Nipping and chasing behavior

[Ioana Sundius]

I've had my guppies for a little over one year now, with everyone stable and happy until recently. A few weeks ago, I could not find my 6th guppy and I assumed the worse. Unexplained, but they are getting up there in age, and I have no idea how old they were when I got them.

I had known that one of the guppies seems to be nosing and chasing at the rest, but there are plenty places to hide and everyone seemed ok. After there were only 5 left in the tank, they all started to chase each other. Now I have one of them in a recovery mesh divider, with a horrible gash on his tail (see pic) and everyone seems a bit frayed. The yellow ones dorsal fin looks rimmed with white. The entire tank is being treated with Melafix -- but that's another thread.

The question here is: what do I do about the nipping? At some point I will have to release the hurt one back into the community and I don't want him, or anyone else, hurt. I thought about bringing in additional guppies to enlarge the group, but I'm not sure if I would be creating a larger problem.

Tank details in my profile: 5 guppies, one 3" rubberlip pleco, 2 nerites, lots of plants in a 20 gallon tank with a Fluval 207 canister filter. Established tank with solid cycle and trying to keep nitrates below 15ppm with water changes as needed.

 

[Eliza4310]

The white/transparent part you see on the tail is normal. It's what you see on growing/repairing fins. As for the nipping, what is your male:female ratio in the tank?

 

[emeraldking]

I've had my guppies for a little over one year now, with everyone stable and happy until recently. A few weeks ago, I could not find my 6th guppy and I assumed the worse. Unexplained, but they are getting up there in age, and I have no idea how old they were when I got them.

I had known that one of the guppies seems to be nosing and chasing at the rest, but there are plenty places to hide and everyone seemed ok. After there were only 5 left in the tank, they all started to chase each other. Now I have one of them in a recovery mesh divider, with a horrible gash on his tail (see pic) and everyone seems a bit frayed. The yellow ones dorsal fin looks rimmed with white. The entire tank is being treated with Melafix -- but that's another thread.

The question here is: what do I do about the nipping? At some point I will have to release the hurt one back into the community and I don't want him, or anyone else, hurt. I thought about bringing in additional guppies to enlarge the group, but I'm not sure if I would be creating a larger problem.

Tank details in my profile: 5 guppies, one 3" rubberlip pleco, 2 nerites, lots of plants in a 20 gallon tank with a Fluval 207 canister filter. Established tank with solid cycle and trying to keep nitrates below 15ppm with water changes as needed.

Well, dominance can occur in a tank. Even with guppies. So, they've developed a hierarchy in the tank. Most of the time, it will pass after a while. There's no real remedy to stop or avoid nipping. As I've already mentioned, it will be a matter of time that such behavior will pass.

The white/transparent part you see on the tail is normal. It's what you see on growing/repairing fins. As for the nipping, what is your male:female ratio in the tank?

If the guppies shown are all the guppies in the tank, then there's no male/female ratio. For the ones in the pictures are all male.

 

[Eliza4310]

Well, dominance can occur in a tank. Even with guppies. So, they've developed a hierarchy in the tank. Most of the time, it will pass after a while. There's no real remedy to stop or avoid nipping. As I've already mentioned, it will be a matter of time that such behavior will pass.

If the guppies shown are all the guppies in the tank, then there's no male/female ratio. For the ones in the pictures are all male.

Yeah, I noticed that too. From my experience, the males tend to be nippier towards each other when there are no females.

 

[Ioana Sundius]

Yes, they are all males... trying to do without babies.

I guess the big question is, would it get better if there are more males in the tank, or would it make things worse? And should I consider allowing the hurt one back in the community once he grows back some of his tail or will he always be slower and therefore picked on? I'm a bit too invested on healing him to then turn around and allow him to be hurt again.

 

[SotaAquatics]

Fin rips happen, I personally never separate them out as long as they are still displaying normal swimming/behavior. The tails sometimes heal nice, but I find that more often then not, rips like that will never completely close back up. It shouldn't have any detrimental effect on the guppy and he will be fine for the rest of his life. If there are no signs of infection or fin rot and behavior appears normal then he can go back at any time. In my opinion without observing their behavior, that probably isn't a nipping injury from a guppy but caught and torn on some object in the tank.

I have a male only guppy tank with over 100 males, the only fin injuries I ever see are from the occasional snag, not aggression from any of the other fish. As far as territorial aggression goes - which I don't think is a huge factor with guppies... the more fish the better. Individuals are unable to carve out a territorial space to protect, and aggression is more spread out if you do get one with a bit of an attitude problem. I think you are completely fine keeping the number you have, or adding a few more males, it shouldn't create any more problems.

 

[emeraldking]

Yes, they are all males... trying to do without babies.

I guess the big question is, would it get better if there are more males in the tank, or would it make things worse? And should I consider allowing the hurt one back in the community once he grows back some of his tail or will he always be slower and therefore picked on? I'm a bit too invested on healing him to then turn around and allow him to be hurt again.

Some more male additions could spread the aggression. In most cases such behavior will pass. It's more to see who's the alpha and that other know their position within the group. Yes, even guppies can have this behavior. But I do have to say that it really differs per tank wether a hierarchy will be developed or not.