HannahJ
Aquarium Advice Activist
So one of my dormmates called me up a few days ago, saying they were tired of the tank their (now ex-) girlfriend had gotten them, and would I (as the resident "fish person") take them before he flushed them and trashed the aquarium?
And so I came into possession of a 6 gallon bowfront desk aquarium, containing one male guppy, one platy, and one cory cat. The cory cat got tossed in my (now slightly overstocked) 10 gallon, which already has some corys and he is now much much happier. I felt bad for the lone guppy though, so I went and picked up three females this morning and tossed them in, since playing the guppy multiplication game is fun and I could use some controlled live food for my ghost knife.
However, the male seems to have spent all day chasing around one of the females non-stop. He goes up to her and nips at her tail (not the fin part, but the sides) and she half-heartedly swims away. Lather, rinse, repeat. For comparison, she doesn't try to escape him with nearly the speed she feeds with, and doesn't seem to be too bothered, but this has been continually going on all day.
The male has ignored the other two female guppies, he's only picking on this one. So, what's the consensus? Is he doing some sort of weird territorial aggression I should be concerned about, or is this some sort of courtship behavior? Should I consider adding one more male or female to change up the ratio? Or something else?
Thanks in advance for any help.
And so I came into possession of a 6 gallon bowfront desk aquarium, containing one male guppy, one platy, and one cory cat. The cory cat got tossed in my (now slightly overstocked) 10 gallon, which already has some corys and he is now much much happier. I felt bad for the lone guppy though, so I went and picked up three females this morning and tossed them in, since playing the guppy multiplication game is fun and I could use some controlled live food for my ghost knife.
However, the male seems to have spent all day chasing around one of the females non-stop. He goes up to her and nips at her tail (not the fin part, but the sides) and she half-heartedly swims away. Lather, rinse, repeat. For comparison, she doesn't try to escape him with nearly the speed she feeds with, and doesn't seem to be too bothered, but this has been continually going on all day.
The male has ignored the other two female guppies, he's only picking on this one. So, what's the consensus? Is he doing some sort of weird territorial aggression I should be concerned about, or is this some sort of courtship behavior? Should I consider adding one more male or female to change up the ratio? Or something else?
Thanks in advance for any help.