I’ve been fishkeeping for many years, and I love guppies! They are one of my favorite freshwater aquarium inhabitants.
If you are interested in getting guppies but not sure what they need to live a healthy life, don’t worry. This article will provide all the knowledge you need about their needs and caregiving requirements. It may be helpful for new owners!
Read on to discover all about – what do guppies like in their tank!
What Do Guppies Like In Their Tank? (Their Needs)
Guppies are one of the most widespread freshwater fish in the aquarium hobby. They are beautiful, lively, and easy to care for. You can put them in any community tank under the right conditions.
Mimicking the tank condition close to their natural habitat condition will keep them healthy and cheerful. Therefore, your goal should be to replicate the guppy tank similar to the wild.
Guppies need well-oxygenated warmer water, food, and large enough space to swim at a bare minimum. They prefer slightly hard water and neutral or slightly above neutral water pH.
If you can add some live plants to their tank, they will happily welcome it. The reason is that live plants resemble their wild habitat condition. Live plants also provide filtration to some extent and keep the tank water free of toxic substances.
What Is The Prescribed Tank Size For A Guppy?
The bare minimum tank size for guppies is 10-gallon, Although the average length of Guppy is only 1.5-2 inches. However, a large enough tank is necessary to give them free space to swim.
A 10-gallon tank will be sufficient for housing 5-6 guppies and accommodate aquarium equipment and live plants as well. If any confusion arises regarding stocking quantities, I’ll suggest you follow the general thumb rule “1 inch fish per gallon of water”.
Do Guppies Prefer Other Guppies In Their Tank?
Guppies are peaceful community fish, and there is no issue if you put them in multiple. But, conversely, they will love to be in a group with other guppies, although they are not schooling fish.
But if you don’t want to raise them in a group, make sure you put other peaceful fish as their companion. In addition, you can put some bottom-dwelling fish like cory catfish, plecos, etc. They won’t disturb guppies; instead, they will keep the tank clean by staying and eating at the bottom.
Do Guppies Need A Light In Their Tank?
In the wild, they get light from the sun in the daytime and dark at night. Although light is not necessary for them to grow and survive, they should get at least the amount of lighting they are used to in their natural habitat conditions.
Do guppies need light at night? No, you should turn off the light at night to keep the circadian cycle running. Moreover, excess light may cause unwanted algae problems in your fish tank. So in that sense, you should not put the tank under direct sunlight also.
Do Guppies Need A Filter In Their Tank?
There are mixed opinions on whether a filter is required in a Guppy tank. Yes, Guppy aquariums can be set without a filter because they are small and don’t produce too much waste. You can do that if you have low fish density, a properly cycled aquarium, and a planted aquarium where plants take over some of the filtration required.
However, if you are a newcomer or inexperienced, setting up a guppy tank without a filter could be problematic for you. To be frank, if you want to be on the safe side, I will suggest installing a filter with adequate capacity. An aquarium filter not only keeps your aquarium visually clean but also keeps your aquarium water free of toxic substances like ammonia.
Do Guppies Need A Heater? (Can Guppies Live In An Unheated Tank?)
Guppies are tropical fish, and they prefer warmer temperatures. The ideal temperature range for a Guppy tank is 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, you absolutely need a heater if you live in a place where room temperature is below that range.
Although they can survive in low temperature (65 to 70 °F) water, they will be less active and susceptible to disease. Moreover, if you like to give a try to breed Guppy, a warmer temperature is recommended.
Increasing the temperature to 82 degrees will increase their metabolism, grow faster, and breed more frequently. However, this will shorten their lifespan.
You can increase the lifespan of Guppy by up to three years by maintaining a temperature around 72 degrees Celsius. However, at this temperature, it will take much more time for guppies to reach adulthood and likely to breed once every 6 months.
So the tank temperature of Guppy depends on your requirements; how you want to keep your fish. Keep in mind, guppies don’t do well, If the temperature fluctuates too much. Therefore you should provide them a stable temperature in their tank.
What Kind Of Water Do Guppies Need?
The water pH of the guppy tank should be around in the neutral zone or slightly above 7. They do like hard water, with relatively higher calcium and magnesium content. The ideal hardness is 8 to 12 dGH.
Apart from that, the tank water should be free of ammonia because ammonia poisoning is deadly for any aquatic species, not only guppies. Also, maintain other tank parameters like nitrite, nitrate levels intolerable range for the fish to survive.
What Type Of Food Do Guppies Like?
Guppies are voracious eaters; they like almost all sorts of foods, including pellets, flakes, bloodworms, brine shrimps, etc. Since they love to eat; therefore, it is very common to overfeed them. But you should not be because overfeeding can cause constipation, bloating, and other digestive issues.
How Often Do Guppies Need To Be Fed?
Guppies need to be fed once or twice a day. But be careful about the amount. The amount they can finish in one minute is the ideal quantity to feed them. However, if you are raising fry, you can provide them three or five times but ensure that each feeding is small enough so that no leftover food floats in the water.
Do Guppies Like Heavily Planted Tanks?
Yes, guppies like heavily planted tanks. Live plants imitate the scenario of their habitat in the wild. They are native to brackish, freshwater streams in South America. By adding live plants in their tank, you can literally give them a home feeling. Live plants are also beneficial to remove toxins. SO, if you don’t have a filter for the guppy tank, the addition of live plants can provide you some extent of filtration required.
Do Guppies Need Hiding Places?
Not necessarily; there is no need for hiding places if you put only guppies in the tank. Hiding places is for safety and comfort. It’s only required if guppies are kept in a community tank with other larger fish. To provide hiding places, you can add aquarium decors, driftwoods, caves, rocks. However, make sure there is no sharp edge.
Do Guppies Like A Strong Current?
Guppies don’t like strong currents; they are not very good swimmers. Strong currents may push them towards the corner of the tank. Fast-moving water limits their ability to swim freely. If you use an aquarium filter in your tank, make sure that you have the option to adjust the flow rate.
If the minimum flow is strong enough to disturb your guppies, limit the water intake by putting some foam or clothes at the inlet, or create a baffle at the outlet to lessen the impact of the current.
Do Guppies Prefer Sand Or Gravel?
You can use any substrate, either sand, gravel, or substrate made especially for planted aquariums. However, it’s relatively difficult to grow plants in sand or gravel. Therefore if you have plans to add some live plants, you can buy substrate for planted aquariums.
If I compare sand or gravel, then I prefer going for sand. Sand is softer, aesthetically appealing, easier to clean, and plants show better growth in the sand than gravel.
Do Guppies Require An Air Pump?
Guppies don’t have ‘labyrinth’ organs, so they cannot take oxygen from the surrounding air. Instead, they need well-oxygenated water to breathe and survive. If there is a shortage of oxygen in the tank, that may put tremendous stress on the fish.
There are many other ways to maintain sufficient oxygen levels, but an air pump is the easiest and cheapest. So, the answer is you need an air pump in your guppy tank.
Oxygen deficiency can happen during a prolonged power cut-off, so keep a contingency plan for such emergency events.
Conclusion
Hopefully, now you have a fair idea of what do guppies need in their tank? In this post, I tried to introduce you to the needs of guppies, including water parameters, diet recommendations, and more which you can follow as guidelines.
And if there is anything else you want to know about caring for guppy fish, please leave a comment below.