# Guppies - Several Questions...



## TripleB67 (Jun 23, 2012)

After my 5 gallon tank has spent some time with fish in it and is completely cycled, I'm thinking of putting some male guppies in the aquarium.

Originally I had decided to go with Neon Tetras, but I added too many at one time and 5 out of the 6 died within the first day. The 6th one is doing great but in the short time they were swimming I noticed they tend to stay around my decorations at the bottom and were tough for my 5 year old to keep an eye on.

I'm now thinking about putting some guppies in there because of their color, supposedly hardiness, and have several questions:

1) How many male guppies could I put in a 5 gallon aquarium?
2) Do guppies typically swim more towards the middle/top of the tank?
3) Should I leave my 1 neon tetra in there or will he nip the tales of the guppies?
4) What would be a great bottom dweller to put with the guppies? Cherry Shrimp? African Dwarf Frog? Snail? Combination of those three? {I would like something to help keep the tank clean}
5) How many of your answer in question 4 should I add?

Thanks for any and all help!

TripleB67


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## Fish chick (Feb 18, 2012)

I would think add 3-4. I've never kept neon tetras, so I'll let somebody else answer those.


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## jamestanker (Jun 30, 2012)

the guppies I have inky turtle tank like the top portion


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

After amano shrimp, cherry shrimp are the best algae eating shrimp. I would put 5 of them in there but its all your choice


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## fishbubbles (Sep 16, 2011)

I would say put 3 guppies and cherry shrimp. So that you have color and algae eaters.


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

Personally, I'd put some killifish in there, say Aphyosemion striatum.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

But in the end it is all your choice


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## Embers To Ashes (Jun 13, 2011)

neon tetras are schooling fish, so it is best to keep them in groups of 6 or more, but three will be happy.A single neon tetra will most likley hide all the time. However, a general rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon of water. neons grow to be about 1.5 inches and guppies about 2 inches in my experiance. This is just a guide line though. I beleive that three neons and two guppies and a shrimp or a snail may do well, but listen to people with more experiance before you listen to me.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I'll agree with embers to ashes. 2 male guppies and just a couple more neons.

If kept single in a tank all by itself it's going to hide.

Think of it this way. If your a single solder in war everyone you know has died. Are you going to jump in the middle of the battlefield heck no. My butt will run and hide. A few more they would be all over the tank. Also they will get along with the guppies great. 

So if I was in your shoes my stock list would be

2 male fancy guppies (great color)
3-4 minimum neon tetras. ( come on these are small and cheap no reason why to get rid of him)
3 ghost shrimp

Now I can careless about te aqua calculators and stuff like that. I also think they will do fine in the tank. I know some will say my list is over stocked. But I know 100% they will do just fine.


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## TU55LER (Jul 15, 2012)

My sister has 2 guppies and 2 neon tetras in a 2 gallon tank. So I know that they get along well, the guppies swim at the top, and it's normal for the neons to swim mostly near the decorations. So your good.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

But before you get cherry shrimp you'll have to have a way to get rid of the countless babies that are coming your way  You wont have that problem with amano shrimp or ghost shrimp but they are not coulourfull at all.


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