guppy question

[sairie]

hey guys. i've had my 10g tank up now for about 3 months. in the beginning, i had 1 mollie, 1 platty, and 1 guppy. the guppy was pretty crazy and kept harassing the platty(following constantly, nipping it's fins), so i took it back and replaced it with 2 skirted tetras. everything is fine now(except the tetras are kind of boring:[), and i'm thinking about getting maybe 1 more fish... like another guppy.

was that just a random occurance, or is it usual for guppies to behave like that? should i chance it again, or not? help and suggestions would be great.

thanks!

 

[StanTheBetta]

Did it really nip the platys fins? Its not unusual for guppies to follow another fish but its very rare for them to nip imo. I think guppies get confused what species they are and try to mate with other fish

 

[jams.alaskan]

Yeah, try again, what the heck. And yeah, a hot little guppy might just think that the platty is the grooviest thing since sliced bread.

ALASKA

 

[breezer40]

I have two guppies at the moment who are with 2 platys. One is a real nightmare and just wont leave the platys alone. The other is an angel

 

[Doggfather]

maybe buy another guppy, and give him some females?

 

[Interfire]

maybe buy another guppy, and give him some females?

I agree.

 

[desley]

Hi,

I have 6 platties (mostly smaller fry growing up) and 1 large male that is chasing all of the females around.

I have 1 male guppy with 2 females and he could not be bothered chasing the platties. He is too busy with the female guppies.

Perhaps (I am not an expert) you could try 2 - 3 female guppies with 1 male guppy and they will keep to themselves.

I really have never had a problem with them bullying each other but I think 1 male guppy is just too randy on his own

Good luck, guppies are the best !!
Desley

 

[Annastasia]

Perhaps (I am not an expert) you could try 2 - 3 female guppies with 1 male guppy and they will keep to themselves.

That is good sound advice. In my opinion

 

[Doggfather]

male guppies have a lot of...energy...and they need to expel it on different...fish

 

[sairie]

thanks for your help, guys! i'll try that.

the only problem is is that i don't really want to have to worry about fishie babies... don't think i'm experienced enough in the fish world yet :[

do you think that'll be a problem?

 

[sairie]

and also... if i decided against the guppy and opted for another male platty(i'm pretty sure mine is a male... from looking at pictures of other males) would that be ok? or would they be mean to each other? or even another male molllie(i'm think it's a male, but i'm not sure). i'm trying to avoid the whole fry ordeal. i think it'd be a bit overwhelming for a newbie like me :]

thanks for putting up with my numerous questions q:

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

Hey, I have no idea about the platy question sorry but I just thought I'd add that I've had 2 male guppies together in my 15gal before (1 has now died). I added them a couple of weeks apart, & they did have issues at first, nipping at each other etc., but after a day or 2 they settled down & were really good mates, hardly leaving each others' side. I know there can be territorial issues is smaller tanks, but all was good in mine. If ur lfs says u can return 1 if they don't get along, I'd say go for it - give them a while to settle in & just see how it goes. They were great fun to watch together.

 

[Max]

while we are on the subject of guppys, can somone help me with breeding them? i just started to try to breed them what kinda plants, light, other fish? what kinda food? how many to buy? could somone tell me what to do? or help?

 

[boozybears]

I'm pretty new to this whole fish keeping business but I can share my own personal experience with guppies, platies and mollies. In the beginning we bought 3 platies (by chance we got one male and two females) and asked for 3 male guppies (didn't want babies!). What a mistake! The guppies were always after each other. One in particular became very agressive and kept attacking my little black guppy - he died. He then began on the other which also died (I believe from stress). At this point my platies were also a little stressed. One of the females died too (not quite sure why) but at that point the remaining female hid for 3 days and the male just sat in a corner. It was pretty sad to see. I went out and bought 3 more female platties and what a difference!!!! The orginal girl came out of hiding and all 5 have been happy, active and playful ever since. I sure do wish my lfs had told me to have a larger community of platies.

At the same time we bought the 3 females we purchased a male and female mollie but the same thing happened. He was always after her and she died. So we bought 3 female mollies and all is well in that community too!

The remaining guppy became a holy terror. He attacked the mollies constantly, causing one of the females to begin to show huge signs of stress. As I'm still in the process of cycling I couldn't purchase any more fish (should have bought 2-3 females for him to, ummm, play with) so I just removed him from the tank.

Now, I have a very active, stressfree tank which is really fun to watch!

Morale of the story? I think the rule of 2-3 females for every males is a very wise one! Otherwise they will become agressive and reak havoc on the tank. Pregnancies will occur but you then have the choice of a fry tank and returning the babies to the store for credit, or, letting nature take its course. The other fish will eat the babies...... it's what's been happpening in nature forever.

Good luck! Enjoy your tank. I love my platies and mollies - they're great fish to start with. HTH
Val