Male guppy aggression

**sammycan** · 09-11-2012, 3:44 AM

Hi, about a month ago I started my first 10-gal tank. At the moment I have 2 male guppies, an African dwarf frog, a cory catfish and some live plants.

I've wanted to add another fish once the tank stabilized and I intended to get another male guppy, but suddenly in the past few days my current 2 males (1 black and 1 yellow) have started acting kinda "weird" toward each other. It isn't extreme aggression but it's also more intense than just playing. One of them will dart really fast at the other, but right when I expect him to take a chunk out of a fin, he'll pull up short and just kinda bump into him. They will face each other and flare up their tails, then swim in circles around each other, sometimes taking quick jabs (but rarely make actual contact.) Basically they seem to be constantly challenging each other, never leaving one another alone, and they seem to be getting bolder as time goes on. Since they seem to be taking turns at being the aggressor, and haven't done any physical harm to each other yet, I wonder if I'm reading too much into it. They have shown zero interest in the frog and the catfish, btw.

So that's my first question, is this behavior something I should be worried about? They are both beautiful guppies and I would hate to see them all chewed up and miserable (or worse) because they can't get along.

But IF this is normal, will a 3rd male guppy make it better, worse, or no difference? I'd like to keep males only because I'd prefer not to deal with fry. From what I've heard, a males-only guppy tank can work just fine, but now I'm not so sure.

My water temp, pH and nitrates have all been normal (I've been checking daily) so I don't think that's the problem.

Any help would be appreciated! I'm new to this, so be kind

**cradlefan** · 09-11-2012, 5:00 AM

Male guppies do that. The alpha male will dominate the beta male and usually nip at the fins. The idea being, if his fins look like poop then the females will like me more. Usually the alpha will have nice flowing fins, and the submissive will have torn up fins. You have to be careful because the torn fins are a good way to get a bacterial infection, like fin rot. Sometimes the alpha male will nip the other guppies fin down to a nub, keeping the fish from swimming right and it's a good way for bacterial infections to start, eventually killing the fish. Try getting a group of females for them to concentrate on. There should be at least 2 females per male. In a 10 gallon tank, I would only keep one male and maybe a couple females. Of couse they will breed, but you won't have to worry because the fish will eat any babies, unless you want to save them, but then you will end up with quite a few tanks, because they breed all the time. If you don't want the fish to breed, just keep one guppy male by himself and maybe some schooling fish that are really small because you only have a 10 gallon. Maybe some neons or micro rasboras or something.

**FastFreddy** · 09-12-2012, 6:39 PM

Everything that cradlefan said sounds right. It sounds like typical male fishy behavior to me. If it were me I would take the frog back, and the corydora (which should be in a group anyway) and just make this a nice planted guppy setup. That way with more guppies there will be more fish to spread the aggression towards.

**rourk89** · 09-12-2012, 11:32 PM

I had a similar issue, in my 10 gallon tank, I upgraded to a 55 planted guppy tank, and just let it runs its course and there is no aggressive behavior as there are plenty of females to keep everyone busy. I also agree to remove one male and get 2 or 3 females, or just have the 1 male.

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