2 Male Guppies Not Getting Along   3/12/08
We just got our first fish tank - 1 gallon - and then after a few days when the water was "right" we put in two male guppies.
<Hmm... 1 gallon isn't a fish tank, it's a bucket. And not even a very big bucket. Completely unsuitable for Guppies, and won't work in the long term, so not even worth wasting effort trying to fix the problem. Go, now, and buy a 20 gallon tank, minimum, for Guppies. Anything less will cause you problems. Trust me on this.>
At first they seemed rather happy eating and swimming all over checking out their new space. Then one of the fish (Wubbsy) started acting strange and his tail looked haggard. He will hide at the bottom of the tank near the heater and filter and hang out there while the other guppy (Pablo) will swim all over the place.
<Haggard tail could be fin-nipping from the other male, or else Finrot caused by poor water quality, or both. Hiding is because male Guppies are aggressive, and attack each other. In tanks less than 20 gallons, they WILL NOT COEXIST!!!!!! It's like getting a Palaeontologist and a Creationist to share a classroom -- sooner or later one of them will beat the other one into the ground!>
When it's feeding time the more aggressive Pablo will hover above the other and eat all the food first. It's as if he's keeping him pinned down. Wubbsy, the scared little guy barely eats and is chased by the other. Do I need to remove them from each other?
<Remove both. To another tank. Ideally different tanks, but failing that, just the one 20 gallon tank.>
Too much/not enough light?
<Nope.>
Change the water?
<Nope.>
Lower the heat?
<Nope.>
Add salt?
<Nope.>
Not feed them for a few days?
<Nope.>
There are so many sources for information out there that I'm a little unsure of what advice to take. I'm new to all of this and my two daughters are upset that Wubbsy seems unhappy and scared of Pablo. What's a mom to do before one of the fish dies and I have two distraught daughters on my hands?
<What a Mom should do is set a good example. Fish are animals. They don't want cute names. They want proper care, the right environment, sensible tankmates. So, your job as a responsible Mom is to demonstrate that with the pleasure of owning an animal comes the responsibility of providing what that animal needs. I'm sure as a Mom you've frowned at some bad parenting you've seen and said, Hey, some people really shouldn't have kids. Right now I'm the judgmental Mom and you're the Mom with the neglected/misbehaving child. So, with that said, it's time to raise your game and prove me wrong. We have plenty of information on Guppies here at WWM, for example here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppies.htm
Avail yourself of these, and then if you want more help, get back in touch!>
Nicole
<Good luck! Neale.>

Re: 2 Male Guppies Not Getting Along   3/12/08
Thanks so much - we'll give it a whirl. I really only wanted something small to start to see if we could handle the responsibility of fish (or any other pet for that matter).
<Ah, doesn't work this way... tanks below 20 gallons are difficult to look after and it is less easy to choose suitable livestock. For the beginner, something in the 20-40 gallon range is dramatically easier to maintain.>
With my little tank what would you suggest for a first time fish owner? I do not have room for anything much larger. And I need two fish - one for each of my girls. They fell for the pretty
guppies but if that is not suitable for what we can offer space-wise what are some options?
<The best fishes for inexperienced aquarists are Danios and Corydoras catfish. Keep Danios in groups of six, and Corydoras in groups of at least four specimens. The former swim at the top, the latter at the bottom. Both are fine in 20 gallon tanks and are very adaptable re: water chemistry, diet. The problem with bigger, non-schooling fish is they tend to be territorial and aggressive, and from there come problems! So I'd tend not to worry too much on one for one little girl and another for the other little girl (though I appreciate the sentiment). Instead, encourage the girls to think of the fish as a *family*, where all the members of a group of Danios or Corydoras need one another and get lonely kept apart. Not only is this is a good life lesson, it's not far from the scientific truth either.>
We did the pet store rounds and everyone had a different version of what was needed, what we should buy, etc.
<A book helps, but in the meantime, check out these:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwlivestk.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwlivestocking.htm
>
It really is hard to get good advice out there that doesn't come with a sales pitch.
Nicole
<I appreciate this. The guys in the store may mean well, but their main goal is to sell stuff, and oftentimes their knowledge of fish may be strong in some areas but weak in others. Books are a better resource than web sites because they're edited. Here at WWM you get the best of both worlds: people like me and Bob Fenner write for magazines and books. But nothing beats having a nice book you can sit down and spend the evening reading. It's also good to educate children to the value of books, even if it is only having them learn to identify the fish they see with the pictures in the book. As they mature, they won't have that fear of books so many young people seem to have these days. Good luck, Neale.>

