GuppyGuy333
Aquarium Advice Activist
Hi everyone! I'm having a problem with guppy aggression. Despite having GuppyGuy as a moniker....I really don't know how to handle my current situation.
I have a 55 gallon community tank with 6 male guppies (2 endler's, 2 cobras, and 2 regular) and about 12 females (all regular). plus many fry of various ages.
There is also one male betta, 6 kuhli loaches, 2 mystery snails, 5 corydoras, one bristlenose pleco. plus a ramshorn infestation
Background: I'm currently suffering a surge in male guppy aggression. I originally set out in having the best possible set up for my guppies. I started out with 5 males and they were the only ones in the tank. they slowly started getting more aggressive as time went on and then I decided to add females because many people said this could help with aggression. As soon as I did this one of my males died (I don't know if this was a coincidence or if there was something going on with group dynamics) I only added about four female guppies at a time incrementally until I had about 16. When I added my betta he nipped one female's fins until I think she died from the injury (he has now become the nicest member in the tank). two have died from having problems with giving birth (at least i think that's why they died, no fin rips or any other obvious signs of trauma), and two others died after adding them to the tank within a couple of days. Granted after adding my females the males became less aggressive but i think this was due to them chasing after my females and less about making a pecking order. I added two male endler's about a month and a half ago because i started seeing the 4 original males become aggressive towards eachother (not towards the females though) and thought this might spread out the aggression. This seemed to work for the last couple of months until recently.
Now my males keep getting torn fins and so do my females in increasing numbers. This doesn't seem to slow any of them down but I do worry about if it will only be a matter of time before many of them die at once or the aggression will continue.
(i know this isn't from my betta, who was my chief suspect at the onset of all tail damage).
I have also observed that with this round of aggression that that almost all adult females are pregnant at this time....so I don't know if this is contributing to it. and that males are chasing after already pregnant females more than they did in the past. often ganging up on them for longer periods than they did previously.
Also I'm seeing at least one "teenager" guppy death every few days and I don't know if this is due to adult aggression.
I'm asking advice because I don't know if guppy aggression comes in natural waves like I have seen them doing because on looking back it has come in peaks every 2-3 months. LFS employees say that some guppies just have aggressive personalities and that you can't really do anything except get rid of them. I'm wondering if anyone else has had personal experience with this.
I currently have a 40 gallon breeder up and running and have even put some of the guppy fry/teenagers into it. I'm wondering if i should do a complete sex/gender separation of my guppies. That is what my instincts are telling me but i'm worried about the fallout of such a change in environment for all involved. Would this possibly heighten the aggression in the males? or and make them dangerous to other community tank members. Would any of yall recommend this or should I just ride the waves of aggression and see what happens?
I have a 55 gallon community tank with 6 male guppies (2 endler's, 2 cobras, and 2 regular) and about 12 females (all regular). plus many fry of various ages.
There is also one male betta, 6 kuhli loaches, 2 mystery snails, 5 corydoras, one bristlenose pleco. plus a ramshorn infestation
Background: I'm currently suffering a surge in male guppy aggression. I originally set out in having the best possible set up for my guppies. I started out with 5 males and they were the only ones in the tank. they slowly started getting more aggressive as time went on and then I decided to add females because many people said this could help with aggression. As soon as I did this one of my males died (I don't know if this was a coincidence or if there was something going on with group dynamics) I only added about four female guppies at a time incrementally until I had about 16. When I added my betta he nipped one female's fins until I think she died from the injury (he has now become the nicest member in the tank). two have died from having problems with giving birth (at least i think that's why they died, no fin rips or any other obvious signs of trauma), and two others died after adding them to the tank within a couple of days. Granted after adding my females the males became less aggressive but i think this was due to them chasing after my females and less about making a pecking order. I added two male endler's about a month and a half ago because i started seeing the 4 original males become aggressive towards eachother (not towards the females though) and thought this might spread out the aggression. This seemed to work for the last couple of months until recently.
Now my males keep getting torn fins and so do my females in increasing numbers. This doesn't seem to slow any of them down but I do worry about if it will only be a matter of time before many of them die at once or the aggression will continue.
(i know this isn't from my betta, who was my chief suspect at the onset of all tail damage).
I have also observed that with this round of aggression that that almost all adult females are pregnant at this time....so I don't know if this is contributing to it. and that males are chasing after already pregnant females more than they did in the past. often ganging up on them for longer periods than they did previously.
Also I'm seeing at least one "teenager" guppy death every few days and I don't know if this is due to adult aggression.
I'm asking advice because I don't know if guppy aggression comes in natural waves like I have seen them doing because on looking back it has come in peaks every 2-3 months. LFS employees say that some guppies just have aggressive personalities and that you can't really do anything except get rid of them. I'm wondering if anyone else has had personal experience with this.
I currently have a 40 gallon breeder up and running and have even put some of the guppy fry/teenagers into it. I'm wondering if i should do a complete sex/gender separation of my guppies. That is what my instincts are telling me but i'm worried about the fallout of such a change in environment for all involved. Would this possibly heighten the aggression in the males? or and make them dangerous to other community tank members. Would any of yall recommend this or should I just ride the waves of aggression and see what happens?