Yes, it is perfectly okay to keep only male guppies in a tank. This is a great way to control guppy population in your tank. When you have male and female guppies together you’ll see females getting pregnant all the time and giving birth to hundreds of fry. This will over populate your fish tank really fast.
Taking care of hundreds of guppies in a relatively short period of time is certainly not what you are looking for in your tank. By keeping just male guppies you can control or completely avoid guppy population.
However keeping just male guppies poses another set of problems, like aggression, fights and even dominance of territory.
How many male only guppies can be kept together?
As a general rule a guppy per 2 to 2.5 gallon of tank volume would be a sufficient number for guppies to live together. With a few guppies around you can even tackle the problem of bullying or dominance amongst a group of guppies.
When there are less number of guppies, chances of a single guppy getting bullies or attacked by all others increases. When such bullying happens, fish go under stress and this can weaken his immunity. With such weak immunity he can quickly attract diseases.
Its’ possible that some of the disease are contagious and in such a way the entire tank becomes affected one by one. That is why don’t just keep a few or even a lot guppies in your tank. Keep a balance using the above mentioned rule so that guppies can play around by chasing each other but not bully a single or a particular fish in the tank.
Will male guppies fight if kept together?
Like all animals in the wild guppies will fight for dominance in the fish tank. In a male only guppy tank chances of fighting increase because there are no females around for mating. Stronger and older fish will try to maintain their dominance over other fish and fights are possible.
Fighting can be in the form of chasing, nipping fins etc. If nipping fins of a particular fish becomes a frequent activity then this can even lead to disease like “fin rot”.
That’s why it is necessary to observe what’s going on in the tank when you have only male guppies together. Guppies are normally peaceful fish and will not chase or fight regularly. But since females are not present trying to establish dominance becomes an issue of prestige for them and with stronger and weaker fish around, fights are possible.
Will male guppies attack each other?
It’s possible that only male guppies if kept together will attack each other but this must not be taken as a rule. Guppies are peaceful fish and will not attack each other every day.
You will occasionally see them chasing each other or playing in the tank. The only possibility is that in case of only male guppies tank, the absence of a female guppy can spark fights. Stronger guppy fish will try to achieve dominance over weaker ones and this will lead to fights.
How to avoid fights in a male only guppy tank?
There are ways to avoid fights in a male only guppy tank. The primary reason of fights is achieving dominance over weaker fish and to avoid this, you must maintain the right number of fish in your tank.
In male tank since females are missing stronger fish tend to establish dominance over weaker fish and this can lead to fights some times.
1) Have a bigger fish tank –
One of the ways to avoid fights is to have a bigger tank with less guppy fish in it. This will allow every individual fish to set his own territory in the water volume available. Once this is set there will be less chances of crossing territories that lead to deadly fights.
2) Have suitable number of guppies –
If you have just 2 or 3 guppies then the possibly of stronger fish bullying just one fish will increase. But if you have more number of fish then there will be distractions available always so that a single fish does not get attacked or bullied. When there are more number of fish chances of distraction will also increase minimizing number of fights
3) Create hiding spaces –
Guppies really love hiding spaces. You can create them using driftwood pieces, live plants and decorating items. Little creativity is required to create such spaces and they extremely beneficial. If at all a particular fish is getting bullied he can use these to hide and form his own safe territory.
However of you see a particular fish is getting bullied you must take corrective action to make him stress free. The way to do this is to completely remove him from tank or remove the stronger ones from the tank. A fish living is fear quickly goes under stress. It’s like constantly living in hell for him. A fish under stress will sooner or later attract some kind of disease.
If this disease happens to be contagious then the whole tank can get affected. Sometimes stronger and bigger fish have a habit of nipping fins of smaller ones. If this routine happens often, then the weaker fish can get affected with “fin rot” which can attract infection.
4) Examine young guppies before you put them in main tank –
Many times guppy fry that you bring already have some kind of disease because of many reasons such as badly maintained tanks, unscientific breeding methods, stressful locations etc.
Before you put them in your main guppy tank make sure to put them in a quarantine tank and observe them for at least 15 days for any visual disease or symptoms.
If the young guppy is already sick, he will have a bad time in the main tank because already present stronger fish will have their own territory set up in the main tank and a new guppy guest being introduced can threaten their dominance. This can lead to fights and the young fish who is already under stress can get badly affected.
While keeping a “male only” guppy tank, it is necessary that every individual male guppy is happy and has room to create his own smaller world in your already smaller tank.
How to pick male guppies for a “male only” tank?
Picking up male guppies for a male only guppy tank is extremely crucial and important step. Picking up guppies that are too aggressive will obviously lead to lots of aggression in the tank. In the absence of a female these stronger fish will try to establish dominance over weaker ones and start chasing each other for the purpose of fighting.
Guppies are peaceful fish ad chase and play with each other normally if all the necessary parameters of a healthy tank are followed. That’s why while picking up male guppies observe the following rules.
1) Always buy male guppies from a trusted pet seller.
There are some pet stores which are big brands that specialize in selling pets and their accessories, food and other merchandise. These specialize in all types of pets like cats, dogs, fish, birds, reptiles and horses.
Many people prefer to buy fish, fish food and fish tank accessories from such big brands because sometimes you get them cheap. However while buying from such big store you must take care that priority is given to quality of fish and their health. In order to save little money it should not happen that you buy fish that are already under stress and sick.
Many times such brands do not own their own fish farms but outsource the production of new species. All they do is buy from the individual production farms and just sell them at big stores. Instead you can contact local pet farms or those who are into guppy fish breeding farms and contact them for quality fish. Such smaller sellers are keener to sell quality fish and give priority to fish health because they have limited number of tanks to manage. You can find many such local sellers in your area on social media and directly contact them for quality guppy fish.
2) Keep new guppy in a quarantine tank first
No matter how much precautions are taken from your side, it is still possible that guppy fry or the adult fish is carrying an internal parasite or is sick. The only way to find out about health of your fish is by observing him in a quarantine tank.
It takes skill to identify disease in a fish just by looking at his behaviors from outside of the tank. Sometimes fish carry diseases that cannot be identified for 30 days or more. In such cases if you introduce such sick fish in main tank, then it poses great threat to fish that are already in the tank.
The only possible way to prevent disease from spreading in the main tank is to observe new fish in a quarantine tank and observe their behavior there. In case you identify any abnormal activities then it becomes necessary to treat the new guppy and then consider him adding to main tank.
3) Always buy fish with bright colors and active movements
It is always better to buy fish that are vibrant in colors have sharp moves and have good appetite. It takes skill to identify healthy fish when you buy from a pet store. Sometimes guppy fry is carrying disease when they are born. Disease like tuberculosis, bent spine etc. cannot be detected just by visually looking at them.
Sick fish will be lethargic, will have pale colors and will have weak immunity and appetite. Always avoid buying fish that are under stress because when you take them to your own tank set up they are likely to carry disease because of weak immunity.