Guppies And Gudgeons

[attibones]

Hey all. I have a pair of peacock gudgeons and two male guppies (as well as three albino BN plecos and two platies, plus around thirty assorted shrimp and six nerite snails) in my 20 gallon. I've noticed recently that my black guppy has a piece missing from the middle of his previously intact and lovely tail, and my other guppy, a lyretail, has a piece missing from the top fork.

I doubt that the platies and plecos did this to the guppies, so I'm wondering if the gudgeons have a tendency to nip? The gudgeons are moving to my 38 gallon once I get it all cycled.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I can't say I've seen my gudgeons nip at anything..actually they are the ones that get nipped at by my neons. Perhaps mine are very laid back though?
I would imagine the male guppies might be bothering each other honestly, I thought you wanted at least 3 males together to help spread aggression? I could be totally off as I havn't kept males before.
 
Can't wait to see them in your 38g

 

[Ciddire]

I can't say I've seen my gudgeons nip at anything..actually they are the ones that get nipped at by my neons. Perhaps mine are very laid back though?
I would imagine the male guppies might be bothering each other honestly, I thought you wanted at least 3 males together to help spread aggression? I could be totally off as I havn't kept males before.
 
Can't wait to see them in your 38g

 
Agreed.
 
My gudgeons are the most peaceful and kind fish that I have in my tank. I've never seen them make any sort of aggressive move what-so-ever. ( 2 females 2 males)
 
However, my male guppies often fight (7 females to 3 males) and one even murdered his rival guppy bro. The constant turf wars and guppy gang related warfare has me giving them new homes. I am now pretty anti-guppy.

 

[betta fish]

I've got two male guppies living together and they are as good as gold with one another, there are no females in the tank however but I have just had to remove a platy from my bettas tank for nipping at his tail today so I wouldn't rule out the platies, if you have some time to watch them for a bit you may catch the perpetrator!

 

[attibones]

I originally had two males and three females as I was planning on letting them breed, but I got poor quality females and all three died in the first week of having them. Now, though, it might be an issue only having the two males. The two platies are both females and tend to stick to themselves (I recently rehomed five other platies) but it still is possible that the ladies are nipping the males.

I don't want to get anymore guppies right now (unless I just see one more excellent looking guy), but maybe I'll try splitting them up once the other tank is up and running. Hmm. Or would it be better to get an additional guppy now? One of the guppies is looking a little rougher today. Also found a dead crystal shrimp. I wonder if they are related incidents. One of the gudgeons was picking at the shrimp but I don't know if that is because the gudgeon is eating the shrimp or has killed the shrimp.

I can't separate the fish for two weeks either way. But when I get to my more permanent residence, I can set up a ten gallon with a spare filter and get the guppies squared away (I hope).

In the meantime, more water changes!

By the way, these are my first guppies. I didn't want any for a long time until I wanted to do a mini breeding project. Now these two guys have sort of grown on me (though they still haven't any names other than "the gups"). I will wait to see what you guys think of my statements above before I do anything.

 

[DreamertK]

My female gudgeon will eat baby shrimps, but she doesn't really care about any other fish besides her mate. The shrimp may have died of old age and she was picking at it, because crystal shrimp tend to be too big as adults for fish to hunt.

 

[attibones]

Hmm. I dunno. I just got these shrimp two weeks ago. I'm kind of bummed because I found a dead one yesterday too (but I had been away for about five days). I wouldn't be surprised if they were shrimplets because most fish will snack on those, but I haven't seen any littles yet.

 

[DreamertK]

You might have still gotten some old shrimps. It's practically impossible to tell their age, and they only live for 2 years. Hopefully you get some babies from the others.

 

[the_lock_man]

My bet for the fin nipping is the guppies themselves - they are notorious for it. As Ninjy said, a group of 5 tends to keep spread the nipping out fairly evenly. Peacock Gudgeons are known to be placid fish that  keep themselves to themselves.
 
They do, however, like their live food. Some reports state that it is difficult to get them to take flake food, although that's not something I have ever experienced, (I have kept these for a few years now). They see small shrimp as live food, something I didn't realise when I first got them, and only found out when I saw one of them attack and eat a cherry shrimp. Needless to say, my cherry shrimp were swiftly removed.

My female gudgeon will eat baby shrimps, but she doesn't really care about any other fish besides her mate. The shrimp may have died of old age and she was picking at it, because crystal shrimp tend to be too big as adults for fish to hunt.

 
See, I'd have said that an adult crystal was much the same size as an adult cherry, and as above, I have witnessed my gudgeons attacking the an adult cherry.

 

[DreamertK]

My female gudgeon will eat baby shrimps, but she doesn't really care about any other fish besides her mate. The shrimp may have died of old age and she was picking at it, because crystal shrimp tend to be too big as adults for fish to hunt.

 
See, I'd have said that an adult crystal was much the same size as an adult cherry, and as above, I have witnessed my gudgeons attacking the an adult cherry.

Well then I guess that settles that. OP should get a few new tanks.

 

[the_lock_man]

 

My female gudgeon will eat baby shrimps, but she doesn't really care about any other fish besides her mate. The shrimp may have died of old age and she was picking at it, because crystal shrimp tend to be too big as adults for fish to hunt.

 
See, I'd have said that an adult crystal was much the same size as an adult cherry, and as above, I have witnessed my gudgeons attacking the an adult cherry.

Well then I guess that settles that. OP should get a few new tanks.
 


 
Not that we really need an excuse for that.....

 

[DreamertK]

Yes, lets infect them with multi tank syndrome.

 

[attibones]

No need to infect me with MTS when I already have it, guys. I've got two more empty ten gallons to set up and the new 38 gallon. I've also got the 2.5 gallon I don't know what to do with. Before I downsized, I had twelve tanks.

Okay, so when I get back to my apartment (staying with Dad for two weeks), I'll move the gudgeons to 38, keep the shrimp in the twenty, and get a few more guppies. Maybe. Or I'll split them up. Either way it's off to the LFS for me~

(Somehow I have to convince the boyfriend that we don't need furniture. We just need things to put the tanks on. He will learn soon enough.)