Guppy only tank

J

jeninok

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Sep 3, 2008
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There are some amazing dark blue and turquoise guppies at my LFS, I have an empty 29 gallon that is ready to go.

I have never been able to keep guppies for very long so I am going to try to change things up to help them thrive.

I was thinking crushed coral or argonite as the substrate to help harden the water as well as adding more salt than I normally would.
I am not sure of the differences between the two in a freshwater tank though.

The guy at the LFS store he adds two TBS per five gallons of salt. Would normal aquarium salt be best or would you use sea salt to make it brackish?
 
If you're adding salt long term, then marine salt is the only option. The only salty conditions you should consider producing are true brackish. But guppies are a freshwater, not a brackish, fish. Personally I think you would be better served weaning these fish off the unnecessary brackish conditions they're often reared in - it's this that's one of the reasons they're no longer the hardy fish in FW they used to be. You say "more salt than I normally would" - for 99% of freshwater fish the normal amount of added salt should be 0. Nada. Zilch. And aquarium salt has absolutely no function whatsoever. The only NaCl based salt you need is marine for brackish conditions, and table salt for curing disease and combating nitrite toxicity. "Aquarium salt" is pure con.
 
Well I'm glad I asked!
SO no go on the salt!!

I actually don't add salt to any of my tropical tanks unless treating for ich. I did however add some salt for my molly tank when I had one. I use non iodized table salt for that, just because it is what I have on hand.

What about a buffering substrate though?

And if I do bring some of these guys home do I need to add salt to the water to mimic the lfs and gradually wean them out of it?
 
Hey jeninok,

I have two thriving tanks of guppies right now w/pool filter sand as the substrate and lots of plants - lots of plants. If I were you I would go heavily planted, do weekly water changes, feed some live foods if possible (baby brine shrimp is easy to hatch out or some microworm cultures) and watch them blossom. Also - make sure you get good quality stock. I'll try and post some pics later.

HTH,
 
Actually salt in a guppy tank is rather useless as guppies can live in full salt if needed. They are about the only fish I know of that is not affected by salt content another one is sea-run trout. Therefore, if you are setting up a FW tank don't bother with the salt. For some reason, they are able to withstand salinity up to 150% greater than the oceans!

Their water needs to be clean and beyond that they can thrive in most any condition. I would not use crushed coral personally and would try to make sure my water is close to the same as the water from whatever location you are getting them from. I would acclimate slowly to my natural water conditions and forgo any chemicals. I run a heater only in the winter and turn it off for the summer months. I usually have 2 or 3 tanks of guppies at any one time. I do breed them for one of our LFS but not show guppies.
 
I agree with everyone, don't add salt. I have three tanks full of guppies with no salt. And as excuzzzme suggested, try to match the LFS's water conditions. For instance, find out what PH their water is.
 
I would also suggest a slow acclimation to your tanks/water after you purchase with a drip acclimation being best. I usually open the bag into a big plastic bowl and add a bit of tank water every 2/3 minutes or so until it is pretty full then add the guppies to my tank and I have very few losses that way.

Best of luck to you!
 
Drip acclimation is only safe if the fish have not been long in their bag. Personally I'm unconvinced by it; pH adjustments take the fish a few minutes at most; adjustments to different TDS (total dissolved solids) take hours.
 
To be honest, the only problems I've ever heard with people keeping guppies is how to get rid of all the extras.
 
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