Fish?Please someone please help?

Question

Ok so i have a 29 gallon tank with 11 guppies, 8 platies, 2 plecos, and 3 snails. I want to reduce the fry in my tank since I can't handle to many so I want to get a divider to sepaerate the males from the females I do understand the females can store the males sperm but even if they can the males won't be able to keep delivering the sperm over and over again so if I do put the divider will it help in lowing down the population? I also want to use the divider since my 2 plecos have problems with each other so they'll also be sepaerated. Will this divider help with any of my problems?

Answer 1

yes and no you would be better off getting another tank either a 55 or another 29 your tank is close to being over crowed as it is dividing it wont correct this issue it will only give you a tank with two halfs close to being over crowed

Answer 2

Yes, get a divider and seperate your male and female fish.  The sooner you do it, the better.  Female guppies can hold sperm from a single mating for up to 6 months, so be aware that your females are going to deliver anywhere from 3-6 more drops of fry and each of those drops are going to have to be seperated into the male and female sections at 4 weeks of age or your guppy fry problems will be never ending!   Believe me, dear, I feel your pain!  Try putting an ad up on Craigslist or Freecycle for free guppies.

Your plecos will do better once seperated as well.  They are just being a little territorial, that's all.  I do hope you have the smaller variety of pleco, like rubber mouth or bristle nose plecos or they will soon grow much too large for your tank.  You need to get a little cave or something for each of your plecos so they will have a nice hiding place to call their own.  They should have a little bit of driftwood to chew on, too.  Make sure that their caves are at opposite ends of the tank.  This will help calm them down.  

I take it that they are pushing and shoving at each other a lot?  This is perfectly normal, and as long as they aren't getting really aggressive or putting the little spurs on the sides of their faces out, there really isn't anything serious going on.  I have bred my albino bristle nose plecos and the juveniles shove each other all over the place, especially when there's a piece of zucchini in the tank.

Answer 3

yes i think you should put the divider but there'll be a problem moving the fish to where they're supposed to go. or to reduce the population just sell some of them. that way you'll make money AND have less fish. see pretty simple.

Answer 4

When people say the female guppies can packet sperm, they mean that once a female guppy gets pregnant, it can keep having babies for nearly the rest of its life. You'd be better off just getting rid of all the females. Then you'd lower your population.

Personally, what I do is I keep shrimp in my guppy tank. The shrimp loooove the fry... for dinner. It keeps my population controlled and I don't have to do any separating.

You can try separating the tank, or you can try taking the fry to your local fish store. They'll take the babies off your hands and might even give you money ( a dollar or two).