Guppies tails being eaten  – 07/01/07
Hi,
we have a 60 litre tank with several tetras, 2 Silver Dollars, 6 Platys (with a week-old baby in a net cage!) & one Clown Loach. A few days ago we acquired 4 Guppies which we assumed to be male due to their colourful tails. All was fine for the first 2 or three days then, one morning, we found a severely traumatised little person minus tail! We quickly separated him from the others but he died shortly after. We noticed that one of the other Guppy's tails had been nibbled, though not to a great degree, and kept an eye throughout the day. However, yesterday morning, he too had died. Whatever's happening seems to be doing so during the night. Might you be able to advise as we find it so distressing & feel we've done something awfully wrong. Many thanks, Don & Jenny.
<Greetings. As you perhaps realise, a 60 litre (16 US gallon) tank is too small for silver dollars. Silver dollars potentially over 10 cm (4") in length and are exceptionally active and fast moving. I'd hesitate to recommend them even for a tank two or three times the size of yours. Clown loaches are schooling fish, and should be kept in at least a trio. Keeping a single specimen isn't very fair to the fish, and you'll probably find it is shy and nervous. Clown loaches are even bigger than silver dollars, and definitely need a bigger tank than yours. For a trio, even a 200 litre tank would be too small. So that's the analysis of your livestock over! Almost certainly the guppies are being nipped by the tetras. Silver dollars generally aren't nippers, so I'd cross those one of the list. But serpae tetras, black widow tetras, flame tetras, and a few others are regularly implicated. So if you let me know which tetras you have, we can try and identify the culprit. In some cases the problem is too few members of the school, but in other cases the tetra concerned feeds on skin and scales in the wild, so is simply doing what comes natural. Either way, mixing tetras and fancy guppies is almost never a good idea. Even neons have been known to nip fins under such circumstances! In the meantime, treat for finrot/fungus. Cheers, Neale.>

Reply... Neale, Don & Jenny... Silver Dollars...    7/2/07
Hi Neale,
many thanks for your reply and advice. Our Silver Dollars are about 3-4 inches and seem quite happy. Our Clown Roach 2-3 inches & also seems happy. He/ she is out and about quite a lot from under his log. We intend getting another as we had 2 to start with but one vanished overnight some weeks ago!- but haven't been able to locate a small one. We have a few Neon tetras, 5 Leopards and 4 Blue. Our one remaining Guppy seems unscathed and absolutely fine! Is it possible he might be responsible for the de-finning and ultimate demise of his three amigos?
As you've probably surmised, we are novice fish enthusiasts, having started keeping fish at the end of March. Most of our purchases ( Tetras, Platys and, more recently, our unfortunate Guppies) have been the result of advice given by a Fish Specialist shop in Rhyl from whom we also bought our tank & equipment. We have already decided to get a second tank. Ta muchly, Don & Jenny
<Hello Don & Jenny! Guppies can be nippy towards one another. Males are aggressive, especially when kept in small groups without females. Whether to the point of killing each other I cannot say. Never heard of that. Possible though. I have no idea what "leopard" tetras are. Never heard of them. Do you mean Leopard Danios? Small, minnow-like fish with spotted bodies that swim blazingly fast? Danios can be pugnacious, and tend to be fairly high energy animals. Work best in groups of 6 or more; any fewer and they often harass their tankmates, not out of malice really, but simply frustration, and the need to chase things and burn off some energy. Blue Tetras are fairly uncommon and I don't have personal experience, but they're said to be peaceful. Neons are not normally nippy but they have been know to bite Siamese fighting fish, so the possibility of nipping a fancy guppy definitely exists. As for questions of "happiness", there's two kinds of happy. There's what works now, and then there's what works in the long term. Your fish quite probably are happy know because they're young. Fish are often adaptable animals and will thrive in less than perfect conditions. But clown loaches and Silver Dollars get big and live for 10+ years, so long term you need a plan. I'd recommend keeping an eye out over the next 6-12 months for a bigger aquarium. There's nothing more miserable than a big clown loach by itself wedged into a too-small aquarium. Clown loaches are notoriously sensitive, sometimes making suicidal jumps out of aquaria when they feel stressed and other times getting whitespot very easily. Clown loaches are "allergic" to most standard medications, as I trust your retailer told you, and you must never use things like anti-whitespot potion in a tank with clown loaches. Hope this helps, Neale>

