Fancy Guppy tankmates

[kadamar]

Hi Folks. I am setting up a heavily planted 72 gal community tank. I would like to have some fancy guppies as part of the community, but am a little concerned that they will become targets for their tankmates/fin nippers. I plan to have mainly small fish eg, different kinds tetras, mollies, platies as community members. Have any of you mixed fancy guppies with the above species and had any problems. I am hoping that heavy planting and the large tank will decrease the tendency for fin nipping.
Thanks

David

[robnepper]

Schooling your tetras to proper proportions would be the the first thing to do. If the are in a good sized school, they should chase one another around and leave the guppies alone. Plants may help, but speed is the factor. Your guppies will definitley be the slowest. So, don't get ten teras all of a differing kind. Get a good sized school of one kind that will be the most compatible with your situation.

[Abbeys_Mom]

I have kept guppies with platies and mollies without any problems. Adding neons or other smaller tetras would not be a problems IMO. I have Mollies in with my Neons and Black-Skirt tetras without any problems. They all stick to their own groups. Just make sue with livebearers that you have the right ratio of males to females. If you have more males then females, you will have the males killing the weakest males. I recommend at least a 1-3 ratio and higher if you can. I personally have an all female tank.

[AquaQueen]

I have a community tank with a bunch of mixed tetras(neon's being in the mix) as well as a pair of tiger barbs and a Blue Gourami....now I dont have any guppies in there at the moment but have in the past without any problems. Mollies and platies would work just fine with them IMO...with the right amount of each school and lots of plants and hiding spots they should be fine. The one thing I wouldn't do if I were you, is to buy any females(the boys are the pretty ones anyway)...Guppies are BREEDERS and they multiply with a quickness. TRUST ME! I now have a tank just for guppies because I thought they were so cool and cute looking...lol They took over my community tank. They could get semi-aggressive after the babies come, some even eat the babies in fear of the other fish in the tank eating them. So these are all things to think of even with your mollies & platies. You can expect these behaviors from alot of the breeding fish. I dunno if ya know this but figured I'd throw it out there in-case you didn't it is good to know. Good Luck with whatever you decide. In the end all that matters is if they will be comfy & happy with their home and you like what you have in your tank.
Lata, ~AQ~

[kadamar]

Thanks for the great advice folks