Which Is Best?

[Sacred]

I am just curious what people say on here. If it's already been discussed before apologies.

In the past I have had a tank with male and female guppies, and suprise suprise babies were had (5 of which are still alive today)

Then I lost all my females due to their age (they were old ladies) and some after pregnancy

Now I have a tank of just male guppies.

The question is though what to do for the best.

Setup 1: All Males
This is what I have currently, 11 males all together. They have been ok for a while but some are now starting to get rough with each other some are nipping, others are harssing the other males (no doubt wanting to breed) Tails fins are generally ok on them, but not crisp and neat. It's just about 4 or 5 who are harssers, I think they just wanna breed.

Setup 2: Males and Females
Now I could split the group up. I have another tank which can be utilised, pretty much empty apart from 6 neons and some corys. I could split the males up so that the 'randy' ones go into this one and then I give them some females. Of course this will lead to breeding and ultimately fry (though they probably wouldnt last long with the cories ) So population control could be maintained.

The next problem with this though will be overstocking. If I was to use the recommended ratio of at least 2:1 female:male it's gonna be a ridiculous number of females.

My experience though of females giving birth is that it puts alot of stress on them. The ones I had before all died 'after' giving birth sadly.

So the question is what to do for the best. I don't want to get rid of any fish. I'd rather see the Guppies in their full glory with neat tails, but don't want the hassle of fry and birthing females. Just want them happy and healthy. I am not wanting to breed them but to try and help the males behave.

Failing that just keep the all male setup and just keep an eye on nipping and seperate fish if needed to recover

What to do?

 

[This Old Spouse]

How strange that they've turned into fin-nippers. I have about 30 males in a 28g tank, and although they get a little rambunctious it hasn't gotten that serious. How big is your tank, and what kind of decorations/hiding places do you have?

 

[Sacred]

It's a 20 gal tank. its wide but it's also quite tall so there is lots of space up and across the tank to get away. There is plenty of amazon sword plants and there is some smaller plants on the substrate which can provide shelter as well as some pieces of wood which have shelter. There are some black phantom tetras, some cories and a small pleco, but the pleco is smaller then the guppies, barely 3cm long (I know they grow big and he will get a bigger home in time)

I don't think they are nipping intentionally. I do read that male guppies establish a pecking order, but if there are a group of randy males maybe they are being abit too rough on some. There isn't super serious nipping going on. The one I have seperated at the mo has been popular with 2 of the other males, one really has been intently after him, another would join in who actually just keeps close behind him.

When there was just 6 of them I had a male who had a decent chunck of his fin nipped but it's grown back ok, nearly back to full now.

The nipping isn't serious. Just one popular male who has got abit too much attention.

They still look pretty to look at I am just wondering if seperating the more 'randy' ones and putting them in another tank with some females will be best for everyone.

Today at least it just seems like 1 of the males if trying to court another. They others are ok today. He was the one who was chasing the one I have got seperated for a while now (he was one of the original 6 before I added more)

 

[mreyeball]

Setup 2: Males and Females
Now I could split the group up. I have another tank which can be utilised, pretty much empty apart from 6 neons and some corys. I could split the males up so that the 'randy' ones go into this one and then I give them some females. Of course this will lead to breeding and ultimately fry (though they probably wouldnt last long with the cories ) So population control could be maintained.

soz to mini hijack your thread, but are cory's well known for eating guppy fry, i am trying to breed guppies and i am going to just let the mothers give birth in my tank that holds 4 female guppies and 2 corys and a BN plec
so basically will the 2 cory's eat alot of the fry?
thanks

 

[Sacred]

I'm not sure. I don't think they would intentionally go after them. The Pleco could maybe gobble them up if it's big enough but they are quite fast. I think they would only risk getting gobbled up if they got stuck in a corner or something and couldn't escape but Corys are not hunters. Plus cories and pleco stay around the bottom more but guppies go all over the place, mostly around the top of the tank.

The parents are probably more likely to eat them then the cories or pleco I would imagine.

 

[Baccus]

Setup 2: Males and Females
Now I could split the group up. I have another tank which can be utilised, pretty much empty apart from 6 neons and some corys. I could split the males up so that the 'randy' ones go into this one and then I give them some females. Of course this will lead to breeding and ultimately fry (though they probably wouldnt last long with the cories ) So population control could be maintained.

soz to mini hijack your thread, but are cory's well known for eating guppy fry, i am trying to breed guppies and i am going to just let the mothers give birth in my tank that holds 4 female guppies and 2 corys and a BN plec
so basically will the 2 cory's eat alot of the fry?
thanks

The cory's may "stumble" across young fry hiding near the bottom and possibly eat them, but they would not go out of their way to eat the fry not like some adult guppies and other fish will. Cory's are the most peaceful fish you could ever hope to own and don't go causing trouble in a tank. And just as a side note cory's really LOVE being in a group (if your tank can handle them), with more of their own kind they will be much more active and busy about the tank.

