In the guppy world, one should really be observant in order to see if there are any problems in the tank. Unfortunately, guppies are not like cats or dogs who will alert you if something is wrong with them.
Therefore, you should always be on the lookout for some behavioral changes in your guppies, such as when one or a bunch of them are staying in the corner of the tank.
It is usually a sign of distress when your guppies are staying in the corner of the tank. The water conditions might be wrong or there is a disease present. Also, a guppy can make it his hiding place if he is being bullied. There are also other reasons that relate to pregnancy and ammonia burns.
Oh, how we wish that all of the reasons are positive ones, unfortunately, most of the reason as to why your guppy is staying in the corner of your tank is negative.
Which is why you should immediately get to the bottom of it in order to remedy the situation. So keep on reading to find out what you can do!
Why Are My Guppies Staying In The Corner Of The Tank?
Let us go over some of the major reasons as to why your guppy or guppies are doing this.
Keep in mind that there can still be other reasons that are not included in this list. With that said, you should always check on your guppies so that you can immediately figure out if there are any problems.
Stress
This is one of the major reasons as to why your guppy is staying in the corner of your tank. Sadly, there are a number of reasons why your guppies are stressed.
Some of which are the following:
- New tank
- Guppies just got transported
- Overcrowded tank
- Small tank
- Water temperature is inconsistent
- Lack of hiding places or live plants
- Water condition is poor
- Presence of diseases or sickness
Try as much as you can to find the source of the stress of your guppy. By trial and error, you can easily see a shift in their behavior if you manage to find what is stressing them.
New Guppy
If you recently added a new guppy in the tank, you will realize that he will stay in the corner of the tank. The reason behind this can be the fact that he is stressed when you transported him. More than that, he is still new to his surroundings and he is unsure of what to do.
When you purchased a new guppy, you might also notice that his color will be a bit dull. As you watch him in the corner of the tank, you will see that his color will go back to normal. This is a clear indication that he is calming down and having a feel of his tank mates and surroundings.
Inadequate Water Temperature
As guppies are tropical fish they live in waters that have a temperature of 65-85 degrees Fahrenheit or 18-30 degrees Celcius. Therefore, in order to keep your guppies happy and healthy, you should maintain these temperatures.
It does not have to be exactly these temperatures, but it should be within its parameters. Most likely, cool water will push your guppies to crowd in the corner of the tank.
On the other hand, if they are exposed to warm water, the opposite will happen. In this case, they will try to swim to the surface in order to gasp for air. The temperature of warm water is approximately 75-78 degrees Fahrenheit or 24-26 degrees Celcius.
Sick Guppy
There is good news and bad news. The bad news is, you have a sick guppy. The good news is that not a lot of sicknesses make your guppy stay in the corner of the tank. Therefore, it will be easy to pinpoint what type of disease he has.
In the case of having velvet which is having gold dust on the body of your guppy, they will not be hiding or staying in the corner of the tank. The same goes for ick where the guppy will have white spots on his body.
It is also the other diseases that are caused by a bacterial or viral infection where your guppies will do this type of behavior. Not only will they stay in the corner of the tank but they will always stay at the bottom of the tank.
You might also notice that they are almost always behind plants and inside the caves. Further, they will also try to stay away from the other guppies as much as possible.
Presence Of Ammonia
When you have a new aquarium, it has a high chance of having ammonia burns. This is the reason why you should not put fish in an aquarium which has only been cycled for one week.
Even the slightest hint of ammonia can harm your guppies. In worse cases, ammonia will lead your guppies to their death. This is why it is important to cycle your aquarium so that there will be good bacteria that can get rid of the traces of ammonia.
Ammonia will also increase due to feeding, in fact, it can reach such a critical level in just an hour. You will see that this is the problem if your guppies go to the corner of the tank or they hide somewhere immediately after feeding them.
Aggressive Tank Mates
Guppies are branded as being peaceful fishes. Therefore, they pretty much get along with other fishes that are not aggressive.
In the event that you have a community aquarium, and there are aggressive fishes like tiger bars, angelfish, cichlids, etc., the guppies may feel insecure or even threatened that they will just stay in the corner of the tank.
The same goes if there is a guppy that is being bullied by other guppies. As he does not feel secure in the hiding places, he will just stick to the corner of the tank.
If your guppies are aggressive, we recommend reading our article on aggression in guppies here. We show you some facts and solutions to this problem there.
Pregnant Guppy
This is the part where you do not have anything to worry about. If you see your pregnant guppy staying in the corner of the tank, this is a clear sign that she is going into labor.
Therefore, if you want to ensure the safety of the fry, this is a great time to put the pregnant guppy in a breeder box or completely separate her.
What To Do
Now that you know some of the reasons why your guppy or guppies are staying in the corner of the tank, you can now tweak some things in the tank in order to solve the problem. Take a look at the following.
Quarantine Or Acclimatize Your Guppy
When you have a new guppy or guppies that you are intending to add to the tank, make sure that you quarantine them first. This will ensure the health if the guppies in your aquarium and it will also not stress the new guppies too much.
In the event that you cannot do a quarantine, you can acclimate the new guppies. You can do this by placing their container or plastic bag and submerging it in your tank. Leave it there for at least 30 minutes.
In doing so, the temperature of the tank will also be the temperature of the plastic bag where the new guppies are held. By the time that you are ready to release them in their tank, they now have a feel of the conditions of the tank.
Regulate Water Temperature
In the outside world, the water where guppies reside has a temperature of 65-85 degrees Fahrenheit or 18-30 degrees Celcius. Therefore, you should keep the temperature at this level.
It is highly recommended to keep the temperature at 75-78 degrees Fahrenheit or 24-26 degrees Celcius. In this way, the temperature of the room can be taken into account as well as the weather changes based on the current season.
Treat Sick Guppy
Make sure that you always do a visual inspection of your tank just in case there is a disease outbreak. If there are guppies that are staying in the corner of the tank, gently scoop them out to see if they have any signs of disease.
Keep in mind that prevention is always better than cure. But if it cannot be helped, immediately consult your vet to see what you can do.
Cycle Your Aquarium
The surefire way for you to not have ammonia in your tank is to cycle it. This is where you simply have everything set up, plants, sand, etc. and you will just keep the tank running.
It is not recommended to just cycle the tank for a week, as there will still be traces of ammonia which can be harmful to your guppies.
In addition, you can add nitrifying bacteria during the cycling process so that it will become faster. Most importantly, when setting up your tank, make sure that you have a test kit in hand so that you can easily see if there is too much ammonia in the tank.
Accordingly, you can also measure the levels of nitrate and nitrite.
Add Live Plants And Other Hiding Places
If you see that the cause of this behavior is simply the presence of guppy bullies, then make sure that you have an abundance of live plants and hiding places. In this way, the bullied guppy will have a lot of places to hide and he will not get tired of evading his bullies.