Let me start by saying I don't know exactly what my parameters are. I get my water tested by the LFS. The last time I took it in, he told me that it looks great and that my cycle is definitely complete.
My tank is a weird shape. 19" square by 36" deep. 47 gallons. It has 100 watts of PC lighting over it.
Inhabitants are as follows.
about 6-8 guppies (left) 5 females or so. 1 male.
9 neon tetras
4 apple snails
4-6 ghost shrimp
10-20 baby snails of some pest type or another that I kinda like
1 bumblebee goby
1 oto cat.
1 small hermit crab....too small to kill a guppy, he's like 1/2"
a smattering of fry that I think get eaten almost as fast as they are born.
I keep the temp at 72-74
PH is neutral
I had the water slightly brackish at first, but I have been doing two water changes a week for 3 weeks now and I haven't bothered to add any salt because I read that tetras hate it and guppies can do fine without it.
I feed cyclopeeze, sinking wafers, freeze dried medley, and cheap flake food on a rotating basis.
My guppies are disappearing. Mostly my males. I used to have 6, including the 2 Endlers. Now I have only females and the biggest ugliest male. At first I suspected water quality, but I no longer think that is the case. last week I added a beautiful snow white male guppy and 3 tetras. The tetras are all here, the guppy didn't make it through the afternoon.
The problem with my tank is that due to its odd size, extensive rockwork, and planting, I can almost never find a corpse without completely tearing down the setup. I can only hope that the inhabitants take care of any corpses, which is one of the reason I keep a big cleanup crew.
My current theory is that big Mo doesn't want any other guys threatening his posse of women, so he kills any male that comes in the tank. I mean, tetras are more fragile than guppies aren't they? Wouldn't they be affected first, or at least concurrently by water issues?
If this is the case, the guppies are gone. I am not going to have a tank full of ugly betties and one semi-attractive lemon yellow male. I'll just feed them to my turtle and run a couple tetra schools. They are pretty and they get along.
My tank is a weird shape. 19" square by 36" deep. 47 gallons. It has 100 watts of PC lighting over it.
Inhabitants are as follows.
about 6-8 guppies (left) 5 females or so. 1 male.
9 neon tetras
4 apple snails
4-6 ghost shrimp
10-20 baby snails of some pest type or another that I kinda like
1 bumblebee goby
1 oto cat.
1 small hermit crab....too small to kill a guppy, he's like 1/2"
a smattering of fry that I think get eaten almost as fast as they are born.
I keep the temp at 72-74
PH is neutral
I had the water slightly brackish at first, but I have been doing two water changes a week for 3 weeks now and I haven't bothered to add any salt because I read that tetras hate it and guppies can do fine without it.
I feed cyclopeeze, sinking wafers, freeze dried medley, and cheap flake food on a rotating basis.
My guppies are disappearing. Mostly my males. I used to have 6, including the 2 Endlers. Now I have only females and the biggest ugliest male. At first I suspected water quality, but I no longer think that is the case. last week I added a beautiful snow white male guppy and 3 tetras. The tetras are all here, the guppy didn't make it through the afternoon.
The problem with my tank is that due to its odd size, extensive rockwork, and planting, I can almost never find a corpse without completely tearing down the setup. I can only hope that the inhabitants take care of any corpses, which is one of the reason I keep a big cleanup crew.
My current theory is that big Mo doesn't want any other guys threatening his posse of women, so he kills any male that comes in the tank. I mean, tetras are more fragile than guppies aren't they? Wouldn't they be affected first, or at least concurrently by water issues?
If this is the case, the guppies are gone. I am not going to have a tank full of ugly betties and one semi-attractive lemon yellow male. I'll just feed them to my turtle and run a couple tetra schools. They are pretty and they get along.