Guppy pecking

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Cire04

Registered Member
Mar 11, 2015
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Taipei, Taiwan
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Eric
First time posting here, sorry if it's in the wrong category, though I hope it's the correct one.

So I got these new guppies after stop keeping a tank for a year or so. One died giving birth so I'm left with a bunch of babies and four guppies left. Two males and two females. And then a female, but I could find absolutely no reason to why she died, except for having some wounds and a slightly ragged fin, she looked fine, I was kinda worried that it was fin rot. And the a few days later a male died, but I noticed the other male kept bugging it, nipping it. I looked up online, but didn't find anywhere that said that could cause death. But as a precaution I separated the remaining two guppies, and they both have lived fine for over a week now, meaning there's no disease in the tank.

After about a week I put the male one back in with the female and he immediately started nipping her, so I separated them again(the female is slightly pregnant, so he can't be trying to inseminate her) a few days later I tried putting them together again. This time he was even more aggressive, biting, not just nipping the female, to the point that he had a bite on her while she was trying to dislodge him. I am almost certain the other two were killed by him too. I've never seen a fish that aggressive before.

What should i do? Should I just killed him? I can't possibly separate them forever. (That's a last resort, he's really quite beautiful so I'd like to have a strain with him. But I'll do what's necessary to keep the remaining female and the babies when they move in safe)
 

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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Joel
Typically, several females per male will reduce the aggression. What size tank are they in? With the fin rot and all that, what's your water change schedule and amount? Do you measure for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in PPM?
 

Cire04

Registered Member
Mar 11, 2015
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Taipei, Taiwan
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Eric
I just went to check on the female. There is now a very small rip in her dorsal fin where he bit that I'm quite positive did not exist before. He was only with her for less than a minute and did visible damage to her, I can't imagine what he would do if I left them together.
 

Cire04

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Mar 11, 2015
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Eric
It's a 7 gallon tank. Ammonium level is normal. Aside from the male I noticed no sign of the fish breathing heavily indicating ammonium poisoning, and there is no visible change to their physiology of bacteria, bloating etc. Only shredded fins and ruffled scale. I thought it might have been fin rot, but now I think it's the male that caused the fins to be that way. He was aggressive the first day I bought him back when there were four females, but I figured he'd settle down after a few days. He did not.....
 

evil wizard

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Aug 17, 2014
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Georgia
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Brian
i think that if you move them to a bigger tank and get more females then males(about 3-4 females per male is very good).i hope this helped.
 

BalaGuppyGirl

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Mar 28, 2015
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Ohio
I have had Fancy Guppies and bread them for about 6 years now and the first thing that comes to my mind is that the ratio of male to female is supposed to be 1:3 meaning you should have 3 females to every male that you have. This is one of the first things I learned from the store and internet research. If the ratio is less than that there is going to be aggression.
 
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