Three's A Crowd...

[fourthtimelucky]

Having had one of my male gups (Eeny) in isolation for about a month now treating him for a bad case of fin nipping, I'm pleased to say his tail is re-growing well and I decided to put him back in with the other two today. I'm so pleased he's pulled through. I don't know if he'll ever be as pretty as he used to be but he's put on tons of weight and he's got about 2-3mm more tail already so maybe it will all re-grow eventually.

I was a bit worried about re-introducing him, and sure enough it was total MAYHEM!!! I was expecting him to be a bit shy, but instead he just went for the dominant one, Meeny, really harassing him -- maybe he remembered who was responsible for his tail being shredded? As Meeny bolted round the tank with a visible look of panic on his face Mo, the smaller one, just bit randomly at whatever piece of fin or tail was closest to his mouth. They were like a little ball of guppy madness.

I have now taken Meeny out, put him in isolation, and the other two have calmed right down. Still a bit of posturing going on but nothing too serious (in fact they are companiably nibbling the algae off the heater cable right now). If Mo has another go at Eeny's tail of course I will have to rethink the living arrangements...

Can't wait to get them into their new home and get them some girlfriends! My partner's working away at the moment... and has NO IDEA that there's a 30g tank where the bookcase used to be! As soon as that's finished cycling it'll be time for them to pack their bags and head over to their new pad. Hopefully the extra space will help calm them down a bit. Woohoo! MTS strikes again...

 

[Alistriwen]

Haha that's nuts ! Funny story there. My guppies never do anything remotely close to aggressive. One female was a bit aggro one day and got on the case of another female close to giving bith but gave up pretty quick and never did anything serious. Maybe my males are too busy chasing the females but they seem to get along lol.

As for the tail, I know that the fin will grow back, Ive had fish with entire sections of tail missing regrow the entire fin normally when treated properly and in good h20 conditions. My only concern for your guppy would be the coloration of his tail. Ive never had any fish with really fancy fins lose and regrow major portions, so I dont know if your male will have as nice of a fin as before, but for shape and size it should go back to normal.

 

[fourthtimelucky]

Well, they were in a fairly small tank (only 6g) and whilst i still had four they were absolutely fine, but after one died the pecking order seemed to become disrupted and they've been troublesome ever since. I'm hoping that the move to the bigger tank will solve this problem though as I can even up the numbers and add some girlies.

It's good to know that his tail will carry on getting better. The new bit doesn't seem to have coloured up properly but I'm not giving up hope yet!

He and Mo seem okay this morning -- little tussle, flare, then they both back down and start looking for food again. I'm going to keep an eye on them though. Meeny looks a little grumpy all by himself but he's eating well -- the filter's quite strong for a small tank so he's racing around trying to catch all the bits of flake being blown around

Fingers crossed the new tank cycles quickly! I can't WAIT (and I kind of want to get it full of fish before the OH returns... then there's no way he can make me get rid!)