# Aggressive Female Guppy Bullying Male Guppy



## toommm

So I've seen to run into a problem. Since about last week, my female guppy started acting up. She's been *bullying my male guppy* so bad that I fear for his health. Last week I noticed that the male guppy was hiding anywhere he could in the tank and was barely swimming (mainly just squishing himself into any crevice and sitting there). The female guppy still insisted on bullying him so I fished the male out and placed him into a breeders net.

To my greater fortune, the male seemed to recover for the most part in the short span of a week. 

Today, I decided to release the male back into the tank in hopes that the female would no longer bug him. But boy, was I wrong. In just about 10 minutes the female had managed to get the male into almost as bad shape as before. New rips on his tail, fast breathing, and once again squishing back into little hiding places.

Once again, I've fished the male out and placed him into the breeders net. 

Has anyone ever experience an *aggressive female guppy* such as the one I've described? Or another aggressive fish for that matter? I'm trying to find a solution to this little problem. 

Also, as it may be of relevance, the female guppy had babies last week. She also had some about a month ago however those disappeared about 2 weeks into their little lives (I suspect they were eaten by either the male or female guppy as the platys I have are too small to eat them).

Could it be possible that the female is being protective of her young? (Although, I've seen her on numerous occasions try to eat them). Could she just really despise the male guppy? 

Here's a short *video* of my tank with some excellent footage of the bullying *pc

Aggressive Female Guppy - YouTube


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## navigator black

This is going to sound weird, but bear with me here.
I really couldn't a clear look at her, although I watched the whole video. But that clear tail - most domestic guppy forms have a little colour on the females, due to the line breeding. Her head too - that's a wide mouth. Are you sure she's a guppy? It's not uncommon for Gambusia affinis to be mixed with Florida farmed guppies, and your guy isn't a super fancy line bred guppy. Try to find a picture of a non-spotted Gambusia affinis (not Gambusia affinis holbrooki) and compare her mouth with that fishes'. 
She acts like a Gambusia.
Type it into google images...


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## luananeko

Are those two the only guppies in the tank? Its not uncommon for females to get aggressive when it's only them and one boy in there. Boys aren't the only ones that can be territorial, although it's less common for the girls to get pushy. Your options are probably:

1. Get 1-2 more females so she has more guppies to chase, which spreads out her aggression to the point that no one is overly harrassed. This also gives your boy some girls to chase that don't terrify him. Beware that you'll probably need a plan in place for how to handle all the fry since they will likely breed to the point of overcrowding your tank.

2. Take the female to your LFS to see if they'll take her.

3. (Sometimes works, but be prepared to fall back on option 1 or 2 if it doesn't) Put the female in the breeder net for a week or so. This gets it out of her head that the entire tank is HERS and she starts thinking her territory is the size of the breeder net. I only keep males to avoid the fry problem, but I did this with one male that was harassing the rest too much and it acted to sort of "reset" his aggression/territorial levels, at least until my heater broke on me 2 months later...


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