Kashim

I got 7 guppies a couple of weeks ago and they're constantly chasing each other around. I have 4 males and 3 females, so I would expect the males to be harassing the females. But this is not the case at all. I usually see two males chasing each other or a female chasing a male. I almost never see a male chasing a female. Is this behavior normal?

All the activity they bring to the tank is fun, but I don't want them to be stressed. When I say they're constantly chasing each other, I really mean _constantly_. There's always one or two couples or a trio chasing each other around. It doesn't look like territorial fights or trying to nip each others fins, so I'm guessing they're either establishing a pecking order or it's some kind of mating ritual? Does anyone know why they're doing this? It's definitely fun to watch though. Usually there's a trio chasing each other all over the tank or two of them running in circles, looking like they're chasing each other's tails.

Cody

well its a nice size tank, but i would recomend geting more females for the males becuase you might if have issues normaly you want at least 1 female per male, but 2 females per male is ideal so if you got 5 more females that would be good. and it might be less apealing to get more females but, if you have alot of LFS in your area i would check them out nomraly you can find prettier females there than at chain stores

Chief_waterchanger

Actually we know of a guy that did a video study on his guppies and found that in most cases only one male was insemenating all the female guppies in the tank. That one male faught off the other males so that he would be the sire of the bloodline. (Almost like Lions.)

I would either get more females (if the tank is not overstocked) or get rid of most of the males. 1 male could keep 50-100 females insemenated constantly, but could probably keep more than that going, because the females store sperm for upwards of 6 months. They use that stored sperm to reinsemenate themselves without having to necessarily be "attended" by the male.

Kashim

Did you guys even read my post? I almost never see females being chased around. It's always males chasing males or females chasing males. So I don't see the problem. A lot of times I even see females chasing females. Or all three females are together, chasing each other. Now if the females were constantly chased by males, then I could see how getting more females might fix the problem, but this is not the case.

Chief_waterchanger

Kashim we did infact answer your question whether you realize it or not. The males are probably squabbling with one another to establish a pecking order as to who is going to get to breed with the females.

Your response, however, is rude and as such I am done helping you.

Have a great day.

Kashim

Sorry if you thought I was being rude. That was not my intention.