Do Guppies Need Hiding Places? (How to create a hiding place?)

Guppies are the most common fish that every aquarist loves to add to their aquarium. Guppy fish are easy to take care of but not fulfilling their aquarium needs can cause some trouble for them. So, Do guppies need hiding places? How can we create a hiding place for our guppies?. Let us find out.

Guppies need a hiding place when under stress or suffering from illness. However, we should create a hiding spot for guppies so they can keep themselves safe. Adding aquatic plants, driftwood, and other aquarium ornaments to the guppies aquarium will make a great hiding spot.

We will discuss why guppy fish show hiding behavior in this article. Also, we will discuss the ways to prevent our guppy fish from hiding and living comfortably. So, let us get into it.

Do guppy fish require a hiding place in their tank?

Guppy fish requires a hiding place in their tank.

While living in a tank, guppies can go through many issues where they need a hiding place to make themselves safe and comfortable.

Female guppies need a hiding place when more males are present in the tank.

Male guppies constantly chase female guppy for mating, and to avoid chasing, female guppy needs a hiding place.

Guppies require a hiding place when they are stressed or suffer from illness.

Hiding places helps guppies to keep themselves safe, and also, guppies will feel comfortable and secure in a tank with lots of hiding spots.

How can we create hiding places in our guppies tank?

There are many ways to create a hiding place in our guppies tank:

  1. Add lots of live aquatic plants to your guppies tank.
  2. Add aquarium rock to your guppies tank.
  3. Add driftwood to your guppies tank.
  4. Add aquarium ornaments to your guppies tank.
  5. Add terra cotta pots to your guppies tank.

Live aquatic plants

Adding lots of live aquatic plants to your guppies aquarium is the best way of creating hiding places for your guppies.

Aquatic plants will not only create a hiding place but will also help you keep the water clean. 

Plants help prevent algae growth by using the nutrients produced by fish leftovers, waste, and organic debris.

These are some of the best plants you can add to your guppies aquarium:

  1. Java moss
  2. Java fern
  3. Water sprite
  4. Christmas moss
  5. Flame moss
  6. Anacharis elodea densa
  7. Water wisteria
  8. Anubias bundle

These are some great plants for adding to your guppies aquarium.

Aquarium rocks

Adding aquarium rock is also a good option for creating hiding spots for your guppies.

However, avoid collecting rocks from yourself as rocks can contain heavy metals, calcium, and other minerals, which can disturb the water conditions of your guppies aquarium.

You should buy aquarium rocks from a pet store as they will be safe for your guppies aquarium.

Rinse the aquarium rock before adding it to your guppies aquarium to ensure no dirt or other particles are present in the aquarium rock. 

Add driftwood

Adding driftwood is also a great way to provide a hiding spot for your guppies.

You will find driftwoods in almost every lake and river, so adding driftwood will help you mimic the natural habitat of guppies.

You can easily find driftwood in pet stores or an online store like amazon.

Make sure to soak the driftwood for a couple of days before adding it to your guppies aquarium.

As driftwood contains tannins and soaking it for a couple of days will help remove excess tannins from the driftwood.

Excess tannins in your guppies aquarium will result in discoloration of the aquarium’s water. 

Add aquarium ornaments

There are varieties of aquarium ornaments you can add to your guppies aquarium. 

Some aquarium ornaments do great in providing hiding places for your guppies.

You can go with adding pipe ornaments. Pipe ornaments will look great in your guppies tank and provide a good hiding place for your guppies.

Your guppies can also breed comfortably in pipe ornaments.

Other aquarium ornaments include ruins, ships, ceramic ornaments, statues, and caves.

However, make sure you are not adding ornaments that have sharp edges or corners, as your guppies can end up hurting themselves with sharp edges or corners.

Also, ensure that the ornaments you are planning to add are made for aquarium use. 

Add terra cotta pots.

Terra cotta pots are a cheaper and good alternative to aquarium ornaments.

