Tank Full of Male Guppies?

#1
I was just wondering, if it's possible to have a tank full of male guppies? I've only done this once before with two male guppies and added another one and they killed it, though at the time I thought he was sick and I was new to fish. Just thought I'd ask.

Thanks.
 

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
Jul 19, 2004
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Cape Cod
#2
You should be able to, esp. since there won't be any ladies to fight over or constantly chase. I suspect you may do better with a group of them (5+ rather than 2-3) so that there isn't one that gets picked on. With the variety of guppies available now, you could have a very colorful tank just with them. Although I always like some type of bottom feeder as well, you could just have male guppies and nothing else.
 

#4
You should be able to, esp. since there won't be any ladies to fight over or constantly chase. I suspect you may do better with a group of them (5+ rather than 2-3) so that there isn't one that gets picked on. With the variety of guppies available now, you could have a very colorful tank just with them. Although I always like some type of bottom feeder as well, you could just have male guppies and nothing else.
Thank you for that. Yes I'd have a Coolie Loach or something alike it in there as well. I find they help a lot.


The size of the tank you expect to do this in would be the most important part of the idea.
I'm really trying to work that out myself actually. I have a 34 litre tank but will probably be having to use it for other fish and then I've only got a 20 litre tank, which I'm guessing would only hold 3 to 5 Guppies. I'm also looking at selling some other tanks and buying a bigger one.
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
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#5
i'm a fan of overstocking, it's more work but i think it's worth it. i have a 20 gallon tank with about 30 guppies, and countless babies and juvies, 4 coolies, a catfish, and another kinda loach and snails. as long as u have a good filter that can filter at least double the size of the tank u can overstock your tank pretty easily with things like guppies.
 

Thyra

Superstar Fish
Jun 2, 2010
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Yelm, WA
#6
From what I have read the filtration does not make a lot of difference in the number of fish you can keep in a tank and the big problem is room - its like putting 10 people in a small closet - they can still breath, but they certainly won't thrive very well. Just my opinion. And you are right - it would be a lot of work on a daily basis.
 

Feb 27, 2009
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#7
Filtering the water to process ammonia/nitrite is just part of it. An amazing about of chemicals are a part of fish waste/respiration that need duluted in an enclosed ecosystem like an aquarium.

I was part of some experiments with mollies while in college and the filtering ability of plants for them in a small aquarium. In three identical tanks (20 gallon longs) with identical plant mass/lighting/feeding/stocking (8 male Sailfin molly fry per tank, about 1 month old so no chance to change the bioload), we did weekly maintanence on all three.

One got only 'topped off' with water to replace what had evaporated.

One got 25% weekly water changes.

The last got 50% weekly water changes.

All three has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and between 5-10 nitrates throughout the 16 weeks of the class. The plants took in enough of the available nitrogen so that no real change happened in the 16 weeks.

Those in the tanks with the 50% water changes had the most growth. The 25% water changes were about 25% smaller. Those in the zero water change tank had very slight overall growth.

The next semester, all 3 were maintained with 50% weekly water changes, to see if they would all max out at the same size.

In the end, the zero water change tank had fish that were 2/3 to 1/2 the size of the others.

The 25% caught up more or less, to the growth seen in the 50% tanks.

By then end, they were 9 months old, so adults.
 

#8
i'm a fan of overstocking, it's more work but i think it's worth it. i have a 20 gallon tank with about 30 guppies, and countless babies and juvies, 4 coolies, a catfish, and another kinda loach and snails. as long as u have a good filter that can filter at least double the size of the tank u can overstock your tank pretty easily with things like guppies.
So am I. I always used to do it and I think my 34 litre tank has one of the best filters I've seen. I think I've had about 20 Guppies in it at the one time, as well as two coolie loaches, a gold and a blue German Ram, a Butterfly Cichlid, male Platy and a male Swordtail. Most of the fish were ones I had bred and couldn't bear to get rid of.

Filtering the water to process ammonia/nitrite is just part of it. An amazing about of chemicals are a part of fish waste/respiration that need duluted in an enclosed ecosystem like an aquarium.

I was part of some experiments with mollies while in college and the filtering ability of plants for them in a small aquarium. In three identical tanks (20 gallon longs) with identical plant mass/lighting/feeding/stocking (8 male Sailfin molly fry per tank, about 1 month old so no chance to change the bioload), we did weekly maintanence on all three.

