Guppy is being aggressive

[Lanc1988]

I just recently added 13 fish to my aquarium which included a variety of peaceful fish. Yesterday I lost one of the guppys and now there is just one of them left and it is being very aggressive against my 2 red wag platies. It has nipped away almost all of the platy's top fin.

It is starting to get really frustrating watching this tiny guppy bully my other fish that are completely peaceful. I am about to throw the guppy out if I can't get it to stop. Otherwise its probably going to end up killing my 2 platies then moving on to the other fish.

I've done a water test and my ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, and nitrate is around 5-10.

 

[phoenixkiller]

What size tank is it? Tiny and crowded tanks may cause him to attack others.

In any case, you might want to relocate that guppy to prevent fish deaths.

Hope I helped!

 

[Lanc1988]

its a 29 gallon planted tank with driftwood. All of the 13 fish are small: 4 neon tetras, 3 mollies, 2 platies, 2 guppies, 2 albino cories

i have moved the guppy to a small glass bowl for now.. keeping it in a separate tank all by itself long term isn't an option.

 

[phoenixkiller]

Is there any pet store that would take him? Any local people with fish tanks that would take him?

 

[Aquarist1234]

Is there any pet store that would take him? Any local people with fish tanks that would take him?

Where do you live? Which part of Texas?

 

[Lanc1988]

not that i know of.. closest pet stores are petsmart and petco where i got the fish, they are about 40 minutes away.. not sure if they accept fish back?

now im noticing that my dalmation molly is harassing my other 2 mollies.... it keeps following the white one around non stop then nipping at its face when it gets the chance.. did i just get unlucky with this molly and guppy? i thought these were are types of peaceful community fish that did well with each other?

 

[phoenixkiller]

Where do you live? Which part of Texas?

North texas. North of dallas.

 

[phoenixkiller]

not that i know of.. closest pet stores are petsmart and petco where i got the fish, they are about 40 minutes away.. not sure if they accept fish back?

now im noticing that my dalmation molly is harassing my other 2 mollies.... it keeps following the white one around non stop then nipping at its face when it gets the chance.. did i just get unlucky with this molly and guppy? i thought these were are types of peaceful community fish that did well with each other?

That's weird. I have not had such problems. You may need to give him back as well, they may be overcrowded.

If any truly experienced aquarists could chime in, I would appreciate the help! I am having a hard time thinking about what he/she needs to do...

 

[Lanc1988]

overcrowded meaning too many fish? theres only 11 fish in there now and its 29 gallons.. i thought i was undercrowded.. was planning to get some more neon tetras and a couple more cories

now since the guppy isn't in the tank anymore, the injured red platy is nipping at the other red platy, not all the time but when they get close to each other.. is this just normal behavior for all these 'peaceful' fish? the platies are nipping, the mollies are nipping, the guppy was nipping the platies... the only ones not fighting are the cories and neon tetras

 

[Lanc1988]

ok.. it seems like things have calmed down so far.. just every once in a while the dalmation molly will mess with the other mollies.

so i guess my question would be, how much aggression/nipping is too much where i need to remove the fish? if the fish starts tearing up another fish's fins like the molly did?

 

[Aquarist1234]

North texas. North of dallas.

You could take it to Petco/Petsmart and they would probably exchange it.

 

[phoenixkiller]

You could take it to Petco/Petsmart and they would probably exchange it.

Oh sorry I'm not the one who posted the thread. My bad .

 

[Aquarist1234]

Oh sorry I'm not the one who posted the thread. My bad .

Oh haha

 

[CarleeWade]

Hello Everyone!
Me and my boyfriend are brand new to this! I'll kinda give my story then I'll explain my problem.
Last week we bought a 10 gallon tank starter kit. We set it all up did some research then went to the pet store the next day to get some fish. The first two fish we got were 2 reg wag platys. These two fish were great and seemed nice and happy in our tank. A week later (today) we decided to go back to the pet store to add a few more fish. Our normal knowledgeable guy was really busy that day so we didn't get a chance to pick his brain and see what type of fish we should add to our tank. We ended up picking 2 neon tetras and 2 guppies (i cant recall what kind). We get home and add the fish to the fish tank and everything seems fine. We watched and as the night went on the one guppy would not leave the 2 red wag platys alone! At first it was just chasing but then progressed to actually nipping both of the fish (it didn't seem to target just one). As I read some articles on the internet nothing really helped clear it up because I'm not sure the sex of my fish! So for now we have isolated the one mean guppy in another small fish bowl until we can return him tomorrow. What I need to know is 1) should i put the two guppies together in the other bowl so they aren't lonely and 2) If we return the one guppy should we just return both? Will the other guppy be too lonely by himself. Because by the sounds of it guppies are kind of a pain in the but. I'd like to avoid them all together now. Since we are beginners we only want peaceful fish!
Sorry for my long paragraph! Thanks for your help!
- Carlee