# Guppy boys fighting and racing the tank walls



## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

I have a 10 gal with juvenile male guppies in it. Two of the boys are a larger variety and bright orange, and the rest are blue mosaic. Well the blue boys were picking on the orange boys, so I moved one of the orange and one of the blue males into my 20 gal that only has female guppies in it. That was three days ago. They made the transition fine however the blue has still not left the orange boy alone, he follows him everywhere and tries to mate with him (??), and now the orange boy is racing the walls of the tank, up and down really fast. What does this mean? Are the males supposed to be in groups of more than two so they don't get territorial or ?? Maybe I should take the blue out?

Why didn't I just move both orange boys? because I only have two and I didn't want to risk losing both if they didn't make the transition well. I added one of the blue boys thinking it might be less stressful if there were two, and didn't think they would fight with all those females around. But neither are caring about the females at all!

This 20 gal is the one that I had trouble getting the ammonia to 0 in the past, but with the addition of new plants the reading is now 0. Nitrites 0, ph 7.8. The other tank is 7.4 pH but I acclimated them carefully and they showed no problems with the transition (til now).

Any comments are appreciated.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I would add some fake plants and/or some structures that the orange male guppy can evade the blue male with and potentially hide. Densely planted live plant tanks are ideal for this sort of behavior, in my opinion, as they give great hiding spots for small fish like guppies.


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## Bill Pape (Oct 1, 2010)

I have a yellow male that killed two cobra males and a moscow blue. A fourth blue male's tail is in tatters. I saw the yellow male chase the largest cobra all over the tank, and through dense weeds into every hiding place. He killed the cobra and it took two weeks. I think it dies from exhaustion. The other guppies disappeared.

Your yellow male is not trying to mate; it is trying to kill. I would keep the yellow males separate from the blue ones, if you can. I didn't have a spare tank.


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## laxfanweeb (Mar 2, 2011)

i am brand new to this hobby and i have several glofish, 4 african dwarf frogs and 6 ghost shrimp accompanying what was 6 guppies but my pregnant female has been super aggressive and has killed one male and two females so far. i don't think i like guppies.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

So you're Guppies are fans of Auburn College.....I think that's it. 

One thing I have never done is separate Guppies. They chase all the time, but never have they done any harm to each other. Usually, once the females enter the picture they tend to forget about each other. You can separate again if you like, but I think it will eventually die down if they are sexually mature. Just my experience anyway.


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## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> I would add some fake plants and/or some structures that the orange male guppy can evade the blue male with and potentially hide. Densely planted live plant tanks are ideal for this sort of behavior, in my opinion, as they give great hiding spots for small fish like guppies.


It is very heavily planted, he just followed him everywhere in and out of the plants. As of this afternoon, I moved the other orange male in with the other two. Well at that point both orange males turned on the blue bully! He seemed to back down but still followed the first orange when he was alone. But at this point, both orange males swim together side by side and seem to be a bit more daunting to the blue boy.

These are all older juvies, almost adult, so some seem interested in females/mating but only about half. The second orange I put in is VERY interested in the girls, and it just seemed to change the dynamic. Maybe it will be ok. I will see what happens by tomorrow. Thanks for the advice!


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## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> So you're Guppies are fans of Auburn College.....I think that's it.


I am totally clueless about what you said, I don't get it :fish9: ?????

I must be old or something. hohoho *old dude

Like I mentioned to someone else earlier, I moved another orange in with the two fighting boys and they seemed to calm down. At least for a moment! The two oranges are now swimming next to each other everywhere and they both go after the blue boy if he tries bugging the first orange. I hope the tides have turned!


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## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

laxfanweeb said:


> i am brand new to this hobby and i have several glofish, 4 african dwarf frogs and 6 ghost shrimp accompanying what was 6 guppies but my pregnant female has been super aggressive and has killed one male and two females so far. i don't think i like guppies.


whoa! I am so sorry that has happened to you!! I hope they calm down. I love guppies, having had them for years, and I never had males act this way before. It is so strange.


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## automatic-hydromatic (Oct 18, 2010)

are you positive the one being chased is another male? lol



I just separated the males and females in my 10 gallon with a net... they were getting "of age", and I would have HUNDREDS of Guppies in a few weeks if I hadn't have done something, lol


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## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

Bill Pape said:


> I have a yellow male that killed two cobra males and a moscow blue. A fourth blue male's tail is in tatters. I saw the yellow male chase the largest cobra all over the tank, and through dense weeds into every hiding place. He killed the cobra and it took two weeks. I think it dies from exhaustion. The other guppies disappeared.
> 
> Your yellow male is not trying to mate; it is trying to kill. I would keep the yellow males separate from the blue ones, if you can. I didn't have a spare tank.


Wow a lot of people seem to have aggressive male gups! Your situation sounds just like mine, although if the blue is indeed trying to kill the orange, well, he's using the wrong weapon cause I don't think anything can be killed with _that_ (if you get my drift!). 

I'm so sorry about your lost fish. Having never experienced this aggression, I was taken aback but I guess it is par for the course in nature. I hope things will calm down though because I stress out when my fish are stressed!


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## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

automatic-hydromatic said:


> are you positive the one being chased is another male? lol


oh hohoho first Ben now Travis

hehe YES they are boys *r2

Good idea to separate your juvies, although I wasn't quick enough and yesterday there were two new babies in my "grow-up" tank of females! I have no idea who gave birth either! They aren't even an inch long and already reproducing??? I didn't have to worry about them though. They were recycled by hungry juvies :biggerfish:


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## automatic-hydromatic (Oct 18, 2010)

hahaha, well you know I have to ask


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Niki7 said:


> I am totally clueless about what you said, I don't get it :fish9: ?????
> 
> I must be old or something. hohoho *old dude


 I guess you just need to know Auburn's colors.......


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

With schooling fish 2 is usually a bad number because the stronger fish just picks on the weaker one all the time, perhaps it can be the same with male guppies. Just keep an eye on them, if one fish is always being chased or really stressed out (gasping or always hiding) then you might need to worry but some chasing is normal. Some times people have other problems like their tank is cycling and when they see fish chasing each other and then a fish dies they think it was the chasing that did it. A fish that is not well will also be prone to being chased. If one fish is constantly being chased and can't get away from it that could cause stress to the point of death but as long as the chasing is shared out it shouldn't be a problem.


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