Aggressive Guppies

[petecrab]

Set up my tank a few days ago and was bought some neon guppies as a present. After a few days of learning about tropical fish i learn that they are all male! so i went out and got some female guppies to try and equal it all out, but that didnt work and now all the male guppies and continuously after one of the females who looks very pregnant!

DOH!

 

[Annastasia]

What is your male to female ratio? Ideally, it should be about 1 male per 2-3 females. Also, you can keep just male Guppies, as long as you have at least 5. This can help you cut down on fry, because female Guppies can have 30-60 (average) fry per month...and if you multiple that by the number of females you have, that's a lot of fry!

The reason they are chasing the pregnant female could be 2 reasons...

1. They are chasing her, to stress her out, and make her abort her fry so they can eat them.

2. They are chasing her because pregnant fish secrete a special hormone males find attractive.

Usually it's the second, though.

And since you said you set-up your tank a few days ago...I assume you cloned a tank to cycle it?

Best of luck with your Guppies, and have fun being a fish-keeper!

 

[petecrab]

Well one of the females was dead this morning! doh! stupid males

 

[Annastasia]

So sorry to hear that. RIP.

Though as I asked before, what is your male to female ratio? That could account for some of the chasing...

 

[petecrab]

its now 2 female 3 male

 

[abstract]

you should have 3 females for every male livebearer...otherwise the males will stress the females to death as you have seen

 

[guppys]

ye you should have at least 2 females for every male you have or they will stress the females and even kill them!!


ow sorry didnt read what anyone had put, sorry to hear about her but thats what happens when you dont get the ration right.

 

[blitztidus]

sorry to hear that. you should definately have more females and make sure they have enough room for each other. males are always territorial

 

[xander_chookeypud]

Yeh I'm finding that my males are chasing my females around and I have 8 females and 5 males! I am going to get another couple of females to get the ideal ratio after hearing about what happened to yours.

I do have a baby guppy swimming round, but im not sure that counts...

 

[blitztidus]

that definately does not count. it is way too young. get more females or split them up

 

[xander_chookeypud]

Unfortunately I don't have the option of splitting them up, so I am going to have to get a couple more females.

Ummm... new topic: a couple of my female guppy's keep rubbing their bellies on the gravel in my tank every now and then... what does this mean?

 

[Annastasia]

It can mean they are getting ready to give birth..or it could be a sign of a disease. Are they flicking on anything? Or just rubbing? Did you get your test it yet so you can give water stats? And is there any external signs that don't look normal?

Sorry for all the questions. )

 

[xander_chookeypud]

That's ok, I'm really glad you're trying to help! Hmmm... no its more of a flick on the gravel. There aren't any other external signs that don't look normal though.

I am definately going to make a trip to store to get a water tester, I think its almost vital now as I'm getting worried about it. They are pregnant by the looks of things.

The annoying thing is that some dopey kid that works in the garden centre gave me 2 female and 1 male guppy when i wanted 3 females to balance things out... so at the moment I have the annoying dilemma of needing female guppys to get the ratio of 2:1 to stop the males stressing out my females quite as much, but I also don't want to put anymore in because of the worry that my water conditions aren't sufficient! Oh so confused!

Any help is appreciated! Sorry for my massive amount of writing!!!!

 

[Annastasia]

Well, if your Guppies seem to be doing okay, the water conditions must be pretty good, because they are very sensitive to that. If they are flicking, I would watch for white spot, as flicking can be an early sign of that. If no white spot appears in a few days, or any other disease, I'd say it could be a sign of giving birth soon.

 

[xander_chookeypud]

Ah ok, well thats what I am hoping! Thank you very much for your help Annastasia. I will let you know how things go and I will post the test results from my water test tomorrow.