Are my platies racist?

[chunkoblue]

I have 5 platies (Xiphophorus maculatus) and 1 platy/swordtail hybrid (Xiphophorus variatus) and the platies don't seem to accept the hybrid as part of the group. The dominant male constantly chases her away when she tries to school with them. I also know the chasing is not mating because he nips at her and I've seen him get randy with my other platies. Anyone else ever notice behavior interactions between X. maculatus and X. variatus?

 

[BioFilter]

It may be that you are subject to the anthropomorphic fallacy.

 

[blackwolfXKAV]

perhaps they do not recognize her as a part of the group. maybe you should get some more to even it out.

 

[kkifer]

platy bigots

My platies are doing something similar that has me wondering the same thing. I have 5 "brothers" from the same pair. The mom was all red and the dad was yellow and red (sunburst?). Four of these males are all red and one is sunburst. When they reached adult size, the red ones started harassing the sunburst dad and he died. I thought perhaps he was ill and they took advantage of that, trying to be alpha male. Now they chase their sunburst brother relentlessly, until he hides in the plants.

The twist is that it's possible the red ones were fathered by the mother's former red tankmates, not the sunburst dad, since females store sperm for months. So rather than a color issue it could be a brothers vs. step-dad and half-brother thing. A real soap opera.

I'm thinking of scooping up these 4 bullies and taking them to the store.