Mixing FW Fish  – 04/29/07
Should I put a danio and a rainbow shark together with guppies and Cory catfish?
<The male guppies have long flowing tails that are going to be irresistible to the danio and the shark. You will gat some torn fins on the guppies when you add these fish.-Chuck>

Guppies and Chinese Algae Eaters  4/8/07
Hi,
<<Greetings, Matt. Tom with you.>>
Just having a read through your website. Very helpful.
<<Glad to hear it, Matt.>>
I have a 25 litre tank with both male and female guppies as well as 4 golden Chinese algae eaters. Fairly small, the largest is 2 inches. The shop said it would be fine however your site is giving me some doubt!
<<Again, I’m glad to hear this. Even without going into my usual diatribe on CAE’s, Matt, they grow too large for a 25-liter tank.>>
Will the guppies be fine as they should be too small and fast to be latched onto by a CAE?
<<Just responded yesterday to a reader who found exactly the opposite to be true…sadly for one of the Guppies. Nearly identical circumstances, coincidentally. In short, your Guppies are not safe at all.>>
There doesn’t even appear to be algae in my time <<tank?>>, should I consider giving them the flick?
<<Immediately, if not sooner than that.>>
If so what other bottom dwelling fish can live in fresh water tanks at room temp.? As I mainly got them as they are something different!
<<Oh, they’re different all right! Personally, I’d look into a few of any of the Corydoras varieties of Catfish. Personable little fish that get along well with nearly all fish, certainly with your Guppies. Mine are kept at 78 degrees F. so you’ll want to do some careful acclimating if “room temperature” is far below this.>>
Cheers
Matt
<<Best regards, Matt. Tom>>

Happy Guppies - how to keep males from harassing the females.  1/9/07
Hello,
<Hi>
I raised 5 guppy babies.
<Congratulations, fish-grandma!>
They are adults now and I have 3 males and two females.  The males are relentless and annoy everyone due to the imbalance of male/female ratio.
<All livebearers behave this way; I've found that my male guppies are especially nasty, even towards each other.  It's just their temperament.>
I really don't want tons of guppies but only want the ones I have to be happy.
<I understand and think that's kind and wise.>
The two females look stressed from the males, the males are aggressive toward the females and the lone male Swordtail.
<Doesn't surprise me. How large is this tank?>
Should I buy more females and ignore the guppy fry to make my clan happy, or will I end of with tons of unwanted guppies?
<The latter, unless you have larger fish that will "control" the population.  A few options: (a) keep the males and females in separate tanks (but do keep in mind that female livebearers can store sperm, and basically self-impregnate at will for about 6 mos.), (b) establish a suitable community tank with larger fish to eat the fry (I have a 44 gal. FW community tank with boesemanni rainbows and male and female platys; I haven't seen a baby platy in years now...), (c) have a separate tank that you can feed the fry to (if you can bring yourself to do it - I never could!), or (d) find another home for either the males or females, and just keep one sex of livebearer.  As far as I know, these are pretty much your options.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again - with their rate of reproduction, I am *amazed* that livebearers haven't taken over this planet!>
Thanks, MDM
<You're welcome. Jorie>

