zerotona

I noticed that over the past couple of days that two of my guppies are chasing the slightly smaller one around. I just looked at his tail and they have nipped it so badly It's shredded. The poor thing is terrified, cowering in the corner and tries to hide behind my hand when I had my hand in the tank.

I've had good results using melafix to heal torn fins, so I will try that. Is there anything I can / should do to stop my other two guppies from harrassing the poor little guy? He's been in the tank for about 3 weeks and everything was fine until a day or two ago.

His tail was beautiful and flowing but now it's totally shredded

Sam Livingston

What are the sexes of the fish? Need to be 2:1 female/male ratio. Too many males will result in very aggressive behavior.

zerotona

They're all males but they were fine together up until yesterday. I hadn't seen any aggressive behaviour, whatsoever. The only thing that has happened is one of my platies had fry.. I don't know if that's got anything to do with it

Sam Livingston

Are the fry in the tank with all the others? Because if so they will be eaten. It could be territorial or could be dominance issue since the aggressors are larger than the smaller one. If all male then sex shouldn't the problem. What size is the tank?

zerotona

The tank is 20 gallons. Yeah the fry are in the tank with the other fish because I had no idea the platy was pregnant (I only have female platies and I've had her for 40 days). I can't get the fry out because they're too quick. Most of them are hiding under an ornament and the other fish don't seem that interested, as in they don't go around looking for them.

It's odd with the guppies because the bullies have always been bigger than this little one but have acted this way only since the platy fry were born.
The way the little one is atm, I don't think he will be around for much longer. He's shaking and looks like a nervous wreck.. I have to do something, but not sure what?

Sam Livingston

While he's injured and weak they will pick on him even more. Fish have survival of the fittest instincts and seek to eliminate the weak ones. Is it possible to get another small tank for him to recover in by himself? How many fry did she have?

zerotona

She didn't have many.. probably about 10.

The other thing that happened recently, is my sail-fin molly died. He was the biggest and was king of the tank. I googled 'guppy bullying' and came up with this;

From http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebI...brrbehfaqs.htm

I would say that's the problem as the circumstances in my tank are almost identical. I rearranged the tank and did 20% water change but it made no difference. I can isolate the little one temporarily while he recovers, but I guess for the long term I will need to get another molly or something bigger than them.

Sam Livingston

Yeah that looks exactly like what happened, yeah either bigger fish or maybe even more male guppies could work. But either way will need him to recover before being put with anymore.

zerotona

They seem to have come to some kind of 'compromise'. Jerry, the little one, is allowed one small part of the tank which includes a cave. But if he goes anywhere else in the tank they chase him away. He does seem a little happier though, nowhere near as nervous looking.

I was a couple of smaller guppies? Mollies aren't that common in the stores here for some reason - it may be hard to find one big enough. They definitely need to be put in their place though LOL.

Sam Livingston

If not mollies try for platies, or more male guppies, sometimes getting more will help reduce their aggressiveness, the tank is big enough so doesn't seem like too crowded. I think since the molly died, they may be trying to claim her territory, while leaving the injured a small corner.

zerotona

The bullied guppy's tail started healing really well, so I bought another male guppy and a high-fin platy and that seems to have restored the pecking order in the tank. The guppies are getting along great and his tail is almost better- it's actually longer in places than it originally was.

Windchaser

Great read and timing. We recently brought 5 cute little guppies home for our tank and they have been doing great (minus themt hinking the poor little mickey mouse blue platy is a female guppy. ).

This morning I found one of them dead and stuck tot he filter and all of his fins have been shredded from his body. After observing the fish in the tank I think I have figured out that it is one guppy in particular that is being a bully...maybe even another one I'm not too sure about.

The one that I have seen to be a bully also harasses the female Blue Mickey Mouse Platy we have as well. He will not leave her the alone.