# Japanese Blue Swordtail Guppies



## BettaLove1 (Dec 6, 2011)

Hi there, 

I have a question about my japanese blue swordtail guppies. I have 2 that live together in a 5 gal tank with a Betta, and they are all living together quite happily. The betta gives them room and they do the same. However, I've noticed that one of the guppies clamps his fins when he's near the other guppy who also seems to pick on him. He's not sick from what I can tell, has beautiful colour still, and eats like a little piggy; so I'm going to assume he's stressed out. Since the betta doesn't pick on them (from what I can see) I can only assume the one guppy is picking on the other that's causing the stress. 

So my question is, should I get one more so the "bullying" is distributed more evenly? I was worried about overstocking the tank, which is why I didn't get more of them (the betta is quite large). 

I don't have the option to get another tank to get a school of them, nor do I want to put my betta back into his old tiny tank...he ripped himself to shreds and is very happy with the 5 gallons and the guppies. 

What to do? Any advice is appreciated! 
Thanks!!


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

In the time i've had livebearers, I have learned that clamped fins can mean a few different things.
One is the fish is sick, another reason is a fish will do that when it is trying to avoid a fight. I've also seen males do it to females before they display to them, and when they're stressed. There's probably a couple other reasons they clamp their fins too.
If you have two male guppies, one is likely to get picked on by the other. 
The only ways I can think to help the fish from picking on each other is a bigger tank or to maybe give one of the guppies away, or another small tank for one of the guppies.


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## BettaLove1 (Dec 6, 2011)

They are two males. The place I got them from said that females of this type are not sold, and that the people that originally breed them are very careful to pick out the females. I've sat and watched them a bit and the one that clamps his fins is very submissive towards the other. He'll clamp his fins and almost shy away, a few seconds later the other one attacks him. 

I could likely afford to get another tank, however my mom refuses to let me get another. I currently only have two very small tanks (a total of 7.5 gal between the two), so I'm not sure of her reasoning, but her house her rules I suppose. I'll try to convince her that it's best for them to have a bigger tank but if she won't allow me to have another I'll advertise to give them away I think. It's not fair for the one to get picked on because I can't give them a better "housing" arrangement


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