I've got a dwarf puffer that I've had in a guppy tank for some time now.    7/13/06
<<Why in a guppy tank?  Guppies eat so quickly compared to DP’s, and DP’s are notoriously vicious for their size.>>
Yesterday, I walked past the tank, and I noticed that the dwarf puffer had a fry coming out of its body.  I quickly did a bit of research, and I found that dwarf puffers lay eggs, not birth live.  Yet there are about 3 or 4 babies swimming around the tank, each with barely-there puffer spots.
<<??? DP’s certainly do lay eggs.  That’s quite confusing indeed!>>
My question:  How is this possible?  Could it be that it's not a dwarf puffer, but a different type?
<<No.>>
I've owned many dwarf puffers over the past few years, and they always look the same as the one I had.  Is it possible that maybe a guppy gave birth to fry, and this puffer ate a baby whole, and it didn't break down in the puffer's body and he passed it as it was when he ate it?
<<I’m not sure.  I do know that live artemia have been expelled out of some fishes’ digestive tracts, but I’ve never heard of this happening with DP’s.  What exactly does the fry look like?>>
I've never seen anything like this, nor have I heard of anything like this happening, but none of my guppies have even looked pregnant, much less given birth before.
Help!
<<I wish I had more information for you.  Are you certain the fry was coming from its body? Study it closely and make a definitive ID; DP, guppy, or neither. Lisa>>

All-male guppies with platys and mollies   6/9/06
Hello Crew
Jasmine here again.
I currently have some platys (one male, 4 females) and mollies (2 males, 4 females).
I am thinking of getting 5 male-only guppies (since I am not wanting to breed guppies and the females take up bio-load without looking very nice).
Do you think there be too much aggression between the male guppies without any females guppies?
<Mmm, no. This species is often raised in single-sex settings to avoid such interactions>
Do you think the male guppies will start harassing the platys and mollies?
<Not likely that much... Poecilia reticulata are slower than these others>
As usual, many thanks for your advice.
Best regards
Jasmine
<Bob Fenner>

Bettas and Guppies ... comp.  - 06/02/2006
Hi WWM!
<<Part of it, Helen. Tom here.>>
I know Bettas and guppies shouldn't normally be kept together as the Betta may confuse them for other males.
<<True. Additionally, a Betta doesn't require "mates" ("buddies", for our American readers) :)>>
Wherever I've read this though the tank in question has had only a few plants or is relatively small.
<<All a Betta requires...>>
In a 125l tank with many, many places to retreat and no other occupants except ten guppies and a pair of catfish would it be possible to safely keep a Betta?
<<What kind of Catfish, Helen? Some might think Guppies are "food". As to your question, it's generally not recommended to keep other fish with Bettas. Additionally, Guppies are easily stressed. Easily! A Betta will be tickled to death with a 20L tank, all by itself, and the Guppies will be happier for it.>>
My main concern isn't that it could successfully hurt the guppies but that it might stress itself through constantly trying.
<<My main concern, Helen, is mixing fish that shouldn't be "mixed".>>
Thanks,
Helen
<<You're welcome, Helen. Tom>>

