I bought a 5 gallon fish tank. I have two guppies and my tank is well fitted with an air filter and heater to control temperature. I use only gravel for decorating my tank. Is it good or do I need to change my tank size?
I am looking for suggestions the type of food I give them.
Any other suggestion for my tank setup will be appreciated. I am a novice.
When it comes to tank size, and water parameters, a larger tank has more buffer towards any and all changes, due to the larger capacity. It will take that much longer for the pH, or temperature, or any other parameter to change dramatically. A tank size of 20+ gallons is ideal. You can stock upwards of 20 guppies in it, if you have a good quality filter.
Considering that you wish to keep only guppies, proper maintenance such as cleaning, and partial water changes of about 20-30% (never a complete water change), will ensure that the water quality remains good. Please do read up on the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium, to know the importance of the above sentences.
Procure a combination of different foods, such as Hikari Fancy Guppy, Sera Guppy Bits, Hikari Tropical Micro Flakes, Hikari Tropical Micro Pellets, etc. Hikari and Sera are good brands. I suggested micro pellets because guppies cannot eat the other medium to large size pellet food on account of their teeny tiny mouths.
You can keep several guppies in a 5gal. I used to keep guppies extensively. I'm in a situation where I can't have a tank now. I've had large tanks in the past, but in college, I set up 5gal hex tank with a filter/light built into the hood.
If you do regular maintenance, (ie: change 25% of the water once a week, clean the gravel once a month, change the filter at the time designated on the instructions, and condition tap water if that's what you're using) then you'll be just fine. I wouldn't put more than 4-6 guppies in it.
As far as food, I always feed a tropical fish flake to enhance color. They can nibble off bits of larger flakes and if you have babies, a distinct possibility with guppies, you can take an old, empty container ( I used an empty beta food container) and crush the flakes to a fine powder with your fingers. It makes a good baby food.
The other cool thing about guppies is that they breed easily. If you get into them, you can get a bigger tank and use the 5gal as a baby tank. I used to pick colors and fin styles I liked and then when they'd breed, I'd keep the babies I liked and give the others back to the pet store. If you keep that up and introduce new blood occasionally, you can design your own guppy. I ended up with USC Gamecocks guppies before I got done with it. They had black bodies and burgundy tails. :))