One got only 'topped off' with water to replace what had evaporated.

One got 25% weekly water changes.

The last got 50% weekly water changes.

All three has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and between 5-10 nitrates throughout the 16 weeks of the class. The plants took in enough of the available nitrogen so that no real change happened in the 16 weeks.

Those in the tanks with the 50% water changes had the most growth. The 25% water changes were about 25% smaller. Those in the zero water change tank had very slight overall growth.

The next semester, all 3 were maintained with 50% weekly water changes, to see if they would all max out at the same size.

In the end, the zero water change tank had fish that were 2/3 to 1/2 the size of the others.

The 25% caught up more or less, to the growth seen in the 50% tanks.

By then end, they were 9 months old, so adults.
That's amazing. I was always worried about cleaning out my Guppy fry tank as I was worried about sucking them up and it would get pretty dirty. I guess that's one reason to why they very slowly grew and never actually got to the size of their parents. My Platy and Swordtail were surprisingly big though. They were both from the same mother and born on the same day. . . I used to clean out my tank about once a week to every second week with about a 80% water change, appending on how dirty the tank was.
 

Feb 27, 2009
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#9
So am I. I always used to do it and I think my 34 litre tank has one of the best filters I've seen. I think I've had about 20 Guppies in it at the one time, as well as two coolie loaches, a gold and a blue German Ram, a Butterfly Cichlid, male Platy and a male Swordtail. Most of the fish were ones I had bred and couldn't bear to get rid of.
You had those 27 fish in 34 litres of water???
 

#10
You had those 27 fish in 34 litres of water???
Yes about that. There may have been less babies. I know I sold a few females later on and then moved them to a 90 litre tank that was no longer in use. Surprisingly, I didn't have any issues at all.

I was unable to clean out the 90 litre tank for about 6 months due to our water being no good to them, and there was only 8 little fish in it and they lived better then I had ever seen any fish live before. I had them for two years in that tank before they got old and died. Those were the ones I had bred myself.
 

Feb 27, 2009
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#11
I was unable to clean out the 90 litre tank for about 6 months due to our water being no good to them
I find it hard to believe that those fish could live together in one tank.

Water was 'no good to them' so not cleaned for 6 months??!!! Unreal.

For anyone else reading this thread....oh nevermind.

Good luck with your other betta.
 

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exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
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#13
i'm not one to clean my tanks on a regular basis. my 55 and 2 30 gallon tanks get cleaned and a water change every couple months other then that i just top of the water that evaporates and my 20 gallon i do a 50% water change maybe once a month. filters all get cleaned once they start to go over the overflows. and all my fish grow fast ecxept my brichardi which are slow growers but all my fish breed like rabbits and are healthy. full bellies and bright colors, never have desiese outbreaks. also besides some fry mortality it's been at least a year since i've had an adult fish die. i know alot of people would like to castrate me after hearing this but the way i have my tanks and my cleaning schedual and everything works for me. it may not work for others and every fish tank is unique. my 20 gallon with 30+ fish works great for me. if someone else tried it it may be a death tank. so that being said do i condone overstocking? yes i do. do i promise it will work out like it does for me? no i don't. it's kinda a do at ur own risk.
 

Thyra

Superstar Fish
Jun 2, 2010
1,891
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Yelm, WA
#14
Or the fishes risk?? I do some things I wouldn't recommend to anyone else. I think all creatures have some personality traits, but even in the same species they can differ. Some are caused by the owner, but others are they are born with. We all know pit bulls who are friendly. Our two dogs and cat play together - cat thinks he's a dog, I guess. I have serpaes in with angels, but I won't put a male betta in there. Understocking makes a tank easier to keep looking good - and I am proud when people visit and say, "How do you keep your tanks looking so nice?" Yesterday I saw some small blood orange colored platies - they were called "red". I got three of them to put in with a couple of bumble bee platies and then got a blue male betta. It certainly made for a colorful tank - the fish were $1 apiece except for the betta ($3.99) and I gotta say - he is one laid back fish. He appeared to go around and greet all the fish and then ate with them. In my past experiences they are usually a little shy when they get all that space and then are surrounded by other fish, but not in this case. The whole tank was more interesting to watch last night than TV. lol
 

Yeet

New Fish
Jul 3, 2017
1
0
1
#15
I would like to do the same thing, have a 20 gal with all male guppies but I am confused about how many to keep. It's a 20 gallon regular. Any suggestions?