Guppies Not Making It In a Community Tank  12/03/05
HI Bob, Thanks for taking time to read this, I am sure you are very busy.  As always, well done and thank you for the continued excellence hard work and invaluable advice on the wet web (my most visited site according to my net
monitor). 
Now to my question.  I have three tanks: one is a 45 inch well planted tropical with a small  heater and a small filter, housing one red fighter fish, he is a happy chap and  very chilled out unless provoked (he hates guppies), I was thinking of putting in 2 cherry barbs or maybe a couple of white cloud mountain minnows. Good idea or bad? I read on the wet web that they are compatible as long as the temperament is right.
< The flowing fins of the betta are very tempting for barbs and other quick fish to nip at. Over time the betta's fins will be picked away.>
Secondly I have a 2 and a half foot cold tank with 4 white cloud mountain minnows, 2 small plecs (not sure what species to be fare) 1 baby shabumpkin, <<shubunkin>> 1 baby chocolate Moore and one a 1 & a half year old ranchu. Well planted with a two foot bubble curtain and strong filtration with minimum water movement.
Is this an ok set up (it is very mature and all fish seem happy as can be, never sick e.t.c in fact one of the minnows is 3 years old!!)
< The pleco usually likes warmer water temps than the cooler water fish.>
Now the main question. I also have a three and a half foot tank. full length bubble curtain, a six inch filter with carbon sponge and carbon cartridges running opposite a 12 inch Fluval 3 filter, heated too the norm of 24 to 25 C. It is very well planted with plenty of space and hiding places, play areas etc.
In it I have
3 opaline Gourami
3 Kissing gourami (babies)
2 Gold gourami (babies)
2 clown loaches (medium sized - no where near the full adult)#
2 pepper cory
1 male lyre tail sword
2 standard male swords
2 female swords
5 light glow tetra
5 rummy nose tetra
a couple of Siamese algae eaters
5 guppies 3 male two female
1 male sail fin molly
1 female silver molly
3 baby black mollies #moving to a four foot tank when larger
Why is it that out of everything I have that it is only ever my guppies that I struggle with? I never have any issue with the other fish, they all appear in great form, the water quality is Spot on, correct pH and nite levels are fine, temp is steady. Because it is heavy stocked I use a lot of filtration and strongly oxygenate the water with the large bubble curtain. From time to time and one by one they succumb to fin rot (is it a result of nipping?) random death for no apparent reason and occasionally red spots on the caudal fins.  Could you spread some light on this issue please. Take care and thank you oz
< The guppies are slow and small with the males having long fins. Male livebearers are constantly harassing the females and the male guppies with their long tails are getting nipped by the other fish. The stress from these activities will affect their immune system and they will die from diseases.-Chuck> 

Algae Eater With Guppies - 10/17/2005
Hi,
<Hello.>
I have a 36 gal tank with guppies and live plants. I have had some algae growth on my plants and hoped you might suggest a good fish to add to my tank that will eat algae on the plants but is safe to keep with guppies and their fry. One of the people at the LFS I use a lot suggested Otocinclus.
<A very effective, but very sensitive fish.>
I've also read about using Plecos, but that they can damage plants if they are large.
<Ancistrus "bushynose" plecs are a good choice, and stay under 5" roughly.>
The algae on the plants appears to be mostly green hair algae. There is some on the glass and a little on the substrate that appears to be more of a green slime. Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.
<You might consider shrimp of genus Caridina or Neocaridina.... the "algae-eating" shrimp, Caridina japonica, and the "cherry" shrimp, Neocaridina denticulata sinensis v. red, are both readily available in the hobby now and excellent consumers of algae. Not to mention cute!>
Thanks, -Rob
<Wishing you well, -Sabrina>

Guppies and Corys  9/25/05
I am setting up a new freshwater tank (36 gal) and am interested in keeping guppies and Cory cats. I've noticed on this site that a lot of people seem to have this combination. I am actually moving the guppies from a smaller tank due to reproduction. Will the guppy fry be safe in the same tank with the Cory cats or would they turn into a meal? I do have breeding grass for them to hide in which has helped them survive with the adult guppies.
<Should do fine together, if a guppy fry is on the bottom of the tank and slow enough to get eaten by a Cory then there was probably something wrong with it anyway.  Corys aren't much for hunting fish and keep to themselves, as long as you provide some hiding places for the fry they should be fine.  Gage>

Guppies (12-18-03)
I love guppies but am not so fond of other livebearers. Can you suggest
some fish I can put with them? I have a 55 gallon.<You should be able to find lots of fish choices here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsubwebindex.htm.  Cody>