 

[mreyeball]

thanks for the replies, i am goin to get another 2 or 3 corys soon as i heard they liketo be in groups. really nice fish too.

 

[Sacred]

Cories are great. They are my favourite fish now I think.

But back on topic. Today I woke up and things arn't much better. I got another guppy whos been nipped on his body. the one who was abit tatty yesterday was abit worse too. So they are both seperate in a hatchery divided off but the nipped one isn't looking too clever. How strange. I wonder what's going on. The others seem ok though, though that pesky male who gave my tatty tailed one grief is still up to his tricks harassing another one. I think he might have to come out and into the other tank. To calm down.

 

[Marius]

One of my males are doing the same,nibling only the other male that looks almost the same,like twins... And more strange,the story about the cories,i have two with my fry,just to feed o if any uneaten snacks fall to the bottem,and im having issues cuz my fry is acting weird,their tail fins are close,not all but some of them.... Sorry for intefering in the post,just curios

 

[This Old Spouse]

One of my males are doing the same,nibling only the other male that looks almost the same,like twins... And more strange,the story about the cories,i have two with my fry,just to feed o if any uneaten snacks fall to the bottem,and im having issues cuz my fry is acting weird,their tail fins are close,not all but some of them.... Sorry for intefering in the post,just curios

You should probably put this in a different post. If I were you I'd do a big water change and see if the fry loosen up a bit.

 

[Sacred]

Back to my problem. Would adding more plants maybe help matters? Give some of the males more places to hide from each other? There is alot of amazon sword plants in the tank, but it's still fairly open spaced.

If it gets worse I will have to seperate. So far they seem to have calmed down, but they have eaten only recently.

You said you have about 30 guppies in your 28 gal tank Old Spouse. That is quite the group size and you say you don't have any problems? Maybe the group is still too small?

I am starting to lean towards splitting them up and getting half females. I know you can get some nice pretty females these days but still doesn't beat just males.

 

[This Old Spouse]

It sounds like you mainly have one male who's the big problem. He's probably irritated because of the lack of females. You don't say how long it's been.

My situation is that I have 3 original males left, and two of those are endler crosses. The only true guppy I have I rescued and don't know how old he is. All the rest of the males are offspring of the first 3. Maybe that's why everybody gets along. There is a lot of chasing around, but as far as I can tell there's no fin-nipping.

There's also a bunch of cories in the tank, and some ghost shrimp.

 

[Sacred]

It sounds like you mainly have one male who's the big problem. He's probably irritated because of the lack of females. You don't say how long it's been.

My situation is that I have 3 original males left, and two of those are endler crosses. The only true guppy I have I rescued and don't know how old he is. All the rest of the males are offspring of the first 3. Maybe that's why everybody gets along. There is a lot of chasing around, but as far as I can tell there's no fin-nipping.

There's also a bunch of cories in the tank, and some ghost shrimp.

The original 6 I had were about 2 months ago, I got more 2 weeks ago after having a rearrange of my tanks.

Ok well looking in there now there is just the one who is being rather 'persistant' it only seems interested in the ones of the same 'pattern' I'll take him out and put him in the other tank see if the fems in there can keep him in order. They are still youngish, but there is one who is alot older who's been getting bulchy herself being the biggest fem. I'll see how that goes.

I think I will get some more plants though make it abit more densely planted.

Still not sure if I will try all males again or just have a mix...

UPDATE:
So far so good, he is in the other tank and already he is sizing up the females in that tank, so hopefully his needs can now be satisfied. They other males in the main tank all seem to be peaceful too.

 

[Sacred]

I tried getting some more males again. There is an awful lot of chasing going on in there. Its only been a few hours so no nipping. These newer ones are bigger then the others, who are quite abit younger. However they are going nuts over the older ones now (I dunno gay fish and sugar daddies). One adult is species confused though.

I think I am just gonna have to give in and get females if I want them to stay looking nice

Help? I really dont want females seeing as i'd need to double the stocking just to try stop the randy males, already worry about overstocking

EDIT: I had to remove one of the new males because he was getting far too much attention. He's unfortunate to be blessed with a black spot on his markings near where the gravid spot would be, which might well have been the problem with him. Still the younger ones are still being persistant. Where is Old Man when I need him

 

[Black_Ghost_Knife_Fish]

hi all