Unhappy guppy

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strombo1

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 8, 2019
Messages
7
I have a 2.5 gal tank with 3 guppies and a snail. The guppies have been in this tank for a year. Normally they swim around with the two males harassing the female. Today the female is hiding under the filter. The males are largely letting her rest. I haven't seen her hide out before.

I saw a fry flitting about earlier. He probably flitted into someone's mouth because I can't see him now. So the female obviously gave birth today. She looks normal, nothing out of the ordinary besides hiding. I did about a 40% water change today; she was hiding before and since.

According to API 5-in-1 test strips, my water is VERY hard - GH is off the chart. KH is about 40, PH about 7-7.5, nitrites 0 and nitrates maybe 20. I use tap water with Tetra AquaSafe Plus. I've noticed the tap water has been very cloudy for the last month or so, and when it settles in the tank there is white dust on the black gravel.

I did add a snail and water wisteria this morning.

I'm hoping she's just tired and avoiding the boys. This tank is on my desk at work, and today's Friday, so I'm afraid I'll come in Monday and find her dead. :(

Any thoughts? Should I add another female to give the boys someone else to harass?

:thanks:
 
The usual ratio for guppies is 2 females per 1 male to avoid harassment. Maybe you can trade in one of your males for another Female or your female for another male.
 
Sara up there is right. You always want more females than males. Males will constantly harass females. 2F/1M is what I generally see, but in some cases I might even do 3F/1M.

Also, your tank is kind of small for three guppies. SHe really has no where to hide from them in a 2.5. I might consider an upgrade.
 
Thank you for the advice! I will swap out one of the males for a female.

MattS99, it is small and I do water changes about every 5 days right now. I was thinking to add some shrimp to see if they can clean up any extra food and keep the ammonia down.
 
I would not add shrimp. The bioload on that tank is already high and they will only add to it. The best clean up crew is you.
 
Everything effects the bioload. Especially in a small tank like that, that's already overstocked.
 
Thats a lot of fish for that small of a tank. Even for shrimp people suggest 5 per gal and yes, shrimp have a small bioload but still a bioload. Your guppies would even eat the smaller shrimp or shrimp frys. I wouldnt even put two chili rasboras in a tank that small.
 
Thank you everyone for your input! Based on your advice I removed the female from the 2.5 gal and put her in my 20 gal at home. I did not add shrimp. So now there are two male guppies and a snail. I don't know if the boys will be happier, but they should be healthier. :)
 
The boys might play nice but there's a decent chance that they attack each other as well. They can get quite mean.
 
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