Fancy Guppies vs. Betta. Help!

[Sunyleigh]

Hello,

I am looking for advice and opinions on what I should do. Having a peaceful tank is important to me. I have a relatively new 200 Liter (52 gallon) tank. Im adding fish slowly. I had two male fancy guppies but unfortunately one of them died. I'm not sure why, because all of my other fish are doing just fine. I wanted to get more guppy friends because I know they are social fish, however, the one male fancy guppy has started chasing and nipping at my male betta (who is very tame and non-aggressive for a betta). I'm aware that having guppies and a betta together might have been a bad move but I also thought the tank was big enough and it has A LOT of hiding places.

I am unsure of what my next step should be:

• Is the male guppy aggressive because he needs other guppies around? If I buy two more male guppies, are they going to gang up on the betta? I read that you CAN have an all male guppy tank.
• Or, If I buy two female guppies instead, will it distract the male guppy or will he become more territorial and dominant? I am not too keen of having guppy babies, however.
• Or, should I just NOT get any more guppies and then the one guppy I have will be all alone?

Advice would be appreciated!

Thank you,
Allison

 

[MaloK]

In reality, Even a single guppy could see the betta as a competitor. Check for aggression and don't add more.

I had mean guppies in the past... They would even tackle full grown dwarf gouramis and anything smaller.

 

[Fishfunn]

Hello,

I am looking for advice and opinions on what I should do. Having a peaceful tank is important to me. I have a relatively new 200 Liter (52 gallon) tank. Im adding fish slowly. I had two male fancy guppies but unfortunately one of them died. I'm not sure why, because all of my other fish are doing just fine. I wanted to get more guppy friends because I know they are social fish, however, the one male fancy guppy has started chasing and nipping at my male betta (who is very tame and non-aggressive for a betta). I'm aware that having guppies and a betta together might have been a bad move but I also thought the tank was big enough and it has A LOT of hiding places.

I am unsure of what my next step should be:

• Is the male guppy aggressive because he needs other guppies around? If I buy two more male guppies, are they going to gang up on the betta? I read that you CAN have an all male guppy tank.
• Or, If I buy two female guppies instead, will it distract the male guppy or will he become more territorial and dominant? I am not too keen of having guppy babies, however.
• Or, should I just NOT get any more guppies and then the one guppy I have will be all alone?

Advice would be appreciated!

Thank you,
Allison

I would try to add one or two female guppies for the male; that should distract him because he will be too busy chasing the females around to bother with the betta. If it doesn't work out, you can always take any fish back to the LFS for exchange. Cory catfish are a nice, peaceful fish to have too, as are neon tetras.

Baby guppies aren't bad; the other guppies or fish will eat them if you don't give them cover to hide. I know that is cruel, but it is reality. You can float hortwort or an equivalent floating plant for them to hide in.

 

[Colin_T]

Any chance of a video of the fish so we can see if the guppy is picking on the Betta or trying to breed with it?
You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on either end.

 

[AJ356]

You should move the Betta. That be best.

 

[Ichthys]

Has Guppies + Betta ever worked? I doubt it. You need to do option 4... Remove either the Betta or the Guppies.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Betta fish are solitary fish and need to live in soft water...the opposite are true for guppies. So you'll have to choose one species or the other depending on your water...is my suggestion

 

[emeraldking]

I would plea for a video to see how both species interact before making an estimation of what could be wrong. The combination of a betta and guppies can work if there are sufficient hiding spots for the betta and if the tank is big enough (200 liters should be enough for sure). But you'll never know when you've got dominant male guppies how they'll react to others.
I've kept bettas in combination with other fish such as guppies and it went all well. But mine were just friendly. But my case should not be compared with similar combinations at other one's places.

 

[AJ356]

I would plea for a video to see how both species interact before making an estimation of what could be wrong. The combination of a betta and guppies can work if there are sufficient hiding spots for the betta and if the tank is big enough (200 liters should be enough for sure). But you'll never know when you've got dominant male guppies how they'll react to others.
I've kept bettas in combination with other fish such as guppies and it went all well. But mine were just friendly. But my case should not be compared with similar combinations at other one's places.

Yeh but a fish should not have to need "hiding spots" in this scenario. A betta should be able to go about their business as they would prefer

 

[Fishfunn]

Yeh but a fish should not have to need "hiding spots" in this scenario. A betta should be able to go about their business as they would prefer

Give the male guppy a female or two to chase. We all know how male guppies like to breed.

 

[emeraldking]

Yeh but a fish should not have to need "hiding spots" in this scenario. A betta should be able to go about their business as they would prefer

If we look at a long finned betta, such a fish will always seek fopr an own spot in a tank. it can swim all around the tank but will find it's own spot where it returns to. So, in case of other fish that are to vivid in the tank or which like to challenge the betta, some hiding spots would be preferable. From the 1960's my parents always kept bettas like this. But in general, it all went well. Also I've kept that combination for years in community tanks. And I also have bred and kept bettas for 15 years myself besides my livebearers. But at some point, it took too much space in the house to house the males seperately from eachother. And I decided to stop breeding them and sold them all to another betta breeder. And that way I was able to create more space for my livebearers.