Stocking Liverbearers Beginner Question.

[Fastblur]

Right oh, my mate has got a couple of platys and turns out they're male and have recently declared war on one another. They're back off to the LFS tomorrow. The thing is I too am really looking forward to stocking my tank with a few guppies and platys. However his troubles have gotten me worried about territorial warfare and fry by the trillion.
For the Platys I was thinking of three females and problem solved on that account.
The Guppies however are another matter entirely. The male of the species is certainly extremely fetching but the last thing I want is for them to kill each other. (I was thinking 4-5 of these)
From the fish index articles for the fish it seems to be possible to have males co-habit without warfare but difficult. Is this just luck of the draw?
Any other pearls of wisdom for a prospective live bearer keeper?
They'd be living with five tetras and perhaps one day a gourami if the community can take it.
Ta for the help.

 

[sweetp544]

Normally if you have a mix of females and males everyone is happy. However i do have 2 male guppies together without any females and havent ever had a problem. I know that if you only have 1 male and 1 female, the male will usually harass the female wanting to constantly mate so you should have 2-3 females per male. I also wouldnt reccomend doing what i have temporaily done and only putting male guppies together because you could have a problem there. I only put mine together till i get another tank set up for my betta who cannot be with the 2 males. Your going to get lots of babies going with livebearers as they constantly breed.

 

[Qays]

I was told my annastasia that 5 is the magic number for only male guppies.

 

[Fastblur]

So five male guppies might work?

The important thing for me is to avoid fry under any condition. I'm not too keen on the overpopulation/infanticide.

 

[Annastasia]

For the Platys I was thinking of three females and problem solved on that account.

Actually, it's not solved. Female can store sperm from the males, so you could very well have fry for a good few months to come. Some may get eaten, of course, but you still will probably have some survivors.

5 is a good number for male Guppies. With fewer numbers, you can have a couple ganging up on one, and sometimes harassing him to death. With 5 or more, you don't usually get that, since the aggression is spread out. Of course, some males will never be okay in an all male community, so it's trail and error mostly.

Have you checked out all the pinned topics and FAQs?

 

[Fastblur]

I didn't know they could store sperm, bother. I re-read the faqs and am having a bit of a rethink about the females as I don't think any of my Lfs have a tank that haven't been in contact with males. So I may have to try for just some guppies and no platys (not having space for 5 male platys as well) a shame but I suppose I could have a shot at some more tetras or a Dwarf Gourami. Does that sound alright?