Hello from Edinburgh

[TaraZahara]

Hi all,
Complete newbie here. Got my first tank and fish last month. Started with 12 cardinal tetras, 4 guppies and 2 catfish. All going ok other than the guppies seeming to bully each other. Thought they were meant to be peaceful?

Keeping fish is definitely more complicated and scientific than I realised, that's for sure

 

[Carmen]

Welcome Tara Zahara!

euhm, sorry to ask abruptely but, how did you cycle your tank so fast? normally it takes up to 2 months before adding fish...
also, what kind of catfish you got? I think the spieces will more likely to be in schools, the more the merrier..
how big is your tank?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

 

[TaraZahara]

Oh I actually had the tank considerably longer, it was cycling about a month before adding fish and I took a water sample to be tested in the shop before getting the fish.

I have an 80L tank. The catfish are bristlenose and they seem quite chilled and happy, as do the cardinal tetras. Just seems to be the guppies who aren't settling very well sadly

 

[Carmen]

Oh I actually had the tank considerably longer, it was cycling about a month before adding fish and I took a water sample to be tested in the shop before getting the fish.

I have an 80L tank. The catfish are bristlenose and they seem quite chilled and happy, as do the cardinal tetras. Just seems to be the guppies who aren't settling very well sadly

I'm afraid your tank is heavily overstocked..
only the plecos would need a larger tank of their own.
the guppies need to be in a set up of 2 females per male, or only males, to not fight between them.
Try to get testers for your water, so that you can know it's quality and do the needed partial water changes.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

In the wild, female guppies hang out in groups consisting of between 20 & 50 (but sometimes up to 100 or more) females. These groups have a pecking order with the biggest most dominant female ruling the group and she has a group of girlfriends who back her up. All the other females live in the group but are lower down the pecking order.

The groups of females move around rivers and waterways looking for food and places to hang out. As the groups move around a few males follow the group and try to breed with any females. The groups of males have a pecking order too and the biggest male will bully his smaller mates.

In the confines of an aquarium, the males will constantly harass the females and try to breed with them. This puts undue stress on the females and if there are too many males constantly pestering the females, the females can get sick and die.

It is preferable to keep livebearers in single sex tanks (either male or female but not both sexes together). If you want a group of males and females then have 1 male and at least 6 females (preferably 10 or more females per male).

 

[Fray]

Hi, and welcome!
Ha, more complicated and more addictive too! Before you know it you'll be eyeing off another tank saying "Should I ?" It's a constant battle to say.... No!

 

[Carmen]

Hi, and welcome!
Ha, more complicated and more addictive too! Before you know it you'll be eyeing off another tank saying "Should I ?" It's a constant battle to say.... No!

this is so true!!
and you'll be finding spots in your house where to place a tank.. until you have no more space left!

 

[Naughts]

Hi all,
Complete newbie here. Got my first tank and fish last month. Started with 12 cardinal tetras, 4 guppies and 2 catfish. All going ok other than the guppies seeming to bully each other. Thought they were meant to be peaceful?

Keeping fish is definitely more complicated and scientific than I realised, that's for sure

Hello and welcome
Guppies are peaceful in that they won't harm other species. The males harass females and male-only groups will posture and squabble to establish hierarchy - these situations may weaken individual fish, but is not aggression nor territorial so I still would call them peaceful fish.
Post any questions if you need help now or in the future, there are some extremely knowledgeable members.

 

[Colin_T]

watch the eyes on the male guppies when they fight, it's kind of interesting

 

[emeraldking]

Welcome to the forum...
Well, you may wanna test your parameters to see if that might be of interest or not to see why those guppies aren't settling in too well. If they're larged finned guppies, they're better off in moderate soft till hard water. Short finned guppies will do fine in soft water as well (they're stronger than large finnd ones).
If the guppy behavior looks aggressive, Colin has already said something about it.