Fish Aggressive to New Guppies!

[Sasha]

I just finshed posting another topic in the Tropical Fish Emergency section, so I'll try to explain my problem briefly.

I recently bought two male blue and white fancy guppies and placed them in my quarantine tank for a few days. Today, I decided to introduce the new guppies into my 46 gallon tank which currently contains mollies, platies and other guppies. The instant I introduced the new guppies, the fish chased after them, nipped them aggressivaly and looked as if they were attacking the arrivals. I quickly dropped some food into the tank, but the fish continued to go after the guppies. I figured I had to remove them, so I placed them both in a breeder net. A few hours later, I released one of the guppies into the tank but the fish still chased after him. One of the fish nipped at his dorsal fin and it was enough to tear it slightly. I immediatly placed him back into the breeder net. I have no idea of why my fish are attacking these poor guppies! Any advice?

 

[AquaSeaFoam]

Sometimes my Rainbow fish will try to eat new arrivals if they are kinda small...
but your fish sound like they are really going after the new guys

Maybe you could try feeding your old fish right before you put the new ones in... and keep them busy with food until the new guys are in the tank.
Make sure they have plenty of places to hide too.
If they still go after them, put the old fish in the breeder net haha. Jk.
Seriously though.. if there is definatly one or two fish who start the chase try putting them in the net until the new ones get settled in.
Let us know now it works out.

 

[EX-AmP]

i tried to introduce guppies into my community tank but my mollies and gouramis ate them. they are just too small IMO

 

[MAM]

one thing that might help it do a little tank rearranging just before you put them in. though livebearers are mainly peaceful fish (mollies can be nasty on occasion, nasty for mollies anyway), they do establish territory just like most any other fish. you are introducing new inhabitants that are invading their territory and so they are defending their space. rearrange the tank, take away that territory, introduce the new guys and let everyone establish new territories.

 

[Sasha]

After I introduced the new guppies, I immendiatly dropped food into the tank hoping that the fish would concertrate on it and not chase the new guppies. The fish only ignored the food and continued to go after them. I never had this probelm before, so I'll just completely confused! The fish chased after the new guppies in a large group, not one by one. The fish that were chasing them were mostly the mollies and platies, but some of the other guppies went after them as well. I thought about rearranging the tank, but most of the decorations are large and heavy. I'll consisder that option if nothing else works.

I tried to release the guppies again, hoping that the fish had settled down through the night. Unfortunatly, the fish chased after the one guppy I introduced into the tank.