet i think it is there....lookinh at some pics none of my fish are as big as the onesi have seen on some pics....getting very mixed up...lol....does anyone have an y pics they could show of a pregnant guppy so i can see....and tell me how they act because birth to the fry??

 

Listen: Pregnent guppies dont move much, 20 days after pregnency move the female to gravel free tank, feed them special food, remove the mother from the babies and put her back in her normal tank or she will eat the babies. Any babies that cant swim up and drag themselves across the ground should be taken out immidetaly and put to sleep..


Im planning on breeding guppys, i did some research, u should 2. Good luck :y_the_best:

 

My guppy just "dropped"... I hadn't been too concerned since it was not an intended pregnancy (please no political humor here Within the span of about 90 minutes, she went from a blimb to completely skinny and ALL of the fry were eaten. Craziness.

So, if you want to keep your babies, Flint, take care to safeguard them...