What do I do with my agressive platies? They just won't live peacefully with any other fish! The male is only interested in one female and will chase and nip every other fish constantly (even the new female I introduced). I've removed the male to another tank (10g) to give the other fish a rest, and now the female he was amorous towards is chasing and nipping the other fish. I had tried a 1m to 3f ratio at one point, but this male was only interested in two of the females (one of those died with a ventral prolapse) and was very agressive towards the third (which eventually got sick...many months after I got her...and was euthanized.) At this point, I'm going to move the aggressive female to the other tank with him, and let them be. Are there any other options?
Mean platies
- Thread starter mishi8
- Start date
I dont think so. This is why im not keen on platies mine did junk like this too. They all ended up dying. I'd move them out, or if its too much hastle find a new home maybe. Then again, someone here may have better advice.
Best of luck to you and your platies.
Best of luck to you and your platies.
Me Too
We just got a tank and fish. We got three red platies, and the store didn't know if we had male or female. I've since learned we have two male and one female. The one male is terrible. Nipping and chasing the other platies. Will stores take back fish that aren't fitting in? I'm new to this and thought that this might be normal fish behavior, but after reading your messages, I guess this isn't "normal" or a preferred behavior
We just got a tank and fish. We got three red platies, and the store didn't know if we had male or female. I've since learned we have two male and one female. The one male is terrible. Nipping and chasing the other platies. Will stores take back fish that aren't fitting in? I'm new to this and thought that this might be normal fish behavior, but after reading your messages, I guess this isn't "normal" or a preferred behavior
How many total do you have in your 10 gallon? Platies will be less aggressive if you keep a good sized group of them. A 10 gallon will not allow for you to keep alot of them.
2 males to 1 female is definitely a bad ratio. The males will fight over her and torment her in a lusty rage until she dies of stress 
FISHBEGINNER said:
Now that's an ignorant store- it's pretty easy to tell the sex of most livebearers!
I remember reading somewhere that a typical sex ratio in the wild is between 3 and 6 females for each male. That might be because the males are so intent on breeding and competing that they make an easy meal for other fish.
You can also make sure that the fish have hiding places. If you do live plants, hornwort or water sprite will give some cover near the surface.
Another project that will help in an emergency is to make some spawning mops to keep on hand:
http://www.atchison.com/ArticlesandStories/MopMakingDirections.htm
They provide a place to hide, and also a place for the tiny fry to escape being eaten when they give birth.
Use an acrylic yarn rather than wool- you don't want it to rot and foul the water.
IMO, swordtails are even worse than platies!
Wow, I've never seen platies behave like that, and I've been keeping them for over 10yrs in a variety of different tank sizes. The most aggression I have seen out of them is larger ones sometimes pushing the smaller ones out of the way to get at some food, or one male driving off another that gets too close to "his" female of the moment. Or a female who is not in the mood giving a male a quick brush off.
Are they healthy? Sometimes ordinarily peaceful fish will attack another weak or sickly fish.
Are they healthy? Sometimes ordinarily peaceful fish will attack another weak or sickly fish.