Tropical Fish Forums

[MichaelOverHere]

Hello,

New to freshwater tropical fishkeeping, I've been getting advice left right and centre and about such and such "cool" wee fish but upon further reasearch a lot of these suggested fish are quite hard to keep for beginners.

I currently have 3 male guppies who have been in their home for about a week now in a 48/49 litre tank.

I was thinking about either adding female guppies and a couple more males or adding another species (neon tetra? suggestions needed).

When went to get my first fish I originally went for neon tetras but there were quite a few lying dead in the tank so was afraid there was a disease going round the fish shop tank so thats why I went for the guppies but I am fond of the neons.

Thanks

[unissuh]

Probably advise to stick with just male guppies if you go down that route - otherwise fry is inevitable and are often too common to easily give away.

Personally I think neons are a very weak fish now & that it is a consequence of being overfarmed without a good selection process. If you want neons, best to wait until you see a good shipment (no deaths etc), or see if you can find wild caught ones. Green neons are OK in terms of hardiness, but are harder to find.

I quite like ember tetras as another option - these are pretty hardy and stay very small.
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Fishing in the Rivers of Light

[jacki.r3]

I've done a lot of research for myself by using fish profiles on this site. google topical fish profiles. about.com/freshwater aquarium, and plain old library books. I check to see if water temp, conditions, pH and all are compatible. I have also chosen my fish by where they hang out in tank. Top, Mid-tank and bottom of tank. Then made my choices. I'm going to have a guppy tank with 2-3 cory's. all compatible and won't get in each others way.
I'm getting 2 male and 3-5 females. Some fancy and some regulars like feeders. Hopefully when they breed they will be a bit more hardy.As for tetra and guppies, he's right there has been so much inbreeding that they are not the hardy fish they used to be.
Good luck and have fun.
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A house is not a home without a dog, some cats and a few fish. Just don't put them altogether.