Terra cotta pots provide a good hiding place for your guppies.

There is something to consider before adding terra cotta pots to your guppies aquarium:

  1. Don’t use the pots that are painted or dyed. Painted pots contain chemicals that can disturb the condition of your guppy’s aquarium water.
  2. Avoid using old pots from your garden as they are exposed to bug spray, fertilizers, and other harmful chemicals. Such chemicals will critically affect your guppies health.
  3. When you add terra cotta pots to your guppies aquarium, consider removing the bottom of the base so your fishes don’t get stuck while swimming through the drainage holes. 

Why do guppies hide?

Usually, guppies are active fish and don’t hide until something wrong is going on in their aquarium.

There can be various reasons behind the hiding behavior of your guppy:

  1. Your guppy is under stress.
  2. The female guppy hides from male guppies because of the constant chasing of male guppies for mating.
  3. Your guppy is suffering from illness or some physical injury.
  4. Your pregnant guppy is hiding for releasing the fry.
  5. There is an aggressive tankmate present in your guppies aquarium, like angelfish.
  6. Your guppies aquarium is in a place where there is heavy traffic around them, and they are getting scared and hiding.

These are the conditions in which your guppies will hide.

Your guppies will show hiding behavior when they are under stress.

There can be various reasons behind your guppy under stress, such as poor water conditions, unstable water parameters, lack of food supply, etc.

Male guppies will constantly chase the female guppy for mating when you have more males and a few female guppies in your aquarium.

For avoiding such chasing of male guppies, female guppy will hide and can also show aggression.

When the guppy suffers from an illness or physical injury, it will hide from other tankmates to hide its weakness and save itself.

Female pregnant guppy will hide when it is about to release the fry.

It is normal when a pregnant female guppy is hiding, and we cannot do anything.

The presence of aggressive tankmates like angelfish in your guppies aquarium will make your guppies hide from the tankmate to avoid getting bullied and hunted down.

If you have placed your aquarium in a place where heavy traffic is around, your guppies will get scared and show hiding behavior.

Also read: Why Is My Guppy Fish Hiding?

How can we keep our guppies comfortable and happy?

Make sure of these things to keep your guppies comfortable and happy:

  1. Provide adequate water condition to your guppies.
  2. Ensure stable water parameters of your guppies aquarium.
  3. Feed your guppies appropriately and high quality foods.
  4. Maintain the ratio of male and female guppies in your aquarium.
  5. Avoid adding non-compatible and aggressive tankmates to your guppies aquarium.
  6. Keep a regular check on your guppy’s health to detect if they are suffering from any illness or injury.
  7. Place your aquarium in a silent place where your guppies can live peacefully. 

Provide your guppies with adequate living conditions by performing a regular water change and maintaining the tank.

Make sure to keep the ammonia, nitrite, heavy metals, and other harmful chemicals at 0 levels.

With adequate water conditions, adequate and stable water parameters are also equally essential to make your guppies live comfortably and prevent hiding. 

Regularly feed your guppies as irregular feeding will stress them out.

Keep your guppies in a ratio of 2:1, two female guppies and one male guppy.

Avoid adding aggressive tankmates like angelfish to your guppies aquarium, as aggressive tankmates will threaten your guppies, and they will hide from aggressive tankmates.

You should keep a regular check on your guppies to see if they suffer from any illness or injury.

Immediately start the medication once you find out that your guppy is suffering from illness or injury.

Also read: Are My Guppies Stressed?

Conclusion:

Guppies are active fish and don’t hide until there are under stress or suffering from illness or injury.

However, we should create plenty of hiding spots for our guppies so they can keep themselves safe.

Pregnant guppies require a hiding place to feel comfortable releasing the fry.

You can add aquatic plants, aquarium ornaments, driftwood, terra cotta pots, and more to create hiding spots in your guppies aquarium.


Reference: Wikipedia, ResearchGate, NCBI

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