Best solution for aggression between male Guppy's?

[TacomaToker]

16 Gallon Tank:
3x New Guinea Rainbow
3x Zebra Danio
1x Male Snakeskin Guppy
2x Male Unknown "Fancy" Guppy's

I recently introduced the 2 male Fancy Guppy's to this tank, as I had one snakeskin guppy die off. For the first few days, all was well and the snakeskin guppy was almost always swimming with the new guys. This morning, I noticed that my snakeskin guppy is missing a small piece of his tail, and one of the fancy Guppy's is continuously chasing him around and nipping at his fin. I am worried this will only get worse, so what would be the best solution?

I have a 20 gallon tank waiting to be set up, should I just turn this into a hard water guppy tank? Transfer the 3 males in there and try to get my hands on maybe 6 females to put in there with them? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated... thank you!!

 

[Colin_T]

Guppies are best kept in single sex tanks to prevent the males hassling the females.

Males and females live in groups with a pecking order. There is a dominant male or female and they have a group of friends around them. The entire group then bullies weaker/ smaller individuals to keep them at the bottom of the pecking order.

You had a dominant male in a tank and he had his territory. You added 2 new males and now they are fighing over dominance. Your best option is to remove the male that is being bullied and monitor the remaining 2 males. Sometimes they will get along together but other times you end up with 1 male.

 

[TacomaToker]

Guppies are best kept in single sex tanks to prevent the males hassling the females.

Males and females live in groups with a pecking order. There is a dominant male or female and they have a group of friends around them. The entire group then bullies weaker/ smaller individuals to keep them at the bottom of the pecking order.

You had a dominant male in a tank and he had his territory. You added 2 new males and now they are fighing over dominance. Your best option is to remove the male that is being bullied and monitor the remaining 2 males. Sometimes they will get along together but other times you end up with 1 male.

What if I want to make a new tank with harder water, would I be able to add more male Guppy's and solve the problem? Put these 3 guppys in with maybe 6 more males?

Also, what are some larger fish I could pair with Guppy's in a hard water tank?

 

[Colin_T]

Sometimes putting a group of males together in a new tank can work but sometimes it doesn't. Some fish get along and some don't. And if you get 2 males the same size and they both want to be boss, they will fight.

Having said that, if you want a tank of males, buy 6 more and put them all in the smaller tank at the same time. Then monitor them over the next few weeks.

 

[TacomaToker]

Sometimes putting a group of males together in a new tank can work but sometimes it doesn't. Some fish get along and some don't. And if you get 2 males the same size and they both want to be boss, they will fight.

Having said that, if you want a tank of males, buy 6 more and put them all in the smaller tank at the same time. Then monitor them over the next few weeks.

Thanks for your help!! Would 9 male guppies work in a 20 gallon tank with 6 neon tetras?

 

[Retired Viking]

Do you have hard water or soft? Neon tetra are soft water fish. Guppies are hard water fish but have a wider range of hardness they can handle than most hard water fish.

 

[TacomaToker]

Do you have hard water or soft? Neon tetra are soft water fish. Guppies are hard water fish but have a wider range of hardness they can handle than most hard water fish.

I have quite soft water, about 7 GH. The Rainbows and Zebra Danios do fine at that level, but it is a bit soft for the guppies, right?

I am thinking I will create a hard water tank for my guppies, and hopefully can add some other hard water fish who pair well. Thanks for the feedback on Tetra's, what about mixing in a school of 6 mollies instead?

 

[Retired Viking]

Mollies are even more hardwater fish than guppies. I have moderately hard water and have the opposite problem and add RO so I can have my tetra.( I thought you were thinking of having the mollies in with the tetras.)

 

[Retired Viking]

I think guppies are 8-12 GH and mollies are around 15GH but you may want to check those numbers since it has been awhile since I had mollies.

 

[TacomaToker]

I think guppies are 8-12 GH and mollies are around 15GH but you may want to check those numbers since it has been awhile since I had mollies.

Thanks! Regardless, do you have any suggestions for other fish I could pair with 6 guppies in a 20 gal. hard water tank?

 

[Retired Viking]

I started with 8 young guppy fry, As they grew I found I had 7 females and 1 male. It did not take long before I had a tank full of fry. Unless you want fry make sure you have all males. Mollies and guppies will be fine in the same tank since they share the same needs as far as temp and guppies can handle the harder water

 

[JuiceBox52]

I'm pretty sure that the rainbows need harder water as well

 

[Essjay]

Yes, they are hard water fish, but Seriously Fish says they need a tank at least 4 ft long so the 20 gallon is probably not big enough for them. A 16 gallon is definitely not big enough, I'm afraid.

 

[Colin_T]

A lot of rainbowfish come from soft water but they all do better in hard water due to their marine heritage. Try to keep the GH above 150ppm and pH above 7.0 for rainbowfish. Guppies need a GH above 200ppm and a pH above 7.0.

Small species of rainbowfish and blue-eyes (Pseudomugils) can be kept with guppies but the tank size would be an issue for most species except the smaller Pseudomugils.

The following link has information about different rainbowfish species. You might find it interesting.

Melanotaeniidae and Pseudomugilidae

A website dedicated to Rainbowfishes of Australia and New Guinea

rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au