sand for a freshwater aquarium?

Question

can u have sand for a freshwater? i have some plants in it and 4 guppies.... and my guppies i have 2 males and 2 females and i never see them mate but can a female be pregnant from 2 different males? can she have half of the batch from 1 guppy and the other half from the other guppy? or will she jus have them from one guppy?

and if they onlyt accept sperm from the first guppy, i got mine from the petstore and they were btoh already pregnantg so is that y they arent really mating much?

Answer 1

Sand is fine for a freshwater tank, just be sure to rinse it VERY well before using it. I am currently using pool filter sand (diatomaceous earth) and it works great. To vacuum it, remove the gravel vacuum part so you just have a hose. Then, hover it above the sand. It may take some practice, but you will eventually get to the point where you aren't sucking up any sand. The sand will also encourage good root growth and faster propagating of side shoots.

Guppies only take sperm from one male at a time. They could, however, have a batch of fry from one male, and then another batch from another. Email me if you have any questions.

Soop Nazi

EDIT: That is probably why. Once they give birth to the fry they are holding now, then they will get pregnant from your current males.

EDIT 2: LOL, today, I got bored and decided to read the bag of sand (I didn't use all of it)... So, I discovered that diatomaceous earth is actually a perfect substrate for plants because it contains healthy amounts of iron, calcium, magnesium, and other helpful nutrients.

Answer 2

The question about using sand in freshwater tanks has been posted here several times in the last week or two, so this time I'll just say it has some disadvantages, but is useful for certain kinds of fish. For the fish you have, though, gravel would be better. However, it's irrelevant in your case, because the tank is so overcrowded that most of your fish will soon be shucking off this mortal coil and going to sing with the choir eternal. You've got about 50 gallons worth of fish and snails in a 5-gallon tank. It doesn't matter how much filtration you have; the aquarium just isn't big enough to support that population. It's not "a little full," it hardly has room for any water. The plecostomus, if it survives, will grow longer than the tank itself. So, in detail, here's what you can do: 1. Take all those animals out of that tiny tank. 2. Put them in a bigger tank. 3. Use gravel, not sand, in the new tank. I don't mean to be rude, but you asked what you should do, and I don't want to lie to you.

Answer 3

For your first question, yes sand is okay. It might suck up some when you do a gravel vac. For your second question, No, the female only accepts the sperm packets from the first fish that mates with her. Anything else just die out. This should answer your remaining 2 questions.

Answer 4

yes you can have sand,and i dont know anything about guppies.