Help dealing with a bully guppy

Hi everyone,

First post so apologies in advance if I've posted this in the wrong place or similar issues.

I have 3 male guppies in my 64L (14 gallon) tank for a week now, and one is being a right diva. Two blue fan tail guppies, and one black/orange triangle tail. I started with guppies rather than a betta because I'd heard they are usually super chill, but that has not worked out!

The triangle tail is noticeably larger than his tank mates and has been really territorial; chasing the others around constantly and it looks like even a bit of fin biting (but I'm not certain, it's hard to get a close look when they're so mini!). The two blues seem really comfortable with each other and usually hang out as a pair when they're not hiding.

I'm going back in a few days to get some corys and I was wondering if I should get another triangle tail guppy as well so he has a friend/rival that is the same size as him. Could that work, or is that only likely to double the bullying of my poor blues? I also wondered if once I add bigger fish like the corys that may calm him down since suddenly he's no longer the big cheese.

I know I could get 6 females instead to balance them out, but that's not an option for me. This is my first tank so I do not want to worry about fry, and also don't really want 9 guppies tbh!

 

Tbh I don’t feel 14 gallons is big enough for a school of guppies. I have a solo male myself who chases all 5 harlequinns regularly but there’s enough of them to spread it out. Guppies need to establish a hierarchy and territory. They need enough guppies to spread out their aggression.

 

Yea if you want multiple males with no females, you're going to run into fighting in a tank that small.

 

I have several 10G tanks with up to 15 males guppies each. None have problems with aggression.

I have had problems with aggressive guppies in the past. I've tried different things, but nothing worked other than removing the offender.

 

Thank you everyone

I'm not sure about space, everything I've read suggests that Guppies need about 1-2 gallons of water each, so 14 for 3 of them is luxurious!

Hopefully they will establish a pecking order within the next few days. If it stretches out to another week I may have to remove the offender as you suggest. Hopefully it won't come to that.

 

Thank you everyone

I'm not sure about space, everything I've read suggests that Guppies need about 1-2 gallons of water each, so 14 for 3 of them is luxurious!

Hopefully they will establish a pecking order within the next few days. If it stretches out to another week I may have to remove the offender as you suggest. Hopefully it won't come to that.

You’re right, that’s a lot of space! Plenty of space to add more male guppies! The bigger the school, the less issues with aggressiveness

 

I agree that more guppies should help. I had a school of 5 guppies, and they did great. I never did have issues with aggression.

Another thing to note: 14 gallons is pretty small for cories, so please get one of the smaller species (dwarf cories, pygmy cories, habrosus cories)

 

Another thing to note: 14 gallons is pretty small for cories, so please get one of the smaller species (dwarf cories, pygmy cories, habrosus cories)

I'm completely with you on getting the smaller species. I'm waiting for my local independent pet store to get some habrosus cories in which are delayed because of Coronavirus. I think they're adorable.