Platies and Guppies

[Lansirill]

I picked up a gold platy to hang out with my swordtails. Unfortunately it appears that green swords and gold platies don't get along well. When I first set up the tank I had my (large) green female tear up the dorsal fin of my (smaller) gold platy. With the new batch I had a smaller green male tear up the dorsal fin of a larger, pregnant gold platy. I've never heard of platies and swordtails not getting along but perhaps there's something about those two colors, or greens just might be causing problems.

Fortunately I saw the problem right away the second time and was able to separate the two in time to keep the platy from being seriously injured. I'm now trying to figure out where to stick her. The 33G seems like the only real option out of my existing tanks. It would be a 1M1F situation until her fry grow up, and I'm trusting my gourami and rams to keep the fry population under control.

The real problem with this is the guppies. If those two guys are going to be chasing her as well, I'd quite possibly be torturing the fish by putting her in with them. Depending on who you talk to platies and guppies will or will not cross, but I'm really not concerned about hybridizing these things. What I want to know is if the guppies will -try- to make sexy-time with the platy. If all else fails I can try it and net some fish out if there's a problem.

 

[reneeg]

guppy/platy compatibility

I have a male guppy in with my 2 female platies. Since I moved him in he has constantly been on the platies. First I thought it was aggression, since it appeared that he was nipping at their sides. As a few days wore on though I see he sidles up against them and rubs on them. They always swim away and don't seem unduly bothered, but this is kinda wierd. I have some neons in the tank as well, but he never exhibits this behavior with them. Mating behavior? I don't know since I only have the male guppy. I doubt that they could crossbreed though.

 

[Lupin]

I have a male guppy in with my 2 female platies. Since I moved him in he has constantly been on the platies. First I thought it was aggression, since it appeared that he was nipping at their sides. As a few days wore on though I see he sidles up against them and rubs on them. They always swim away and don't seem unduly bothered, but this is kinda wierd. I have some neons in the tank as well, but he never exhibits this behavior with them. Mating behavior? I don't know since I only have the male guppy. I doubt that they could crossbreed though.

Mating behavior? Yes. That's why we call male livebearers horny.:barf: :lol2: Crossbreed? Nope. They're of different genus.