I just recieved two guppies in a goldfish bowl, how do I keep them alive without a proper aquarium?!!?

Question

The Guppies are Male fancy guppies, I have limited funds to work with, please help me!

Answer 1

You can actually get a small aquarium for about $10 and Petco sells a nice little filter for aquariums under 3 gallons, (the Elite mini underwater filter). Once you have these essentials, you can get the other things (gravel, plants, etc) as you have money for them. You also need to make sure that you have water dechlorinator. If you can't afford both things right now, I would suggest getting the filter and putting it in the goldfish bowl until you can get the proper set up going. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

You will either need a few plants or a pump and air stone. Make sure there is some type of gravel on the bottom even glass marbles or nuggets will help.
Remove about 1/4 of the water weekly and replace with fresh that has been left standing for at least 12 hours. An easy way to remove some water and clean the bottom at the same time is to use a turkey baster and suck the water from around the gravel.

Answer 3

Despite what you will probably hear by the time I finish this, If the bowl is large enough, all you will have to provide them with is food.

They DON'T NEED a heater - just keep them in a room where the water temperature will consistently stay above 70. DON'T put them by a window or heat vent for warmth.

They DON'T NEED a filter (it helps keep their living quarters cleaner, though).

As long as they are both males, you won't have to worry about babies. You can tell if a guppy is male or female by looking at the anal fin (bottom fin closest to the tail). If it's like a pointed finger, that's a male.

You should give them the largest living quarters you can provide.

They appreciate having a little salt in their water (about 1/2 tsp./gallon). Use salt without iodine (sea salt, coarse salt, kosher salt, canning salt, but not iodized table salt!). You can do without water conditioners by using a gallon jug. Fill with cold tap water (hot has more dissolved metals from the pipes/water heater) and let stand 24 hrs before using (and mix in the salt). Use this as needed to do 25% water changes at least once a week.

Here's some guppy info:

http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-Guppy.htm

If you don't feel thatyou can provide these, the best thing for the fish is to give them to someone who will be able to provide for them.

Answer 4

make sure they are warm spot in the house. keep the water regulated with a declorinator slime coat helper. give them melafix in their water too. depending on how big the bowl is you want to change water every couple of days (a quart) to a week (over a gallon). when you do this find the least stressful way to move them. nets are hard on fish. i move bettas with a ladle if they let me -- if they don't like the ladle i take everything out of the bowl and get all the muck in the bowl swimming around and pull the water out with a cup or pour it down the sink with the sink closed (this is hard -- they can go flying out of the bowl really easily so make sure you close your sink. dump the last bits in a small container that holds at about 2 cups of water with the fish in it. empty out your sink. fill the bowl with water and declorinate it. let it sit for about 30 mins to get to room temperature. do the sink thing with the remaining bits of water (its a lot easier if your container is a plastic container with a lid on it -- you can put the lid slighly sideways and the water comes out. strian til most of the water is gone. dump your fishies in their new water.


oh make sure you wash out the gravel and wipe down the inside of your bowl and wash off your decorations before you refil it.

you can also get food that costs a little more that reduces waste. its usually little tiny pellets. you can count out the number of pellets and feed them regulated meals so their isnt leftover food mucking up the water.

another thing you can do to keep your water cleaner is get a bit of java fern or java moss and tie it to a rock or piece of drift wood and drop it in. its that easy to keep a live plant in your bowl. makes sure when you clean the bowl you remove any dead bits of plant.

Answer 5

You should get em a little tank with a filter and some bubble, and put the in a place where the water doesnt get too cold. They sell some cheap tanks in Walmart you should check em out.

Answer 6

Pretty tough guys, but they do need oxygen and food and an environment that can deal with their waste.... either add a filtering system of a few real plants. Plants are cheapest... a bottom feeding fish would help too... ask your local pet store.

Answer 7

feed em fish food?