Jeff's Betta Biosphere

Guppy Basics

Keeping Guppies

 Guppies are relatively easy fish to keep for the hobbiest. I prefer no more than 2 adult fish per gallon of tank water. First of all, buy good stock. Spend the money to buy from reputable IFGA breeders. Starting with strong healthy fish will add to your chances of success. Once the fish you've purchased have arrived, you will need a slow acclimation from the breeders water to yours. Start by placing your new fish in a small sterile container with the original water the fish came in. Add the same amount of your water to the container. You should now have a 50/50 mix of your water and the water your fish arrived in. After 30 minutes remove 50% of the water and again replace the 50% with your water. Wait 30 minutes and repeat the entire process one more time. You should now be able to release your fish safely after this 2 hour acclimation period.

Wait 24 hours before offering food as you fish need time to de-stress and explore their new environment.

 Water Conditioning

I treat my water with a good dechlorinator that also removes chloramane. Amquel, Ultimate and Stresscoat are good choices. These are a few I recommend but there are many good products out there that will do an effective job. Make sure the product eliminates chloramane as well as chlorine.

Adding Salt ? – I don’t, but many breeders do.  Usually a teaspoon per 5 gallons. I not really opinionated either way. If you are feeding live baby brine shrimp you may prolong the life of the shrimp if they are not all devoured when fed or you overfeed a bit.

Feeding Young Adult and Mature Guppies

Adult fish are fed live baby brine shrimp once a day.  I feed high quality flake food as many times a day as possible. A perfect schedule would be 6 times or more a day.  For most of us that is unrealistic.   Feed small amounts as often as possible.   Guppies will take food on the hour if you don’t overfeed each meal.    Water changes weekly are critical. I change 50% once a week. Water temperatures are around 74 degrees

Raising Baby Brine Shrimp

I keep 3 - ½ gallon hatchers going every day.  I mix 50 grams of aquarium salt (canning salt at the grocery store works as well and maybe cheaper) to ½ gallon of water.  The shrimp will hatch in 24 hours and can be collected daily .  I can cycle 3 days or 3 hatchings before restarting the hatcher. Buy premium eggs with a 90% hatch rate . I’ve screwed around with the 70% and it’s a waste. Buy fresh eggs for somebody like brine shrimp direct or another reliable source.

Tank Filtration

Here is the filtration I use for various size tanks :

2.5 gallon – Hydro sponge 1 filters
5 gallon – Hydro sponge 1 filters and a box filter
10 gallon - Hydro sponge 1 filters and a box filter
20 gallon – Hydro sponge 4 filter and a box filter
30 gallon breeders – Emporer 400 and Hydro sponge 4 filter

These are all bare bottom tanks that receive a 50% water change once per week.

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This page created and maintained by me, Jeff Hiller.  All articles and photographs are copyrighted to me and reproducible only with my permission.