Is It True That........

[2010emma]

I went to my LFS yesterday to enquire about some guppies.

It's only really the males I want, for their vivid colours, however, I am aware that they can fight if they're kept within the same sex.

But, and this is where I was a little sceptic, they said that you can only keep 1 male to at least 3 females!

Is this true?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Twinklecaz]

Pretty much yeah. The males pester the females (much like real life ) so they say to get more females to spread it out a bit.

You're fine with just male Guppies though. There's a small risk of fighting but personally I think that's true with any fish!

 

[helterskelter]

The rule with guppies is keep a ratio of 1 male to 2 females.
Or keep just males, as if their are no females to compete over then may spar but they should not fight, we not too much

 

[OldMan47]

The idea of keeping 2 or 3 females for each male is because guppy males can be too insistent with their mating attempts. By having more than one female for each male, the hope is that it will remove some of the stress from the females. If you have several pairs of guppies in a tank, it gets to the point where a one to one ratio is just fine. For small fish numbers, multiple females for each male is a better idea. If you have an all male tank, things usually go along just fine.

 

[Twinklecaz]

and the males are prettier! So yeah, unless you wanna breed............just got males

 

[DuMScOuSe]

I had only males, no problems ever.

 

[wastegate]

I got 3 males when i first set up my tank. The smallest one pestered the hell out of the other 2 nipping at fins an what not untill they died from the stress. He then turned his attention to the swordtails but they where able to handle him. He then also died from a bout of anchour worm (all the other fish survived). I will prob stay away from guppys from now on but dont let my bad experience put you off. He was prob just a bad apple from the start

 

[2010emma]

Thanks for your help everyone!

I have no interest in breeding at all, which is why I only wanted males, to add some colour to the tank!

I think I'll go and get 5 and see how they get on

 

[Brujo]

i have 3 male guppies living in my aquarium they dont fight, they play a lot, and chase each other but they also investigate, and swim about the tank.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I had 3 male guppies and one bossed the other two around, then the two bigger ones picked on the smaller one

 

[Jenni84]

i have 3 male guppies living in my aquarium they dont fight, they play a lot, and chase each other but they also investigate, and swim about the tank.

I have 4 male guppies and they are very playful, they just seem to like to tease each other!! Had 1 incident where 2 of them had a little scrap but was told that this was just to establish the pecking order....

All in all they seem to be 4 very happy little boys though!

 

[Jonty]

They probably said 1 male to 3 females otherwise everyone would buy the colourful males

 

[OldMan47]

It is good advice in a small mixed sex tank Jonty.The only thing they left out was that it was not an absolute but was a thing to keep in mind when the total number of fish is low and you have both sexes in your tank. I have about equal numbers in this tank and because I have so many adults I really don't worry about the ratio.

On the other hand I have some tanks with single pairs of livebearers and still others that have more like the 2 to 1 ratio in them. The only tanks that cause me any trouble at all are the ones with a single pair in them. Those tanks need to be closely monitored until the tank starts filling with fry. The sheer numbers of a drop can distract the male and make his attentions to the female less of a problem.