I've got a nipper!!!

[SusieJG]

Its been awhile since I've come on here-so HI AGAIN!

Since I was last on my tank has been thriving and now every guppy in the tank is one born and raised right here at home . Although the tank is beginning to get full, I have been careful not to keep more than one or two from most batches (let the others play the survival game) so its no where near overstocked. About a month ago I began noticing that we had a nipping problem going on...particularly the longer tailed guppies would appear with half their tails gone. I separated out the injured fish until they healed and tried adding some more females thinking some of those boys might be getting a little "eager" and it seemed to stop the problem for about a week. Then all of a sudden my "older" fish started dying off one at a time...or at least "disapperaring". Then I caught one in the act of being eaten to death by some of the younger guppies. I tried to save her but after a week she had it. Since then I noticed that 2 of my other oldest guppies, including the dominant male, met the same fate. With the older ones gone things seemed to calm down, but this morning I discovered 2 fish missing significant parts of their tails. What is going on here? Is there anything I can do? They get fed plenty so I know its not a hunger thing. I know guppies are not natural killers (at least of their own) so I'm totally floored.

I've tried to isolate which fish are the nippers, but can't seem to figure it out for sure. Too many of them are related so they look very very similar. They seem to pick on the oldest ones and the most colorful males. They don't seem to discriminate between nipping at females or males-although as I said, they do tend to go for the older ones (perhaps because they are the slowest?)

Any advice-PLEASE

ps-ignore my tank stats-they are totally dated. Currently I have a 50 g. tank w/bout 25 guppies (about 10 of them full grown) and 2 mini-platys. The chems are fine (test regularly) although the water does lean toward being alkaline naturally.

 

[Annastasia]

Hello again, welcome back to the forums!

Unfortunatly, Guppy's lifespans have gone way down, because of inbreeding, so your older ones are probably getting weak. I'm guessing they are between 1 1/2-2 years? They may be getting weaker, and dying, and then the younger guys start nipping on them.

With your younger Guppies, is it fin-rot, or do they just look nipped? What's your filter like? And what's your male to female ratio?

And anytime you have a lot of male Guppies in the tank, some nipping is going to go on. Very normal. Don't expect any of them to have perfect tails.

Edit: I'm just a little confused though...so if my answer doesn't make any sense, that's why. As far as I get it, you had a nipping problem, got more females. then the older ones started dying, then the younger ones got nipped?

 

[SusieJG]

Sorry-guess I wasn't totally coherent -basically over the last month heres the order of things:

1) noticed lots of nipped tails-took out the worst to heal and, thinking the problem was too many males in the ratio added some females.

2) nipping of younger fish stopped but older fish continued getting nipped and apparantly eaten to death

3) now no older ones left and tail nipping of younger ones resumed-particularly of the more colorful ones-but both females and males.


To answer your other questions-I don't have an exact count (although I plan to do one when I clean the tank this evening) but I have approximately 1/3 males.

For the younger guppies-I haven't noticed any signs of fin rot, but the amount of tail nipped away seems more than "normal"

Older guppies were about a year old-maybe a little over. The odd thing was more that this all happened in the course of a week or two, although they had about a 4 month age range between them.

 

[Annastasia]

I'm guessing the fact that you have a lot of males in the tank, is why the nipping problem is going on. Even when you have the right ratio of females to males, it can still get kind of nasty in there. The fact that the females get nipped on is slightly strange...but you also said the more colorful ones, so the males might just be nipping anything bright. Is there anyway you could possibly sepereate some out into different tanks, and just reduce the number of males per tank?

 

[SusieJG]

unfortunately I don't have a second tank and my house really can't accomodate one. If this continues I guess I'll have to look into giving some away to the pet store or seeing if someone lives nearby and is looking to trade some females for some of my males. Its too bad though..they are so so gorgeous. I was looking forward to seeing their offspring.

 

[GSD]

dont add any more males and try and get rid of the ones u got.what else is in the tank besides guppies?

 

[SusieJG]

2 miniature platies, 5 zebra danios (who are totally chicken and afraid of my guppies) and one female betta (she switches between the big tank and a smaller one depending on how social she is being).

 

[SusieJG]

I just did a major tank cleaning (I do maintenance cleaning every week and then a big one every 2 months or so)-do you think that that might calm some of the aggression?

 

[Annastasia]

Possibly. But I think if you re-arranged the tank some, it would be even better for them. Then their territories would be diminshed, and they wouldn't be so keen on protecting their own little space.

 

[SusieJG]

Thanks-I did move things around a bit...I try to do that every few weeks since we are constantly having babies and I don't separate the pregnant mothers anymore (too many guppies already!!!), but I do like to give the babies a fighting chance of finding a hiding space that the adults aren't already familiar with. Usually one or two survive.

 

[fawnmodel]

Might sounds strange but try to alter the ph a little. PH is a funny thing, its not actually a substance but it can create or cure some problems on its own.

Alkaline is better than too acid, but it can still cause problems for fish - you did not say exactly what your readings are. 7.0 is neutral and good for a community tank. 6.8-7.2 is in the range tolerable by most fish, however it can be up to 9 with less adverse affects than lower, say 6, or acid water.

I had a nasty molly who bullied everyone and killed my two swordtails. She spent the whole day just beating the living hell out of the rest of the fish, except the danios.

I upped the PH from the natural 6.8 (which is in normal range) to 7.0 and the whole tank is super happy and mellow now

Strange, I know, but I followed the advice of a fellow keeper and it seems to have worked when nothing else did


PS I am also very good on water quality and changes, 2-3x a week.

 

[Annastasia]

Let me just add, that if you are going to mess with your p.H, be extremely careful. Fish can die from p.H shock, and you don't want that. If you want to change it, do it very slowly...and remember, if you want it different then it comes out of the tap, you'll either have to add chemicals, or add in crushed coral to your tank (If you want it higher) or whatever. Just a thought. But be careful.

 

[fawnmodel]

.1 per two days is recomended. Of course you should continue testing throughout, and with water changes, and adjust only as per package instructions.

Actually the ways to chance ph are natural - baking soda and calcium carbonate. You can get both through pond suppliers - who can also advise you with correct use (ph in ponds is also very important esp with koi).