Right now we have 4 guppies (2 mail and 2 Female, we think) and A female beta living happily in a 20 Gallon tank, there are plenty of plants and fun things for them but still 2 of them swim quite vigorously with each other. We believe that these are the 2 males, the slightly larger of the two has a very spotted tail and flairs it when they are together almost like he is showing off, saying "Ha! Look at my fin, its spottier than yours 'flitter flitter flitter'". The slightly smaller Male is redder and its spots darkening. They do seem to 'fight,' like trying to nip at each other. Why is this? Am I doing something wrong? Is there anything we can do to help them? These fish are only a couple of months old, and as far as we know they have not birthed anything, they were given to us from a neighbor who got them from working at the humane society. If you need any more information I am happy to supply it!
Answers:
Wow. Is sailortinkitty ever an ignorant fool. Don't listen to a single thing she says.
Ideally, you should have your guppies in a 2:1 female to male ratio. This will prevent dominance in the males (you know, the whole "there are enough chicks for the two of us" kinda male mentality). Look into getting a couple more females.
It may not be that they're being aggressive either. Males are known to get frisky with one another from time to time (I should know - the three males I have in my 55-gallon are, uh, interesting to watch from time to time).
As long as you're not seeing any physical damage to each of the fish, you should be fine. If you notice a lot of nipping, get a couple more females - but be forewarned, you are going to be inundated with babies in no time flat.
when guppies fight, it's harmless.
and from what you're describing, it sounds like mating.
you can always tell a male from a female guppy. The females are larger and has little to no color on the body. The female's tale is round too.
your guppies seem to be territorial. I've never really known guppies to be like that. they're usually pretty peaceful. If I remember correctly, the males have large fins,and the females have shorter ones. If it bothers you that much, then I would remove one of the males, and replace it with one or two female guppies.
If it's a relatively minor thing, then just let them be, unless one of them gets injured or seems very stressed. Your set up seems very nice! Enjoy them!
Boys will be boys. You are absolutely correct, the boys are trying to impress the girls for mating rights. Either get rid of one of the males (the best option) or get more girls. Each male will be happy with 3 or 4 of his own. So you need about 6 more girls.
The good news is the tank is big enough for everyone, so go for it.
A word from the wise though, go to a specialty fish store. You will have a better chance of getting females and not cross dressing males when knowledgeable staff is on hand to help you. The idiots at Petco and Petsmart could sell you males and make your problems all the worse.
Don't flush the male if that's what you decide, it's cruel and they suffer. Get some Alka-Seltzer, put the male in a coffee cup and add a tablet. It has painkillers and suffocates fishies painlessly.
Good luck
I stopped reading at Beta
Beta are called Japanese Fighting Fish.
They will kill everything.
They try to attack their own reflection.
If they aren't in some round bowl and given something to focus their attacks on about once a week, they get bored and commit suicide.
The Beta doesn't need 20 Gallons,.. it's more happy in little round bowls. Go see if you can find a tiny thing specificly for Beta at a Pet Store. They have Lids because Beta try to jump out of their bowls and can die that way. They also will hit any pights you might have at the top of the tank. They may go after plants, dirt, alg,.. slam into rocks.
That's why Beta Bowls tend to be COMPLETELY empty.
There are also special isolation containers you might want to get stores and people some times use to keep Beta in large tanks like that,.. but isolated to an area about the size of a little tiny bowl.
The problem is they might slam around until they kill themselves trying to get at the other fish and anything else they see in the tank.
People will say only Female Beta are agreesive or only Males,.. or only if you have 2 males or only if you have 2 female,.. or they only commit suicide when you have one male and one female. No,.. all Beta are bonkers like this,.. even if they are the only fish you own. People in pet stores have the Betas seperated or moved frequently,.. they do not own the Beta,. they do not have it as a pet for a month, 3 months, 6 months,.. or a year. Some Beta die within 2 weeks,
Again,.. Beta like stimulants some times while in the tiny cup
Now I will read the rest of your post XD
Guppies like to have things to be paranoid about some times. They seem to learn things over time too and since they might not grow as fast as other fish they are around, it seems like they learn faster. Fish from Fish stores some times are ill. Sea life in general tend to have some sort f behavior like your describe to attract mates and try to scare off other things.
One may be confused and think the other is food, the other may be mimicing the one. They may be mimicing what the beta does while your back is turned. Two guppies picking on each other isn't a problem,.. Two Guppies verse one Guppy could be a problem. I wouldn't worry about it until you see 2 on 1,.. then you should worry the one is going to disappear one day by being eatten by the others. You might try increaseing food slightly and sprinkleing over some time in two front corners of the tank. This way one will be distracted on one side and not starve the others. Keep in mind fish tend to not be able to tell when they are full,.. so while you may be able to even get away with double the feed your giving them,.. give too much and one eatting before the others and chaseing the others off could end up being one dead agrressive fish and many happy fish.
First, check whether your guppies are really 2 male and 2 female.Male guppies have gonopodia which are rod like anal fins.
I think they are competing for the females if both are male.
If the small one is female, the other spotty one presumably male is trying to show off and get her to mate.
By the way if the Betta is the same colour as the guppy it will attack it. Contrary to what is said above bettas
a)love space
b)do not kill everything.n fact fin nippers give them hell.
c) do not need to loose their rage on anything
d)will(and can)not commit suicide by jumping out of the tank
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH BIRDISTASTY , you should have at least 2 females to every male and if you want to keep the guppy fry(babies)then you better watch out with your beta as well as the other guppies(including the mother!!) they will think xmas has come early with all that fresh live food about, make sure you keep an eye on the female guppies as they will when pregnant show a black spot around their rear end(gravid spot) and take i think around 30 days to birth. she will also hang around the bottom of the tank more searching for a quiet spot to nest.
most fish fight from time to time no need to worry
males are aggressive breeders and require two females to every male that is prob the reason they are being aggressive the will literally mate a female to death you need More females the best way to tell them apart is the adults the female will have less color and a black spot on her belly near her tail that is called her graved spot the male will have a much larger tail and is the colorful one of the two they will have a long pointed fin under there belly's its called the anal fin i cant remember the teck name that's what they I'mpregnate the female With they will point it at them and flair there tails as if to say look at me mate with me im the best you will also prob want to pull out you first couple of birthings so they will be able to grow up and you have a good size community built up because the adults will eat there fry "baby's" you can add the fry back into the community tank when they are bigger than the biggest adults mouth you also might want to get some floating plants so the fry when you have fry will have somewhere to hide some will hide in the rocks and some will hide in plants but i think you just need a few more females and it should balance everyone out
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