swords3711

Why are guppies so stupid?
My grandpa has guppies that are confused. They chase different livebearers and even a male wag tail platy.

Chief_waterchanger

... because their brain is about the size of their eyeball.

They may chase them out of aggression, or them viewing the male platy as a sexual rival. (They don't have the brain mass to comprehend that the male platy can not impregnate the female guppies, just that it can fornicate with them.)

I think it would be cool to experience for one day the life of a being that has such a small brain... they say ignorance is bliss, show me.

swords3711

oh no its not that aggressive chasing
its the male female chasing if u know what i mean

guppiemaster892

Mine are like that to soo dont worry. They are just stupid like that.

sirdarksol

Part of it is that these livebearers don't live in such close proximity in the wild. Guppies and platies may not even live in the same area of the world (not sure about that), so they are not in a natural habitat, which throws their behavior. On top of that, some livebearers are capable of cross-breeding, so their mating signals may be similar.
Can't explain the male chasing male thing, except to point out that many animals have displays of dominance that appear sexual to us. As a race, we've got our brains in the gutter.

Dino

The natural distrabution of guppies and platies do not cross.
Man, however, has introduced both fish into the others habitat.