Will female guppies be better off without male guppies?

I have 6 female guppies in a tank. Are they happy as a group of females for would they be happier with a male?

Guppies are live-bearers. Male guppies want nothing more than impregnate the females.

They will chase after the female guppies 24/7 nonstop. It will be quite stressful for the female guppies as a direct result of always being chased after. Then the female guppies will become pregnant and give birth to guppy fry every now and then. You will have an overpopulated tank in no time. Constant pregnancy and give birth also shortens the life span of the female guppies.

Since guppies aren't even a school fish species, they do not require to be in a group. The female guppies will be happier without any male around. Although if it is up to me, I will get only males because they are better looking. Please do not call me a sexist.

Many thanks. Yes the males are prettier but the females seem thougher!

Female guppies will do fine without any male around.

If you absolutely want male guppies amongst the females, as a general rule you need 2~3 female for every male. This rule is for the purpose of not stressing each female guppy too much when there are more than one female for each male to chase after. If you have more male guppies than female guppies, some male guppies might get aggressive toward each other when they compete for the same female.

Guppies are known as "million fish". They will breed and breed if there are both male and female in the same tank. However, I wouldn't be worried of overpopulation unless you have a large tank with too many hiding places in it. The adult guppies will eat their own fry to keep their population in check.

Furthermore, from your other thread we have learned your tank isn't very big and it isn't fully equipped to sustain tropical fish. Until you can get your tank set up properly, please resist the urge to get more fish.

Thanks Thor for your message and info on guppies. With water conditioner and daily 50% water changes I have been able to keep my remaining 6 Guppies alive so far.

I have a bigger tank - 13 gallons on order which will have a heater. Hoping it comes in the next couple of days. The reason for my questions was some forward panning. Learnt my lesson last time!

Planning to cycle new tank this time and care for my guppies properly. Should I move my guppies to the bigger tank when it comes or wait for it to cycle? The poor fish are already in a uncycled tank but the new tank will have more water to dilute the unwanted chemicals?

You should move your guppies to the new tank as soon as you get it. Since your current tank is undersized and uncycled, rather than spend weeks to cycle the new tank and risk the guppies dying in the undersized uncycled old tank during the same time, they have a better chance to survive in a bigger tank even it is uncycled too. More water means lower concentration of ammonia and nitrite.

A little note for you when you transfer them. It is the best to transfer as much water as possible before move the fish over. Since fish dislike sudden change in the water perimeter, having some old water will help them adapt to the new tank and avoid temperature/PH/hardness shock.

What filter do you plan to use for your new tank? You have only mentioned a heater is on the way. A filter is more important.

By the way, since you are doing partial water change every day, you need to be careful about the new water temperature. It is recommended to have the new water sit in the same room for it to have the same temperature before using it for water change.

Thanks, will move fish into new tank as soon as it arrives and I'll do as you suggest and take most of the old tank water with them. The new tank does have a filter, not sure what type but planning to add some of the old filter medium to it if possible, or do you think it's not cycled enough to bother?

When I have been doing the daily partial water changes I have used water that has been left to stand for 24 hours to get it too room temperature as well as adding the tap save stuff and now adding just before use the water conditioner.

Thanks to your help my 6 guppies are still alive and looking a lot happier, their top fins up and tails fully open, which they haven't been. Not that active as the temperature is too cold, but a lot more then they were!

How long have you been running the old filter in your current tank? When will your new tank and filter arrive?

If your old filter has been constantly running for at least 2 weeks by the time your new tank is ready to receive the fish, then the old filter media will help a little. The longer the old filter has been running, the more good bacteria it will have, and thus more helpful it will be if you transfer the filter media into your new filter. It is hard to say at this point because we do not know for sure how long before the transferring will take place.

Do you have a water test kit? It is very helpful. If you get readings on nitrite and nitrate, it means the cycling is making progress and the old filter media will definitely be useful if you use it in your new filter. If nitrite and nitrate readings are both 0ppm by the time you are ready to transfer, then there is no value in transferring the old filter media because the good bacteria hasn't been developing enough to even convert ammonia.