Male guppies

[Darryl1984]

Good evening to all. I have 4 male guppies. If I add one female, will they all fight to the death or will they behave. Also if I add more guppies of a different colour will they be attacked by the others of the same colour.

Cheers

[Carylnz]

They don't care about colours but you should always have way more females than males. At least 2 to 1 male to female ratio.
Add a female to 4 males and she will most likely be dead within days
The males don't fight to the death, they harass the poor female to death instead.
If you want a peaceful guppy tank have an all male set-up or only 1 male with several females. Once you have females though you have fry and the population quickly explodes.

[Darryl1984]

Great advice. And there was me thinking the males would kill each other. I think my tank would be over populated if i add 2 females to every male. in matey just add a couple of boys then. My cousins tank is being over runneth guppies so she's looking to give away some of the baby's that are living in there.

[Carylnz]

Many people like to have male only tanks. That way they get the brighter colours without the fry
Male guppies will live happily together until you add a/any females - then the fights begin!
They may chase each other at times, trying to get a dominating order but they should not do each other any serious damage. You may get the occasional split fin but that is normal, especially in the larger finned males.

[Darryl1984]

Does the same ratio apply to platys. I have a male and a female who have hot in great until recently. The boy is charging the guppies all the time and charging her too. She just hides at the bottom only really appearing for food.

[Carylnz]

Yes it does. The males often don't care that the female they are chasing is not the same species either

[Darryl1984]

He's a big bully. Il Mabey get another girl platy to give her some company and Mabey the boy platy will back off a bit. I don't want him being such a wide boy.

[Carylnz]

Have you got a lot of plants? Provide plenty of places for the other fish to hide and/or a large rock or driftwood to break up the line of sight.

[Darryl1984]

I do have plants in the tank. Around 8 or 9 but there have only grown to the middle of the tank. The male platy just charges the guppies constantly now. It's as if he's hunting them lol. I don't think my lfs have bog wood for sale. Just all the plastic stuff.

[Darryl1984]

OK so I was watching them all swimming about today and my 4 guppies are missing parts of there tail fins. It appears the Neons are nipping at them. The poor guppies are having a terrible time in there. The male platy is charging and having them around the tank and my Neons are eating the tails.

Any advice on where to go from here. I'm not allowed another tank lol so going on past advice, bog wood and big plants is the way to go. Hope they don't die from the stress.

[Darryl1984]

Well popped into my lfs and spoke to the lady there. She confirmed what you guys had already said and I've purchased two female platys. Popped them in and the horney bam started putting his moves into action. Lol. Hope he calms down now he's got some honeys. Lol

[Carylnz]

It doesn't have to be driftwood - a huge castle will do the job of breaking line of sight. Neons will find the long tails irresistible and will nibble. Only solution is to rehome one or the other species.
The more other fish there are the better (within safe stocking levels of course) as it means the bully has to divide his bullying between more fish so each of the others gets a rest.
Another thing you can do is put him in time out for a day every so often. That means catching him and putting him in a container floating in the main tank.

[Darryl1984]

aww I really don't want to remove any as I love them all. I will get some extra Decor. If have a look and what's available and see what suits the tank size best.

Was your idea of a time out tank a serious one

[Carylnz]

Yes I was serious. It is sometimes done with larger cichlids who get very territorial. They are removed from the tank, the landscaped rearranged, then he is put back. As he no longer recognises it as "his" and he was introduced last, it often settles down aggressive behaviour as he is no longer top of the chain.
With livebearers the reasoning is just to give the others a rest. He is aggressive because he wants to be top dog (or fish) and first at the females, not because he is territorial so no need to rearrange landscape.

[Darryl1984]

Awesome. Makes sense now it's explained. Once I get a larger bit if decor I will be shuffling the other bits around too. He's really funny to watch with the girls. Just need to try and stop Neons from eating my guppies tails. It's never ending with my fish. Lol.