guppy attacking each other.

I got 3 male guppys from my pet store and they seemed to be settling in nicely but after a day or two one of my guppys died and now the 2 that are left are attacking each other. I have no idea why, I heard that they like to have 2 other guppys by them so would only having 1 make them attack it? I do plan on getting another one but will my current guppys attack the newcomer?

 

iv never kept guppies but I have hear sometimes males will attack each other if there are on females. guess they need to take out there sexual frustrations on each other. if you have more the aggression should be spread out.

I'm not positive but that might be it. sorry to here about your loss.

 

Who ever said guppies were peaceful never had a tank full of them. Males are mean little things to each other, and I've treated enough ripped fins and injuries for every here on fishlore just in my couple years of breeding guppies. Vicous little buggers sometimes lol the best thing to do is get them some girlfriends, or a lot more males to even out the aggression.

 

Who ever said guppies were peaceful never had a tank full of them. Males are mean little things to each other, and I've treated enough ripped fins and injuries for every here on fishlore just in my couple years of breeding guppies. Vicous little buggers sometimes lol the best thing to do is get them some girlfriends, or a lot more males to even out the aggression.

well I don't want to breed them so I don't think I should get some females I guess I will have to get more males (I don't really though mind I like them)

 

I had four originally that messed with each other all the time. Then two died and the remaining two constantly attacked each other. I got two different kinds a few weeks ago and now everyone gets along perfectly. So, I'd definitely try a few more males and see if they settle down.

 

well I don't want to breed them so I don't think I should get some females I guess I will have to get more males (I don't really though mind I like them)

They eat the young if you don't separate them from the adults, so don't fear the population getting out of control. This is of course as long as your tank has no good hiding spots for fry.

I have some Cobra Guppies (fancy tails) in my tank with some plain guppies (feeders I used to cycle it months ago) and they behave much differently. The Cobra males try to mate with the plain males and females. I don't think they can tell the difference between genders of the other species. The Cobra's don't show aggression towards the other Cobra males or the plain males. They're behavior is much more tolerant and peaceful, but they're constantly trying to mate just like the plains. You could try those out; they look awesome.

 

That makes sense because one of my guppys looks like a Cobra Guppies so he might be trying to mate with my other male. The store I bought it from just had one tank saying guppys so I didn't really know there was a difference but I have stopped going to that store (because they don't know much and they only offer a 2 day warranty on fish)

 

I have 5 males and no females and my males are all fine together.

 

I found a local person selling some fish and they are pretty cheap (guppy's are $1.00 each) and I am thinking of buying some but I don't know what will be better getting females or males. like I said I don't want to bread them so if I don't separate the frys from the adult (like Zevyn said) then chances are it will be fine right? If I decide to get females I will have to get 6 females right (because I heard you need 3 females for one male)
Oh also has anyone had a bad experience buying fish from a individual person and not a store?

 

It depends entirely on who the person is. Just a local dude you found on Craigs List? A local member of a fish club? A neighbor who has 20 tanks?

 

just a person I found on kijijI (like Craigs List) but he has a lot of fish (more than 50 guppys) so that makes me think that his fish probably don't have a disease.

 

Recently put together my aquarium using TSS. After using the TSS I added 6 male guppies, 3 blue and 3 black/red spotted. The past week has been good and they have been getting along quite well. However, yesterday I found a blue guppy swimming awkwardly and it eventually died. I thought it had something to do with the TSS not working/ammonia levels until I found blood on the fish. Then when I got home from work this afternoon I noticed another blue guppy swimming the same way and also happened to see the red and black guppies ganging up and nipping it. Turns out I lost that fish as well.

Any reasons for this happening?

Thanks

 

So sorry to hear about your guppies. This sounds like nitrite poisoning. Guppies will harass sick fish.

You should do an 80% water change. If you aren't able to rights away, you can put in 5x the regular amount of Prime as a temporary fix.

 

Hmm...what steps did you use in applying the TSS exactly? It's kind of a fickle beast if not applied correctly. I agree it sounds like nitrite poisoning. Are you testing? What are your parameters?

 

I dechlorinated the water and let the tank sit for 24 hours. I then poured in the entire bottle of TSS, and an hour later added the 6 guppies. I was recommended to not test the parameters during these first two weeks since the numbers will be all over the place.

Any suggestions on how I should proceed?

 

you should not add fish if your numbers are going to be all over the place, lol. You have to wait till the cycle evens out and THEN you can add the fish, this applies to all fish!

 

I was told I need an ammonia source during the process.

 

Follow Endercollectors instructions. This will help bring down any toxic levels of nitrites. Go ahead and test your water so you know what's happening and post it here so we can help you.

 

For an instant cycle (and to reduce the stress on your fish and you), you can take some month-old filter material from someone with a healthy tank (not an LFS), and stuff it into your filter.

 

...someone that you trust with an established tank. people can screw up tanks every bit as easily as fish stores can.

 

...someone that you trust with an established tank. people can screw up tanks every bit as easily as fish stores can.

Yes, it's a balancing act between trust and caution every time we pit anything alive into a tank

 

you should not add fish if your numbers are going to be all over the place, lol. You have to wait till the cycle evens out and THEN you can add the fish, this applies to all fish!!lololol!

With TSS it's a "safe way" to cycle your tank.
I've done 2 tanks with TSS (75gal, and 20 gallon long) and it worked out fine.

 

I dechlorinated the water and let the tank sit for 24 hours. I then poured in the entire bottle of TSS, and an hour later added the 6 guppies. I was recommended to not test the parameters during these first two weeks since the numbers will be all over the place.

Any suggestions on how I should proceed?

It sounds like you did everything correctly.

It would be helpful if you could posts your ammonia, nitrite and nitrates levels. While endlercollector has far more experience with guppies than I do (well, actually I have no experience with guppies) I wouldn't automatically blame it on elevated nitrites, so test results would be helpful.

One thing that would point to elevated nitrites would be the fish gasping at the surface, since nitrites interfere with the fish's ability to extract oxygen from the water.

Best of luck

 

From your original post, I sort of got the impression that you haven't a water test kit as yet? Forgive me if I am wrong, but I got that impression when it sounded like you might be guessing that the TTS or ammonia might be to blame, rather than giving a figure for the ammonia. This would be quite understandable, given that the information that your friend gave you was sort of an example of a half correct statement being worse then a wholly inaccurate one--test results will fluctuate during a cycle, but predictably so, and it is during a cycle that frequent tests are most critical, both to see if a cycle is occurring, and to monitor its progress..
As fish waste and other detris breaks down, you will see a rise in ammonia levels; once the ammonia reducing bacteria kick in, you ideally will see a steady drop in ammonia, and a similar, though a little longer raise and drop in nitrite occurring as the ammonia approaches 0 and then nitrite reducing bacteria kick in, followed by a steady but slower rise in nitrate. Most people record, or even graph the readings, a) to see that the cycle is working, and b), to see how it is progressing.
So yes, readings will be all over the place (but in a pattern), and that is exactly what you want. When a tank has finished cycling, what you wish to see is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and some nitrate, which is almost always controlled by water changes.
If you haven't a test kit as yet, the API master kit seems sort of the consensus choice here, and it is very good, so if you haven't one, that would be the one to get.
I am curious as to just where on the fishes you noticed the bloody area--if it was around the gills, you should know that high levels of ammonia or nitrite can cause inflammation of the gill tissue, which looks very much like a wound, and as Endler says, wounded animals are often fair game for the rest of the group.
And if you already do have a test kit, please accept my apology for assuming otherwise---best of luck to you---rick