Filter for Overstocked 10 gallon

justintoxicated

justintoxicated

AC Members
Dec 19, 2005
824
0
0
Yea yea, the 10 gallon IS overstock, maybe I am cruel but at least I am not murdering guppy fry.

So I have a BUNCH of guppies in a 10 gallon tank as well as a TON of small mystery snails.

The tank is still establishing but I did pull a whisper 10i filter from my community tank to jump start the cycle to the best of my ability.

These fish outgrew my 3 gallon eclipse and were crowding my main tank as well. my one female guppy seems to leave fry by the 50's or 100's

What would be a good filter for this tank in addition to the whisper 10i? I just ordered a coralife 65 watt PC for my 20 gallon (on sale at Dr Foster and Smith online for $50) so I will probably bring the old 28 watt coralife unit to the 10 gallon and add some plants as well (Why not?) or I could just leave it on the 20 gallon for additional lighting but I do have extra plants....

I was thinking to not spend too much money...I did put the old Theo Heater where the temp knob is about 7 degress off in there and it seemt o be maintaining the tank at 78 deg. Would an aquaclear 30 do the trick? Even if If I was to convert it to a second planted tank? I doubt I will be getting flourite for it anytime soon though.
 
Putting a larger HOB filter on there will be doing just what you have insinuted most of us do, murder those guppy fry. They get sucked up and then get to be very personal with the impeller.

You never mentioned how many were in there, but regaurdless, I have four suggestions for you.

1) Take the fry to a LFS or start culling.

2) Get more 10gals, a couple good air pumps, and some Hydro sponges, go bare bottom, and start raising these fry out to a sellable size, stock them heavily, and do at least every other day 50% changes.

3) Put a couple Hydro Sponge 3s in that 10gal, with a good air pump, and start doing massive daily water changes, along with some culling.

4) Separate your males and females so you no longer have fry, or take the females BACK to the LFS so you no longer will have fry.

Frankly what you are doing now is Cruel, and worse than any culling I can think of. At least with culling they die a very humane death, with those fry you are causing them to endure poor water quality, over crowding, and most likely stunting.
 
Sicne it is a small tank it is probably just as easy to do more frequent water changes. But I don't see the problem getting better, the unfortunate side effect of keeping guppies.
 
probably about 30-40 some bigger than others, so an aquaclear 30 will suck in the fry even with a filter saver bad over the intake?

I can't take fry to the LFS, but I can take them there as adults. I don't think the conditions are as bad as you think. I will seperate the females from males and bred them sparingly. That was my next question thanks.

The guppys look very healthy to me, much healtheier than fish at the LFSs
 
Last edited:
This isn't exactly the best solution, but it *does* involved buying another tank...so maybe it's not so bad after all!

If you can imagine a guppy fry being eaten by a larger fish being less painful/more humane than the alternative of leaving it in dirty, crowded water, then it's time to introduce yourself to the Jack Dempsey, a beautiful fish. Put 1 or 2 into a 30 gallon tank, and they will take care of your guppy problem. Other than culling them yourself, or giving them away, what else can you do?
 
While 2 Jack D's in a 30 would be a bad idea, selling guppies as disease free feeders isn't a bad idea.
 
Do you think 30 is too small?

Convicts are cool also, and they are smaller fish. Anyway, whatever happens good luck.
 
jack dempseys get about a foot long. yes, a 30 is too small unless they are juvies. they should have 55 gallons per fish, just like an oscar. JD's are also more skittish and more agressive an oscars, so more space is even more vital in they're case so they don't get territorial or bash into the side of the tank when they freak out.
 
I have separated my small apple snails from my fry keeping a dedicated tank (well 2 actually) just for snails. They produce a lot of waste and for some odd reason drive the ph of the water way down, move them to a diff tank and the guppy fry will be happier.
 
Well I guess I'm going to go with my instinct and try an HOB Aquaclear, If I keep the tank filled high hopefully it won't create too much surface agitation if I plant it.

I can't get anymore tank absolutly 0 space, as it is my DVD player is balancing on the shelf to fit this 10 gallon. 4 tanks i the bedroom I am renting.

Took four days and the nitrite was less than .25 (between .25 and 0)

The tank is likely not as overstock as you all may think. The snails are very small still as well and i getting ready to ship some form my community tank to the store as well as sell a few guppies in the community tank. They look amazing right now, if their tails get as big as the last batch these will be an excelent batch.

I don't think the aquaclear filter will suck them up worse than my Fluval 204 in thr 20 gallon? Just wondering how loud this filter will be. All my others are canister or the whisper, or otherwise silent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom