Companion for our lone guppy

[agnesf]

Ok the sad story of the fin rot epidemic has run its course. We had 4 guppies and three of them died over a period of about 3 months - all with fin rot symptoms that seemed to improve a bit and then got worse. Never worked out what caused it - had water tested (all ok) used Melafix etc etc.

However the remaining guppy is now the picture of health - very big and beautiful and so am wondering what to do about some friends for him. I just wonder if getting some other boys would lead to all the bickering and sparring that may have caused all the fin rot in the first place (stress/ bullying etc).

But if we get girls - they'll have babies and we just ain't got room for them.

Or do some people just get rid of the babies in some way - maybe get a fish that eats them?

Any ideas. I think he needs some company otherwise he will go mad just looking at his reflection in the glass and lunging at the tetras.

BTW - our tank is 60L, quite heavily planted and been established 6 months. We've got 3 red fin tetras and are going to get a couple more as they spend lots of time hiding in the weeds and think a few more would make them feel bolder.

Hmm, bit tricky. At 60 liters you only really have room for one shoal of fish. If your guppies were getting shredded then I would suspect the tetras rather than in fighting.

If you had to choose between the guppies and tetras which would you go for?

Litres. Bloody auto correct, I need to teach it English.

The tetras are innocent. We got them after 2 of the 3 guppies died (and the 3rd was on his way out).

I posted quite a few times about the fin rot but never found the answer. Our water quality has always been good - test it with liquid test kits every few days. In the end I decided it must be because the fish were stressed in some way but couldn't work out why.

I just feel sorry for poor guppy on his own. He spends much of his time looking at his reflection in the glass.

What shape is the tank? A "tall" 60 litres would not be a huge amount of space, especially if heavily planted.

To be honest I'd probably leave him solo. As Eau says you only really have room for one shoal, and so many guppies are sickly these days (inbreeding etc). Have you just got the tetras or anything else in there too? I'd think an all-male group would need to be about 4/5 to spread the bickering around. But that might end up overstocking your tank.

Have you got a backing on the tank by the way? Plenty of dark spots? If you don't like the way they look particularly a half-height strip could be concealed by the planting but still provide a bit more security.

Well - we got some more tetras - now have 5 and they all seem very happy and have got much bolder plus 2 are super bold and suddenly tunred into fishy exocets when we fed them some dried bloodworms. Guppies looked a bit shocked.

However before I read all this advice I foolishly got another guppy and after a day of harmony he has started bullying the other one who is now hiding under the bogwood ....

I must go down as the worst fish newby ever - people can read our tales of disaster and smirk.

BTW - the tank is 60cm by 30cm by 30cm - so quite long.

Oh dear :( I would probably rehome the guppies. 2 isn't a good number because the aggression will all be concentrated on one guppy and he will probably be bullied to death. Larger shoals mean that any aggression is spread out.

Which tetras are they? These ones?

Phew. Have managed to offload new guppy to a friend and our lone guppy is out of hiding and looking much happier.

The tetras are these ones

www.aquaticcommunity.com/tetrafish/bloodfintetra.php

We've got 5 of them.