# Male guppy aggression



## Kworker (Oct 28, 2011)

So in my 29 gal I removed the female guppies to get a population control in order.. I've been having some male guppy die offs at random times. Do you think with absence of females and large quantity of male can result in stressed guppies due to a aggressive breeding instinct against each other? I have 7 cory and a kuhli loach that show no sign of disease or death so it is something strictly guppy related


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## StygianSteel (Apr 2, 2010)

Guppies do get a bit fin nippy when kept in groups of just males. It's possible they're getting nippy and a secondary problem like infections is doing them in. I find the best thing for guppies, if you don't want to deal with fry, is a group of all females. Not as showy maybe, but they get along better.


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

*Your Male Guppies*



Kworker said:


> So in my 29 gal I removed the female guppies to get a population control in order.. I've been having some male guppy die offs at random times. Do you think with absence of females and large quantity of male can result in stressed guppies due to a aggressive breeding instinct against each other? I have 7 cory and a kuhli loach that show no sign of disease or death so it is something strictly guppy related


Hello K...

An interesting observation. I've kept Fancy Guppies for years and had all the males separated at times and never noticed fatalities in my males when the females were removed. The males simply practiced their mating dances in front of one another.

Removing the females isn't going to slow the reproduction cycle very much. Your females have already been impregnated some time ago and you'll still have a lot of fry in the tank.

You can keep the adult males away if you want, but the next birthing will give you more males. 

Guppies are happiest in large numbers and in a "species only" tank. Maybe your males are going through a mourning period without the ladies and the little ones. We'll never know.

Above everything else. Have fun!

B


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## Kworker (Oct 28, 2011)

they have been removed for quite awhile, so the reproduction cycle has been slowed ALOT since most of the females i currently have are offspring that were never in presence of male. or are not fully developed. 

I am thinking of just splitting all the guppies up into 2 individual tanks with male and female and letting them go at it, and stocking the 29 gal in the living room with a schooling fish. The guppies would prob be better off together, but im just getting pretty sick of fry lol they have been seperated since june


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## Kworker (Oct 28, 2011)

Oh yeah. There is some fin nips on some tails.


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

*Fancy Guppies*



Kworker said:


> they have been removed for quite awhile, so the reproduction cycle has been slowed ALOT since most of the females i currently have are offspring that were never in presence of male. or are not fully developed.
> 
> I am thinking of just splitting all the guppies up into 2 individual tanks with male and female and letting them go at it, and stocking the 29 gal in the living room with a schooling fish. The guppies would prob be better off together, but im just getting pretty sick of fry lol they have been seperated since june


Hello again Kay...

I understand the "population boom". I started with six females Fancies in a 12 gallon tank about 8 years ago and I have 7 large, planted tanks now and around 1,500 Guppies and 40 or so Corydoras of different varieties. 

Guess it's too late to do any separating!

Good talking with you.

B


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## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

BBradbury said:


> Guppies are happiest in large numbers and in a "species only" tank. Maybe your males are going through a mourning period without the ladies and the little ones. We'll never know.


AHAHAHAHAHAHA...

Guppy: u dropped a bar of soap...


Seriously speaking... when i had all male cobras, they got vicous on each other... the bigger one would punk the smaller ones... 
This is why i gave up on guppies in general... they reproduce faster then shrimps, and the only time they get along male wise is if there being fed...


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## Kworker (Oct 28, 2011)

Naekuh said:


> AHAHAHAHAHAHA...
> 
> Guppy: u dropped a bar of soap...
> 
> ...



yeah which is why lately ive been considering putting all of them (male and female) in a 40 breeder in my basement and letting them go at it and starting over in my living room 29gal.. 

but on the note of this thread. i lost about 5 more males due to the unknown cause which i think is theyre aggression towards one another. my 7 cories are healthy as ever and so is my kuhli under the rock.. i gotta get him friends the lfs has them on sale for 4/10$


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

I put in a divider into my guppy tank. Males on one side and females on the other. When I want a particular male to breed with them, I'll move him over to the female side for a few days. When a female finally has no graves spot at all, I'll move a male over again. 

I have an air stone and floating plants on the female side, the HOB is on the male side with a couple of stems weighted down just for line of sight. 

When there are fry in the female side, I just net them out and put them in another tank to watch them grow. Culls go to the LFS. I also keep all size fry in there. A few plants and floaters, an air stone, and one snail. When they're big enough, they get moved to te big tank. 


-Val


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## bpb (Mar 8, 2011)

I just removed 1 beautiful adult red cobra guppy and two juvie males from my 10 gallon to let the females grow up a bit before I breed them. The males are now in my 75 gallon community. At first I was worried about tiger barb aggression, but my tiger barbs are weird and just keep to themselves, always have. The strange thing...is that the adult male guppy is the most aggressive fish in the tank now. This guppy has singled out the much larger Buenos aires tetras and is harassing them nonstop. He follows the school around displaying, trying to mate with them, or biting their tails. They're real tough and much faster though so no actual damage has been done.


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