What is my guppy doing?

[SilverDragon]

I just got a male fancy guppy and a pearl white molly(not sure what sex yet, I havent studied it long enough)....

The guppy is chasing after the molly like theres no tomorrow, but to me it doesnt look like hes nipping at it.. do you think he could be trying to mate? Or are guppies known to nip?

I had a male guppy and female molly together before with no problems.

I really hope I dont have to seperate him.. its way too much trouble.

[tropicfishman]

Doubt it, sounds more like the guppy is trying to make his territory known or he could just be checkin out the new fish, my molly was hassled by my betta for a couple weeks when I first brought her home, then he got used to her and quit

[Puriti]

You can tell if he'd be breeding her. He'd be trying to jam his anal fin (gonopodium) up into the fish... sorry to say lol Most times just them chasing doesn't mean much of anything it could be dominance, entertainment, or just them being weird. HTH

[sith j]

i have a male delta in a 10gal with a dwarf gourami and three black tetras, the guppy bullies everyone even my gourami. a few days ago i put in three females in hopes to give him someone to hangout with but he doesnt even pay them much attention. still nipping at everyone. luckily he doesnt cause any damage or really stress the fish out, i think they know he is harmless

[SilverDragon]

well its kindof funny to watch, the guppy looks like hes trying to rub on her.. kindof upside down-like... he swims along side her (if its a 'her') and constantly stares at her underside and tries to flip/rub on her.... she has no damage to her fins and she still swims around non-stop, full of energy when he leaves her alone.. so I dont think shes stressed out.. plus shes like 6 times the size of him... I think shes full grown or almost, and the guppy is still tiny.

the guppy also doesnt bother chasing the corycats at all.

Do I need to add salt to the tank? Is it extremely necessary? Would the salt hurt the corycats?

[hsherman1986]

sounds like you have a female molly (is the anal fin short and rounded, or long and pointed? If it is short and rounded, you have a female). It also sounds like what happened to me is happening with you. I had to put all my male gupies in a seperate tank because they were harassing my other female livebearers. They were trying to mate with anything livebearer and female. It sounds like that is what is happening with you. You can either buy some more female guppies so the harassment is sread out among more fish to make it easier on the rest of them (be prepared for LOTS of babies) or seperate your male like I did.

HTH (and mind you, this may not be what is happeneing, but it sounds exactly like what happened to me)

[SCFatz]

This is not a unique situation.As a matter a fact I posted the same question about 6 weeks ago or so.I had one male gup who would just harass my platy like there was no tomorrow.Just as you discibe.

I chose to wait it out and its gotten better.The platy is fine and doing well.Sometimes the chase is on again,but not for nearly as long as it used to be and not nearly as often.If shes not in the mood she now will turn and chase him now lol.

I suggest just waiting and watching.

Oh...and don't salt the tank.

[SilverDragon]

Ok.. I was just wondering about the salt cuz the Walmart (blech) tanks say that mollies and guppies like salt in the water.

I cant tell if my molly is male or female yet... she/he wont open up the anal fin for me to look, but Im guessing its female.

So as long as the guppy isnt injuring the molly or stressing her/him out, I guess Ill just watch and see if he lets up.

Thanks for all your help, and any more suggestions would be appreciated.

[minoubinette]

I actually have a male guppy and a female platy, and the male is trying to mate with her all the time. hahaha