# Guppies in CO2 tank



## Richard Dowling (28 Jun 2015)

Hi All,

After years of protest I have finally given up the fight and allowed my girlfriend to put some Guppies in my Aquarium. They appear to have been fine for the first day but I'm noticing that whilst the CO2 has been on they all stay at the surface. The rest of my fish are absolutely fine and show no sign of being gassed. Are guppies generally ok in a CO2 setup?

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk


----------



## imak (28 Jun 2015)

I believe guppys and molly tend to go regularly to the water surface to breed.  They should be OK.


----------



## Richard Dowling (28 Jun 2015)

Breed or Breath? If breed, that's quick!  Lol 

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk


----------



## parotet (28 Jun 2015)

I've seen them in co2 tanks and they do well, as good as other fish. Maybe if it is their first day they are not used to it. When I introduce a new fish, I do it once the co2 has finished (afternoon for me), I bubble O2 in the tank and acclimatize them with the drip system. The next day I just run the co2 and lights half of the period andthen I go back to the normal situation. 

Jordi


----------



## GHNelson (28 Jun 2015)

Hi
Guppy's have high aeration in fish store tanks as all fish bought from the local fish store!
There's the clue....try adding some aeration for a day or two to get them acclimatised to a Co2 tank as Jordi stated!
hoggie


----------



## Jose (28 Jun 2015)

They are probably quite sensitive to co2 explaining why we very rarely see them in high tech tanks. Ive seen one ADA tank with them, but they inject co2 via a diffuser which wont dissolve a lot of co2 into the water. Maybe you ought to try this approach, a reactor is probably not a great idea.


----------



## John S (28 Jun 2015)

I had guppies when I first went over to Co2. They looked OK but they either stopped breeding or the fry didn't survive (can't say for sure as I never saw any fry). A few months later I took them out and gave them to a friend who wasn't injecting Co2 and within weeks his tank was full of babies.


----------



## imak (28 Jun 2015)

Richard Dowling said:


> Breed or Breath? If breed, that's quick!  Lol
> 
> Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk


  wow, breath of course, sorry. They breed everywhere non stop, not just at the surface lol .......


----------



## alto (29 Jun 2015)

Guppies at the tank surface (mollies as well) is a sign of distress - may be CO2 related, may also be health related (it's not uncommon for newly arrived guppies to appear stressed over the first few days - they are often kept with salt at wholesalers etc - they will usually pick up).
Guppies should be fairly active & exploring all areas of the tank.

Amano once used guppies quite regularly in his book/magazine display tanks.


----------



## PARAGUAY (29 Jun 2015)

Is the question because being livebearers they require higher PH with hard water ,so not really suitable for a planted CO2 tank. I asked the question with regards my platies with aquascapers was told they would be fine and they were.Some of the top aquascapes in the contests by Amano have livebearers


----------



## alto (30 Jun 2015)

From Seriously Fish



> Unfortunately many commercially bred guppies are not very hardy due to inbreeding and over-production and are prone to disease and *premature death*. We therefore recommend the purchase of quality stock from breeders or society auctions.



This has been my experience ...
I also had a group of guppies that were bizarrely aggressive, shredding each others fins & determinedly chasing/nipping anything else in the tank - I returned these to the shop after a couple weeks

I still have a couple of variants on my want list but haven't seen quality guppies in the shops (I don't want big droopy fins or giant pectorals so not likely to happen anytime soon  )


----------



## parotet (30 Jun 2015)

PARAGUAY said:


> Is the question because being livebearers they require higher PH with hard water ,so not really suitable for a planted CO2 tank. I asked the question with regards my platies with aquascapers was told they would be fine and they were.Some of the top aquascapes in the contests by Amano have livebearers


Livebearers do well in co2 enriched tanks, with harder or softer water. Swordtails, platties, mollies, guppies, etc. can be seen in a lot of high techs. I myself had endlers for 2 years and gave them to a friend as they are a kind of pest in your tank (high breeding success in my high techs). My guess is that now they are not so popular in the hobby because we can have a wider fish choice nearly everywhere and for most of us it is really a problem to find a new home every two months for 20 fish. 

Jordi


----------



## ian_m (30 Jun 2015)

I have guppies breeding like rabbits with a drop checker like this.... (actually more green nowadays).



 

I regularly have to fish babies out of the filters.


----------



## Jose (30 Jun 2015)

PARAGUAY said:


> Is the question because being livebearers they require higher PH with hard water ,so not really suitable for a planted CO2 tank. I asked the question with regards my platies with aquascapers was told they would be fine and they were.Some of the top aquascapes in the contests by Amano have livebearers



I dont think its got so much to do with ph, as long as KH is relatively high. Because they can do well in a low pH due to co2 injection as long as kH is high.
I think the symptoms the op is having is due to high co2/ low o2. I also think guppies dont withstand the same co2 levels as tetras for example. In Amanos tanks his co2 levels (dissolved co2) are most probably quite low (maybe around 10-20 ppm). Dropcheckers dont say a lot IMO since they can be yellow and you can have 20 ppm of co2. Things like having co2 bubbles going into it might affect the reading.


----------

