Guppy Problem!

[fishing for info]

Hey,
okay, so my dad asked me to post his situation and ask for any advice or information etc.
He wanted some guppies for his tropical tank, the shop assistant advised to get twice as many females to males. is that necessary? It's quite a shame seeing as my dad was mostly looking for colourful males but he ended up buying 12 females and 6 males as advised. Unfortunately 3 of his females have died and he's only had them for a short while. he was wondering if he needs to get 3 more females to make the ratio 2:1 again or whether the assistant told him to get twice as many females because they were more likely to die.
Quite a confusing story there but hope maybe someone get's the gist and can help us out
Thanks, Regards,
Robyn

 

[wrighty.uk.gorl]

Well im new to fish keeping my self

But the first thing you going to be asked is Was the tank cycled ?

 

[helterskelter]

What other fish are in the tank?

As for guppies a ratio of 2 females to 1 males is best, as some males are a nightmare and harass the females like made so multiple options are good.
However if you want just males this is fine just keep males, but if you do have a female or even a male they the other mistake as a female (yes this dose happen), then they will be harassed all the time.

However if you have a group of nice males and no bullies then you can happily have 4 males to 5 females and still be ok.
It just depends on how well you know the fish. It just takes one to cause problems.

Here i had several males and 1 female to show what happens.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

If it is a colourfull display he's after, there's absolutely nothing wrong with an "all male" setup..... If he intends to breed them... I always keep at least 3 female per male and have plenty horwort (plants) floating..... Having 3 females die has nothing to do with the decision that males are more durable than females... They are equally as hardy... could be any of several reasons.

 

[Ashley1991]

if the fish shop said he NEEDS to get females with the males then they lied males can be kept alone without females and that gets rid of the constant breeding as well.

But yeah like has been said 1 male to 2-3 females is generally recommended so that the males do not harass a single female to the point she is stressed and in a worse case scenario can get so stressed they get ill or die.

Ash

 

[Larkspur]

I have six guppies at a one to one ratio. They do pester the females a bit, but I have enough fish in the tank that there aren't any problems. The only frustrated fish is my female platy that my snakeskin male is obsessed with. Still haven't figured that situation out. He's apparently species confused.

But in the past I always had groups of males because they're more showy and seem better at adapting to changes compared to females in the past. I think it is a lot of times because I get females who are pregnant and already stressed to start with.

 

[SlyPolak]

The store lied...... you could get all males and still have minimum aggression over territory and dominance, thats it

 

[fishing for info]

Okay, that's great, thanks all of you.
So I'm going to tell him that he's fine and doesn't need to replace the 3 females, and that the ratio is recommended but not compulsary. thank you very much!
regards,
Robyn

 

[OldMan47]

In a large group like you have, the ratio is often fine at closer to 1:1. In a large enough group, no single female will become stressed by too much attention from the males. In small populations, a single male to two or more females is definitely a good idea to hold the stress of the females down. An all male tank would be fine too, but not a small female population with a large male population.