Male Guppy Being Territorial After Removing Females?

I know this probably isn't the correct place for this topic but begginers forum seems to get more answers than the guppies forum so my apologies!
Up until Sunday I had 7 guppies in my 20 gallon long(along with some cories and shrimp), three males and four females.
Ive had them all for several months together. On Sunday I rehomed all of my females and one of my males, leaving me with only two males.
They all got along "swimmingly" before this but now the bigger of the males is constantly chasing the smaller one the second he comes into sight.
There's plenty of room and plenty of hiding spots and no females to fight over so what's going on? Will this eventually stop and should I be concerned for the smaller guppies health because of this?
Thanks for any advice!!

 

Hey Leanna,
So what's happening is the bigger male is the alpha and the smaller male is the beta. Just like with other animals and humans it is a power struggle where the alpha asserts his dominance over the others even if there are no females around. It might calm down over time but it might also result in a stress death of your betta male.

 

Hey Leanna,
So what's happening is the bigger male is the alpha and the smaller male is the beta. Just like with other animals and humans it is a power struggle where the alpha asserts his dominance over the others even if there are no females around. It might calm down over time but it might also result in a stress death of your betta male.

Why all of a sudden though? Is it because there's only two of them? These same males got along great before I removed the others.
I'm keeping a close eye on it, if it doesn't settle down or if the betta male starts exhibiting stressed out behaviors then I already have a home the alpha can go to, just hopefully it won't come to that.

 

Usually, it's best to keep 3-4 males so that aggression isn't targeted on one fish.

 

Why all of a sudden though? Is it because there's only two of them? These same males got along great before I removed the others.
I'm keeping a close eye on it, if it doesn't settle down or if the betta male starts exhibiting stressed out behaviors then I already have a home the alpha can go to, just hopefully it won't come to that.

its a numbers game really. I would say its a male thing but females do it to. Provided sufficient numbers the aggression will go down. The old adage of "safety in numbers".

 

Usually, it's best to keep 3-4 males so that aggression isn't targeted on one fish.

Honestly if the aggression doesn't die down I'm going to have to rehome one, if not both of them.
I started this hobby a few months ago only wanting guppies, then I discovered cory cats and I'm in love. When I had seven guppies it was almost impossible to feed my corys, which is why I rehomed so many guppies in the first place and adding more seems like a step in the wrong direction.
I kept the two guppies I was most fond of but if they start suffering because of that then ill have to make a hard decision in their best interest.
I appreciate the info from all of you guys though!
I never thought two guppies in such a "large" space would act this way, learn something new every day I guess.

 

Honestly if the aggression doesn't die down I'm going to have to rehome one, if not both of them.
I started this hobby a few months ago only wanting guppies, then I discovered cory cats and I'm in love. When I had seven guppies it was almost impossible to feed my corys, which is why I rehomed so many guppies in the first place and adding more seems like a step in the wrong direction.
I kept the two guppies I was most fond of but if they start suffering because of that then ill have to make a hard decision in their best interest.
I appreciate the info from all of you guys though!
I never thought two guppies in such a "large" space would act this way, learn something new every day I guess.

you can try a divider made of acrylic but those just prevent physical contact. They can still see eachother. Plus it will restrict the corys to one side or the other. Sometimes they mellow out but often not.