Finally found some guppies so I have a question.
Hello Lisa, To start with, I don’t know where you came up with the idea that you can have one (1) fish per square inch of tank. Any aquarium literature you might have read to this effect is totally erroneous, unless these fish were 1/4″ fry and the tank was a (very) temporary vessel for them.
Let’s address the tank itself (a 12″ tank) which, going by the size chart of All-Glass Aquarium Company’s catalog would be a 2 1/2 gallon 9.46 liters) capacity tank, listed roughly as 12″ x 6″ x 8″. Not even going by the old and obsolete rule of 1″ of fish per gallon for smaller fish of this size (which might allow you a pair of Guppies in this tank), a more accurate rule written by Dr. William T. Innes many years ago stated; “For fish the size of grown pairs of Guppies, 3 square inches of air surface re fish.” He additionally wrote; “Fishes like grown Swordtails, large Platies, etc., need about 8 square inches per fish (4 x 2 inches, or equivilent).” You need to keep in mind, which is obviously seen upon looking at the two different fish (Guppies and Platies), that Platies are so much more deeper-bodied than Guppies and probably have 3 times the bulk in body mass as Guppies do.
I’ve kept guppies in unheated tanks 60 years ago, but as for today’s Fancy Guppies, I can’t vouch for their hardiness and would tend to dissuade you from doing so. Likewise, those earlier Swordtails (especially the Green strain) which were closer to their wild counterparts were etremely tolerant to coolor waters since the speices originates in the higher elevations in their Mexican streams, but Platies come from the lowlands in Central America where the temperatures are somewhat higher. Then too, the hybrid strains are inherantly not as hardy. I would add that in our hybrid Swordtails, the Blood Red strain is not nearly as Hardy as the Brick Red, and it goes right along that Blood Red Platies are not one of the stronger strains either. Ray
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
