[Barbaralovesguppies]

I have raised fish on and off for a few years, but recently decided to get back into the hobby. I purchased 5 female guppies and an African Dwarf frog and set up my 10-gallon aquarium for them. Every one was happy, but now some are picking on each other a bit. I'm not worried that they will kill each other, but the tails are getting a bit chewed. One of the "girls" I think is a boy. He/she is a bit bigger than the rest, is colored a blackish/purple throughout the whole body, and has a larger tail. It also appears to have the gonopodium rather than the fan-shaped fin, yet can "open" the fin more so that it looks a bit more like a female. The biggest thing that is throwing me off is it appears to have a gravid spot. Keep in mind that these fish were in an all girl tank at the LFS.

I don't know if the fighting as anything to do with possibly having a boy in the tank or not, but it would be nice to know exactly what gender this one is.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Barbara

 

[scoobie]

Can you post pics?

 

[Barbaralovesguppies]

I hope this works.

The tail was damaged a bit from a mean guppy that has since been separated. Its color is more of a metallic purple, this picture makes it look kind of gray. Thanks!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blossomacreslionhead/9571381722/

 

[Chevko]

It looms like a blue tux female to me. I had a male blue tux so the coloring looks similar to that. Do you have any line of sight breaks? Or hides of any sort?

Sent from the PetGuide.com app available on the Play Store.

 

[Barbaralovesguppies]

:-? I'm sorry, do you want a head-on picture? Thanks for your help! :-D

 

[Chevko]

If you've got anything that they can hide in, be it a cave-type decoration, a cup, hamster tubes, silk feather plants, that'd work, but you'd need multiple of them. I know my boys love(d) the hamster tubes I put in there and would go in and out of them fairly often.

 

[Barbaralovesguppies]

I've got one plant in there and I know I need more. This weekend I'd like to go to the pet store and pick up a bunch of goodies for them.

 

[Sylverclaws]

That's definitely a female guppy, females are actually bigger than males, and also can have bright colors like males though it's not as common.

Guppies are usually fine in a group of five in ten gallon tanks, but it is pushing it. They will need a lot of hiding places or they'll be nippy. So more plants will help, I'd also suggest a small cave. Buying mature females, or ones over five months old, you also have a high probability of pregnant females. They can get snappy when pregnant. Sometimes you also just get a problem fish, one that isn't happy no matter what. Those need to be removed.

Did you cycle the tank before adding in the fish, you said you bought them THEN set it up....having a fish-in cycle is dangerous and often fatal for fish. The spikes can also cause some nasty aggression since they're uncomfortable. Be sure to check your water stats, make sure there are no spikes. No ammonia is a "safe" amount, same with nitrites. Nitrates can be handled in small amounts under 20ppm, but they can also cause aggression in your fish because it makes them uncomfortable.