Male guppy acting weird

[Nuttygal! :0)]

I just added 8 guppies to my tank - 4m, 4f. They've all been fine but one of the electric blue males won't leave one of my female platys alone. He keeps chasing her around and nipping her anal fins and I can see it's stressing her a bit. What should I do? I added them about an hour ago. The tank is well planted with lots of bog wood to hide in.

 

[jflowers]

I thought you were going to wait till the tank cycled? Anyway, guppies should be kept with a ratio of three females to every one male, as, as you found out, the females get stressed by the males, And not just the female guppies.

Jon

 

[Nuttygal! :0)]

No Jon this is not my new tank! I will wait until it is cycled...
This tank I'm talking about has been running for about 4 months now and I have other fish like mollies and swordtails.

The young girl serving me in my LFS didn't tell me that guppies had to be kept at a ratio of 1m to 3f. I did wonder though, as it is quite common in livebearers.

...so is there anything I can do for my poor platy? There are lots of other female fish but he's picking on her!

? By the way, do you think I could eventually keep a betta in my tank?

 

[jflowers]

No Jon this is not my new tank! I will wait until it is cycled...

My appologies there!

Yer aint it strange that an LFS member of staff didn't know (appologies also to those that do know anything hehe)

Jon

 

[Nuttygal! :0)]

So is there anything I should do or shall I just leave em to it... I did try to distract him with food but the others ate it and he didn't take any notice. I hope my little platy doesn't die of stress... She's already been rescued from when she was real small. She got stuck down the back of the filter and she was the only one who was rescued. The others all fell apart and went all mushy...

 

[jflowers]

Unless you can move her (or him) to another tank, you will have to leave them to it. Can you take a couple of males back to the shop and exchange them for females?

Jon

 

[Nuttygal! :0)]

Ye I think I might have too...

 

[KerriPaul]

You do know that guppies and mollies can hybridise?, this would account for the attention the molly is getting from male guppies