Guppy bullying platy

[zabak80]

Hey guys and girls,

Over the last few weeks I've been stressing about fish that wouldn't attack or bully my guppies. I tried danios, swordtails and had to return them all.

Yesterday I got some platys. Now a single guppy is chasing and bullying two of the platys. Any advice? Is this normal? Can the guppy do any damage?

 

[Onikun]

you can add more fish to your tank either more guppies ormore platies. one of my guppies (the biggest female) used to be mean like that til I put more guppies in. Either that or you can try conditioning it to stop. Everytime you see it do that use your net and net it to the side of the tank and give it time out. OR whenever you see that tap your finger on the tank near it to scare it away. Over time it will associate attacking another fish with getting scared or time out by you. It worked on one of my fish and now other fish don't get picked on

 

[WinterWind]

I think that if you have a ratio of 2 females to 1 male, then the guppy might not attack the platy anymore.

 

[Holly9937]

my 2 male guppys used to "fight" occasionally, and I was concerned, thought they might be able to hurt each other. I posted the question on here and was basically laughed at and told that a guppy can't really do much harm. But it could stress your fish out, which is not good... Make sure you have some plants and hiding spots for the fish to retreat to, and to break up the chase

 

[tricksterpup]

hehe.. What are the sex of your Platies?
I recently bought a male fancy and placed him in my 55 gallon tank, and he has been trying to mate with the mollies I have in there. I bet that is your problem. He isnt harrassing like you think he is but instead trying to mate.
Get him some Girls to play with.

 

[Calico Goat]

Guppies can be surprisingly vicious. I have one that killed one of my glass catfish, and in return will be testing the biggest tank when it's running...and becoming the first meal for my bichir. Unless the peacock eel eats him first. I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen it.

While I'm sure your harassed fish are hardier and won't be found dead in the corner, they are stressed and you might want to move the guppy to a tank or bowl with something it can't pick on.