How many male GUPPIES (not puppies) for a 10 or 15 gallon tank?

[KittenFishMom]

The LFS said he would take more female guppies later this week, and hopeful the last of females in a week or 2. I'm going to keep some males in a 10 or 15 gallon tank. The rest will go to the fish LFS.

I have been looking at over stocked guppies for so long, I'm not sure what a good stocking level for male guppies would be. How many male only guppies would you put in a 10 or 15 gallon tank? Now that I have split the males from the females, I have noticed how much less the males eat.  I will probable add some clean up crew snails and maybe some shrimp or cleaning crew fish.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Edited September 5, 2022 by KittenFishMom
fixed typos, not very awake

[CJs Aquatics]

my personal opinion on this:  

your dedication to maintenance/ tank set up/ type of main filtration drastically changes the amount of guppies which you can put in various size tanks. What type of filtration will you use/ what’s your maintenance routine look like? 

[KittenFishMom]

I use sponge filters, HOB(s), and extra air stones, driftwood, and plants, except in the female guppy tanks. I check water parms close to daily. (If everything looks good, I am apt to skip the day after a water change). I tend to change 30%, even more for my over stock guppies. I vac the gravel and squeeze out the sponge filters during most water changes.

I have snails, and make sure they get fed sinking wafers or algae wafers and the prune the plants too. If there is a jump in the snail population, I cut back a little on all the food I am feeding.

I tend to use less expensive sheets of filter media in the HOB that I cut to size and toss in a bucket for plant water once media looks dirty or the flow drops, and replace with new media. (I rotate plant water buckets so one is getting new filter media as one is running low on nutrients and going to be empties of the old HOB filters, replacing water as I use it on plants.)   

With the over stocked guppies, I am doing more water changes than I would like to. We are buying spring water in gallon jugs as the improvements to the well are being finished. It complicates water changes, and ups the cost for fish I would like to rehome. It does keep the to-be-rehomed fish healthy and the house smelling clean.

The males that were born while Mom was sick are becoming stunning adults. I need to figure out how to thin out the male crowd, and how to make enough room for the handsome ones I can't part with. The females have to go. I might get some in the future, but I am overwhelmed right now.

[PineSong]

I am the poster child for livebearer hoarding/overstocking and like you, I’ve decided to turn off the tap on the constant flow of fry and I’ve been selling or giving away lots of fish. 

In my mind, water quality isn’t the only factor that limits what number would be healthy, there’s also stress and aggression between male guppies. My Endlers are peaceful and display for each other without chasing and harassment. Same with my ginga yellows. My fancy guppies are thugs and certain ones are really non-stop picking on others. My blue Moscows fought like bettas in the beginning. So I’d take harassment levels into account too. With plants and regular water changes I would easily keep 15-20 in a 10g if they were nice to each other.

[Jenja]

You're clearly experienced handling a heavy bioload, so thinning down the herd will be a simple matter of remove and monitor - keep removing males until you reach the water change schedule you want to maintain.

[KittenFishMom]

@PineSong It might be because they are young, but I don't see aggression at this point.  I watch the tanks a lot, look for fish activity that means a fish of the oppositive sex is in the tank.  They are easy to spot. either a bunch of males are trying to "sniff the belly" of a female (in the male tank)  or a male is following a female all over the tank.(in a female tank). The males haven't shown much interest in the other males yet.  I haven't added many plants yet because I want me or the bettas to see if there are any fry appearing in any tank. The males have 3 large sponge filters and a few plants. The smaller females have an Amazon sword plant(I hope fry cant hide there) and a large sponge filter and an intake filter. The large females have a pile of chewed up IALs thanks to the snails, a very small, low water sprite, a sponge filter and a ceramic bridge. There are no floating plants anywhere, so I hope that slow the populations down to a near stop. each tank has a male betta to hunt for fry, but I have been told that not all bettas will hunt fry.

It will be such a relief to see that last of the females go. I so enjoyed watching the fry appear and grow. I just don't have the energy to find them pet all homes.

I will miss the males. There are so many colors and designs on them. An orange one with a big top fin loves to bask on the betta leaf hammock and dream he is a betta.

[PineSong]

I’m in the same place, Kittenfish. I love fry and love seeing the color variations emerge but at some point I just felt nauseated every time I looked at my tank. 
Nobody’s hobby should make them queasy with dread and overwhelm, so… something had to change. 
I still want to breed ‘some’ fry each year but not that many and I am working to build my connections for moving them on.

[KittenFishMom]

I am think of maybe renting a female for month or so from the fish store if I want a batch of fry. I think if I return her in good health, I could avoid have females giving birth once or twice a day.

I am guessing I was getting close to 2 batches of new fry from medium to large females every day at the beginning of July. they were spread over 5 10 gallon tanks.  I kept removing more plants, and every time I looked there were more tiny fry. I think it was the duck weed that was hiding them. I didn't think duck weed counted as fry hideouts.

[Tedrock]

On 9/5/2022 at 11:29 AM, KittenFishMom said:

The LFS said he would take more female guppies later this week, and hopeful the last of females in a week or 2. I'm going to keep some males in a 10 or 15 gallon tank. The rest will go to the fish LFS.

I have been looking at over stocked guppies for so long, I'm not sure what a good stocking level for male guppies would be. How many male only guppies would you put in a 10 or 15 gallon tank? Now that I have split the males from the females, I have noticed how much less the males eat.  I will probable add some clean up crew snails and maybe some shrimp or cleaning crew fish.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I have a little experience, I raise guppies for my local store.  It depends on the tank purpose.  If it a show tank the display of fish matters.  Framing the scene and adding the right amount to fill the open space with action.  If your a scaper then the viewing window varies.  
 

If you have an open canvas and want constant action then that number is going to be high.

The type of guppies matter too.  Big delta tails will quickly become frayed due to  smaller guppies in a crowded tank and if water conditions aren’t spot on.

So ask yourself what level of motion do you want and in what frame?

I hope this helps.

Tedrock

[KittenFishMom]

On 9/7/2022 at 6:32 PM, PineSong said:

I’m in the same place, Kittenfish. I love fry and love seeing the color variations emerge but at some point I just felt nauseated every time I looked at my tank. 
Nobody’s hobby should make them queasy with dread and overwhelm, so… something had to change. 
I still want to breed ‘some’ fry each year but not that many and I am working to build my connections for moving them on.

@PineSong I am getting to the point that I am crying when I look at the tanks. I just don't have any connection for moving these fish on. I have put so much into getting them to stop multiplying. I am taking the best care of them I can. It is becoming obvious now that no one wants them at all. I am trying to think through if I can face them living here 2 years until they die off.  Waiting for new born pets to die of old age seems pretty bad. It sure isn't why I bought fish in the beginning. I'm not trying to make money, or break even, but I think It may be time for me to get out of the fish hobby game. There just isn't anyplace to take all the fish.