Problems With Guppies

[paw-paw]

HI!

I have a juwel 240 tank and have 16 male guppies in there (plus two ottos). There are no females in there and the majority of the guppies seem fine, but some have torn tails...

Their tails are not inflamed or anything - they are just split from the begning to the end of the tail. And some guppies have split tail in the middle - it really looks like you would cut their tails with scisors, there are no parst missing.

I know that some time ago someone mentioned that male guppies (they are fancy and some really have long tails) tend to get torn tails if they live in big aquariums because their tails are too long - could that be the reason?
I keep current on minimum.

What should I do? I have one spare 54 liter tank where I could move them but they really seem to enjoy more freedom in the bigger tank. And anyway there are too many of them to be in a smaller tank so I will have to rehome some than...
I really don't know what I am doing wrong...

Could there be some fighting amongst them - but than their tails would be chewed not just split, right?

 

[guppy_man]

It doesnt sound like fin rot to me, more like aggression.
With that many males in that tank without any females, theres going to be some fin nipping going on. I'd suggest rehoming quite alot of them (atleast half) Then once you have done this, do 10% water change every day, and add some Melafix if you have any, If not buy some, it's great stuff.

Hope it goes well.

 

[paw-paw]

Hm...
You see the problem is that if I give away half of them (like 8) than there will only be 8 guppies in a 63 gallon tank. That would feel kind of empty...
I did have female guppies as well but there was too much breeding going on that is why I decided to rehome them and only keep males. Now do you think that if there were 8 males they wouldn't fight anymore even if there were no females?
My problem is I really don0t have anyone who would take the fry and the adult guppys never ate them either...

 

[discuslover]

Hello,
I wonder if they maybe taring the fins by chasing each other fast with or without a current, some male guppy tails these days are so long and fancy shaped. sometimes when the guppys are being chased and they have to swim fast or pursue another guppy could tare its fins. i believe it happened to mine in my big tank the strain on trying to swim fast can tare the fins. now i set up a 18inch tank for my mum and she has male guppies, now they havent got torn fins but they havent the length of a aquarium to build momentum in swimming too fast. i also believe it to be the same sort of thing with siamese fighters, mine when in a biger tank without fin nippers as tank mates had a sort or clean tare in his tail. but when ive kept a male fighter in a small aquairium ive never had that problem with its fins. Your guppies without female attention will more than likely be giving each other attention i assume because mine always without females used to try mate with each other and they was all males. only occaisionaly have my male guppies nipped each others finns ive never had any problems with them taring each others finns without female attention. most pet shops sell male and female guppys in seperate fish tanks if the males chew ed up each others fins they would not have much to sell.


It may not be the answer to your problem but thats what i figured from my experience.
Hope it helps