T3Knical5urg3

I bought 3 male guppys for my 5 gallon tank yesterday and acclimated them. They swam around all over the tank the first day. Now today two of them swim in about a 3 square inch area together right in front of the tank, and the smallest one hovers in the opisite side of the tank under the filter. Even if i tap the glass, they only move momentarily the go back. Is this normal?

Shawnie

whats the water parimeters?

guppies get to be 2 inches as adults and your 5 gallon isnt big enough fr 3 of them

Fishies-for-me

No it is not normal...if gups are not swimming around actively then there is a reason. I have mine in a 29 gallon tank and they are all over it. The only time I have one that isn't swimming and chasing all over the tank is a female ready to drop fry , or a fish that isn't feeling good for some reason. Is the tank cycled? I would do a water change of about 30% right away and see if that helps them any and get the water tested.

T3Knical5urg3

Well my ammonnia is under .02 ppm and so is the nitrate. I know you guys think it is the water but its weird. Now two of my fish out of the three hide right up there. Whenever one of them trys to move from the spot the REALLY active one swims right up to the side of them until they move back to the little corner. Its almost like they are being bullied.

sirdarksol

If the ammonia and nitrites aren't 0, it's likely the water. Any amount of either that registers when checking is bad for the fish.

CaliFishGuy

I know I'm brand new, and you are a "Fish Mentor" here and all - but that wasn't very helpful for a newbie.

Couldn't you have at least answered the question instead of just lecturing about the size of the tank?

rileyrk190

Welcome to fishlore! Do you know about the nitrogen cycle? If not its likely your tank is starting to cycle, which stresses out the fish a great deal. You will have to do partial water changes everyday for a few weeks, to keep the ammonia and the nitrite levels down.
Shawnie is very helpful and knowledgeable, and i'm sure she meant her comments constructively. We need to know as much info as possible to better help you. Overcrowding, and an uncycled tank will stress the fish out immensely. Check out the articles one fishlore for a better explanation than i can give, or maybe someone else can help.

Lucy

Hi CaliFishGuy Welcome to Fish Lore.

Bullying happens quite often if the fish are feeling crowded, between that and the ammonia, it could explain their behavior.

Give them plenty of hiding places, see if that helps with the bullying.
Anytime you get an ammonia or nitrite reading, you should do a water change and check again the following day. If necessary do another water change.
It's also possible these fish were sick when you got them.

Good luck.

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore!

I disagree that her statement wasn't helpful. It was very helpful. She asked a pertinent question (water parameters, without which she would have no knowledge of what's going on), and she pointed out that the tank was too small (which is very, very true) If you've got an overcrowded tank (and pretty much any two fish in a 5g tank will feel crowded), no action will provide a lasting solution to the problem other than getting a larger tank.
The only reason I didn't say anything about the tank size is that Shawnie already had.
We do our best to help members keep their fish alive and happy for as long as possible. Especially with people who are new to the hobby, this sometimes means telling them that they're doing something wrong (a year and a half ago, I was being told about what I was doing wrong). This may be uncomfortable, but it is preferable, in my opinion, to sitting back and letting them struggle to keep their fish healthy and happy.

In this case, since guppies are hardy, they may have overcome the initial problems and survived for a year or so, but surviving is not thriving. We want fish to thrive, not merely survive.

It's like the folks who keep bettas in little 1g bowls. Their betta lives for a year or so, and looks kinda pretty floating their in the middle of its bowl, so they think "this is good."
Of course, they've never seen a betta living in a planted 10g tank with filtration and heat. As brightly colored as the bettas in the bowls are, they are far brighter in the tank. They are also far more energetic and reactive to their surroundings.

I apologize that what we've said (I've said it too. If not in this thread, then elsewhere. Aside from that, it's been said to me.) is suggesting that we believe that the way you've been keeping your fish may not be perfect, but our beliefs here are based on a large amount of experience that has been shared among all of our members. We have a wide range of members, from those who keep one little 10g tank with a betta in it to those who have a fish house filled with hundreds of tanks, and every one of them has added some of their knowledge to this community. Shawnie was speaking not only with her own knowledge, but with that communal knowledge.

T3Knical5urg3

Well, you will be happy to know i returned the fish and instead got a betta. I know you wont be happy that I also got a single otto because they are schooling fish, but I have a lot of live plants and he seems to be quite calm hiding in all the shrubbery. I wasn't offended by the fact that I was told there were to many fish, I would have just liked that AND a reason why the fish would act like that. If it was because of the overcrowding it would be helpful to say that instead of just informing me that there are too many fish.

sirdarksol

Thanks for your understanding, T3K, and I apologize for hijacking your thread a moment ago.
As far as the lack of complete information, some of us (myself included) sometimes make assumptions that, because we've said something so many times, everyone has heard it, which is wrong of course, but it doesn't stop us from periodically making the assumption. This is why most of my posts are like textbooks. I overcompensate by including a ton of information.

Edit: Removed pointless info.
Sorry, I'm an idiot and missed that you got a betta.

Butterfly

Congrats on the Betta! That is the perfect fish for that size tank. Please continue to test your water and do water changes as needed. When the ammonia and Nitrites stay at 0 and you have just a little Nitrates the tank is cycled. Bettas love plants (live or artificial) to rest on so get busy aquascaping We also love pictures so please take some and post them. By the way what does your Betta look like/
Carol