Can two male guppies live alone?

[Daisy007]

I’m new to fish keeping. Last month I started a 10 gallon tank with 6 guppies. Even though there were plants and hideouts I was having guppy fights. Thought maybe they were cramped so bought a 20 gallon and still having problems. There is one smaller guppy that was constantly nipping and ramming my really fancy guppy until he had a red mark on side of head. I’ve moved him to the 10 gallon with one of the guppies he gets along with. Will the two guppies be okay by themselves if I get other community fish like Pygmy corries? I don’t want guppy fry and worried about getting more males. Thanks.

 

[jkkgron2]

I’m new to fish keeping. Last month I started a 10 gallon tank with 6 guppies. Even though there were plants and hideouts I was having guppy fights. Thought maybe they were cramped so bought a 20 gallon and still having problems. There is one smaller guppy that was constantly nipping and ramming my really fancy guppy until he had a red mark on side of head. I’ve moved him to the 10 gallon with one of the guppies he gets along with. Will the two guppies be okay by themselves if I get other community fish like Pygmy corries? I don’t want guppy fry and worried about getting more males. Thanks.

He should be fine but just in case I would add 6 ember tetras so that if there is aggression then it will be spread out.

 

[FinalFins]

If the aggression is toward guppies, add more males! They will figure out a pecking orger and aggression is spread. Embers IMO won't do anything to stop agression

 

[jkkgron2]

If the aggression is toward guppies, add more males! They will figure out a pecking orger and aggression is spread. Embers IMO won't do anything to stop agression

I never said stop, just spread out....the embers will distract the guppies and have lower bioload so then it’s easier tank maintenance and less targeted aggression

 

[FinalFins]

Yeah, I see your point but if they are going after eachother they won't disturb the embers.

 

[jkkgron2]

Yeah, I see your point but if they are going after eachother they won't disturb the embers.

I get that but the embers (since in a 10g) would most likely disturb the guppies

 

[Gone]

I’m new to fish keeping. Last month I started a 10 gallon tank with 6 guppies. Even though there were plants and hideouts I was having guppy fights. Thought maybe they were cramped so bought a 20 gallon and still having problems. There is one smaller guppy that was constantly nipping and ramming my really fancy guppy until he had a red mark on side of head. I’ve moved him to the 10 gallon with one of the guppies he gets along with. Will the two guppies be okay by themselves if I get other community fish like Pygmy corries? I don’t want guppy fry and worried about getting more males. Thanks.

A 10G is plenty of space for six guppies, but it never hurts to have more tanks!

One concern I have is whether your tanks are cycled. Do you test the water? What kind of test kit? What are your readings? I ask because deteriorating water quality can cause aggressive behavior. It usually takes between three and six weeks to cycle a tank, but you'll be flying blind if you don't have an accurate test kit.

I have several tanks of male-only guppies and don't have any problem with aggression. I I have had particular fish in the past that were bullies. If it's one fish that's causing the scrums I'd remove it.

 

[Daisy007]

Thank you for your reply. I have the sea chem alert tags that hang in the tank and my LFS tested my 10 gallon tank water for me a week after I bought the first 5 guppies and numbers were good. I haven’t had a chance to have the LFS test the 20 gallon yet due to snow but I used API 5 in one strips in addition to the sea chem alerts and the numbers were good. All 5 guppies were getting along in the 10 gallon until I purchased a new guppy. The new guppy is different from the others, he’s a larger, more fuller tuxedo type. The tuxedo guppy and the aggressor guppy both like to be boss of the tank but the tuxedo isn’t that aggressive, he’ll swim off. The small aggressive guppy won’t back down and is relentless, constantly chasing and attacking the tuxedo guppy even when the tuxedo is trying to hide behind a plant. Then the tuxedo hits a breaking point and goes after the small guppy but he mostly just chases the little guppy, he’s not as aggressive about it. The small guppy is fine with everyone else in the tank but they don’t challenge him. I was hoping that moving everyone to the 20 gallon and rearranging all the plants and decorations from the 10 gallon would fix the problem but it didn’t. I even added a new hideout to the 20. I’m waiting until I can get to my LFS so they can test my water for the 20 gallon before getting a school of EspeI Rasboras. I’m hoping to reintroduce the separated guppy at the same time as the Rasboras and see if that helps. If not, I may keep 4 of the guppies in the 20 gallon and two in the 10 gallon with other fish. I may end up returning one but I like my guppies.