Fighting Guppies!

[Long Shanks]

I have stocked my tank with 6 Guppies, which i thought were supposed to be a peaceful fish. They are the only fish in the tank (300x300x600mm). However, I noticed them attacking each other. They look as if they are nipping each other and also now and again take a nip at the trumpet snail we put in the tank.
Could some please tell me why, and is this normal?
I was told to feed them every other day just a couple of flakes. Would this nipping be due to under feeding?
I am new to fish keeping and my head is just filled with questions that need answering.
Any advice would be greatly recieved.
Many Thanks.

 

[blesser13]

hello

Did you noticed if the one with a bigger tail(colourful) chase the 1 with a smaller tail(no colours)? They are peaceful fishes, what your a seeing rite now is probably the males chasing the females and is a normal behaviour. The more colourful with a big tail is the male and the 1 with a smaller tail is the female(less colours).

 

[Long Shanks]

Hello Blesser13
Sorry forgot to mention I only got males. I didn't want to get into the breeding game just yet! only had the tank for a week! Another thing that might be worth a mention is that I got all different colour Guppies (blue, red, yellow, red tux and a tiger) could that have an effect? Do they get aggressive when hungry?
Thanks for responding

 

[blesser13]

Guppies are really peaceful fishes, they were not attacking each other , but more making babies if you know what I mean , normal behaviour, and they won't get aggressive at all if they are hungry. Feed them well, remember only what they can eat between 1 min. Don't overfeed.

 

[Long Shanks]

Oh yeah , know what you mean. Don't think the fish do though, they won't get very far!
Thanks for your advice Blesser13

 

[Sacred]

I had a similar thing with my group of male guppies. It's quite alarming when you first see it. Male guppies love to breed, if there are no females to keep them busy they can start trying to breed with each other. Most of the time though they won't do much damage, but they can start getting stroppy and nip tail fins.

Could be hunger though, but as it's been said don't feed too much.

Ideally you'd want to get the females but as you said your not wanting fry and you would need (if you used the recommeded ratio) at least 12 females anyway.

You could try adding more plants too so they can try escape each other abit easier. You have a tank similar sized to one of mine, looks nice with nice load of plants.

The snail should be ok hopefully. Never kept them myself

My group of males in another tank, who were being like yours settled down after a few days. They do ocassionaly play up abit but nothing near as much as before. They just might need settling in

 

[-FighterFishh]

Sounds like male guppies trying to assert dominance over each other. It should stop with time.
You feeding is okay so long as it's more than a couple of flakes. Put in a pinch and they should be okay on the hunger front. Either that, or feed them 2 flakes per fish per day.

 

[Long Shanks]

Thanks for all your advice.
I have increased the feeding a little and the Guppies seem to have settled down a bit. They still nip at the trumptet snail though I'm woundering if thats why it hasn't moved much, because it can't get out of is shell. Think i'll try getting some more weed For both the fish to hide in and the snail.
Many thanks People.

 

[the_lock_man]

If you've only had the tank for a week, then it is highly unlikely that your filter is cycled - ie built up enough beneficial bacteria to deal with the ammonia (and consequent nitrite) produced by the fish. This may be affecting your fish's behaviour as well.