More = Merrier

I found a recent news article which states that fish in groups of 10 or more are less stressed and happier than just a single lonely fish, a pair or even 5 kept together. Fish are more likely to demonstrate natural behaviors when kept in larger numbers.To answer this articles question "how many fish you should put in an aquarium to create the best environment for them" it's usually 1 inch length of a single fish is equal to 1 gallon of water. So if you have 2 fish in your tank that are each 2 inches in length, you'll need at least 4 gallons of water, perhaps more if the fish aren't full grown (my personal suggestion). So if both your 2 inch fish grow up to 5 inches each, you'll need at least 10 gallons of water in order to provide a healthier fish environment.

Now you ask "why are Betta's often sold in small amounts of water", I've yet to discover this answer fully but I do find it slightly inhumane myself. It's no wonder why Betta's AKA Japanese Fighting Fish are aggressive when together after reading the above article and why they seem so sad when living alone. The same question should be asked to pet stores that keep too many fish stocked in a single tank at one time. You could debate that pet stores do this because there selling rate and providing a big selection for buyers, or you could debate that the fish you're getting from these fish stores aren't as healthy as they may appear. I believe if you want healthier fish that are kept in these conditions then go to a store where people actually come and purchase the fish and if you see dead fish in the tank with them at the time of purchase, chances are they may not be THAT healthy.

On the other hand I somewhat feel schooling fish or more non-active fish will do okay in a tank that may perhaps be a tad too tiny for them. Just insure your fish have plenty of room to swim and they're not living fin to fin.

><>Guppy-Guide<><

About Guppy-Guide

Hi Everyone!

Owner of Guppy-Guide
I'm currently a college student outside the DC area, and I started Guppy-Guide in 2009 here on Blogger.

Why a blog?
I really wanted to create an informative blog about guppies in the very beginning but this blog has also become about other fish as well. While I found there are tons of fish forums and such online the information being given to people could often be hit or miss. I always feel I've only scratched the surface when it comes to my knowledge on this topic and I wanted a place where I could share MY facts about aquariums and fish rather than assuming something will or won't work. Granted, not everything works the same for everybody, but I wanted to do my best to debunk things and share my knowledge and experiences.

In the beginning...
Just like a lot of people that come to my blog I had to learn about fish through experience, I never intended to be as into fish and aquariums as I am today. Starting off, I did have days where I wanted to give up on trying to keep fish because they kept dieing (due to the lack of info and knowledge I had). I felt embarrassed and a bit ashamed when my local pet-stores started referring to me as "Fish Killer". While you may be laughing now it was definitely not intentional, and taking care/raising fish is not as simple as bowl + water = happy fish.

Currently...
I find keeping fish a constant and interesting experiment, their's always something new to try/do/use. I've made many friends online who also share in the joys of having aquariums and they've taught me many things about aquariums as well. I do breed guppies only so far, and luckily a good friend of my mom sets up aquariums for offices around DC, so once my tanks are looking overstocked I pass my guppies onto him. By July 2013 I stopped breeding guppies in an attempt to breed mollies (but that plan failed miserably). Also, I don't plan to get into saltwater aquariums any time soon just because I don't feel I can dedicate the time I'd want for that.

Prior to June 2013 my blog here has been hitting over 1,000 views a month, mainly from people living in the US, but also very surprisingly Latvia comes at a close second (big thanks to all my readers out there). A year later come July 2014 and my viewer count on this blog had tripled to over 3,000 views a month, which is seriously amazing to myself and it definitely makes my day to see others interested in what I blog about.

My Dreams...
I would love to travel to Japan again to visit the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (currently the 3rd biggest aquarium in the world), I fell in love with the aquarium from a YouTube video I saw awhile back (also, one of my fave fish YouTubers to watch is FishFromVenezuela). I always try to go to every and any aquarium in the US when I visit different states, I think the Shedd's Aquarium is probably my favorite one to have visited so far. I'd one day love to see Takashi Amano in aqua-scaping action (since I made this blog Mr. Amano has unfortunately passed away) or at least to see his aquascapes in person, he's definitely one of my faves as far as freshwater aquarium setups go. I'd even love to travel to Singapore because they seem to have a huge array of freshwater fish there. I would really love to breed Ranchu's in the future, although they're pretty hard to come-by in the US (maybe I could change that) (as it is now 2017 Ranchu's have become easier to come by in the US). Maybe one day I will make a book of all my aquarium experiences/knowledge. In the meantime though, I dream of creating new or interesting strains of fish and making the fish community a better place.

Questions, Comments, and Additional Websites
I always try to respond to any comments here as soon as I possibly can, and occasionally I'll even answer aquarium/fish questions through Yahoo Answers as I stumble across them in my free time. You can contact Guppy-Guide on any of its available social media sites. As of June 2013, this blog is now on Pinterest and I may one day start up a more official YouTube channel for this blog.

Any websites, blogs, etc. listed on here are generally ones that I find useful, helpful, or enjoy looking at. Any images or information which may be used from another resource I do try to provide copyright info back to, or give credit/linkage to the rightful owner. Please message/comment my blog here if you have any questions/concerns.

My Blogger is based mainly on my own personal experiences and opinion, I am not paid by anyone to review any products, etc. (although I would gladly review any companies products if allowed to give my honest unbiased opinion/s). I also do updates on older posts if/when I discover new things about the topic or decide to add in images, etc.

It does take time and effort to write these posts that I create in my own free time. Please do not steal/take any info, images, etc. without a link back to this website (www.guppy-guide.blogspot.com), or message/comment me if you have any questions about this topic. This is a non-profit blog, donations are always welcome, but not necessary (you can find a donation link to PayPal in the sidebar of this blog or by clicking here).

Donation thanks to...
Pure Goldfish