Platty troubles

[Jrogers5228]

So i have a 10 gal tank that was fully cycled and all that before adding our fish. It only has 4 platys. I have an agressive female and an aggressive male. I didnt notice when the pet store employee was getting that she got two males and two females until a few days after getting them home and being able to see them. I know i need a 3 to 1 ratio with the 1 being male. Should i take the aggressive male and the aggressive female back? They're mean to the other two so they stay towards the bottom or hide. The male barely eats and the female is now healing from what looks like a bad bite and i haven't seen her eat once. Im on day 3 of putting in melafix which was reccomend by a different pet store to help her heal. Im just not sure who to take back. These platys are way different than the betta i had 10 years ago lol

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

Two males and two females will mean harassment for the poor females so something must be done about that. Which brings up a couple of things.

First thing...you do realize that with male/female you will soon be having batches of fry (from each female monthly)? While some may get eaten, most will not, and that is going to cause a real issue with water quality. Getting rid of the fry may seem easy, until you have dozens and no one wants them. To solve the fry problem, only have males.

Second, a 10g is not sufficient space for platies so you might want to rethink the fish, or a larger tank (a 20g would be minimum for four or five, males only).

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

get rid of the agro male and female and just keep the 2 nicer females.

 

[Jrogers5228]

I looked at a lot different sites and they said platys were okay in a 10 gal. I did do some research before jumping in. Originally i was going to put in some other fish to help eat the fry and do a 3 female 1 male ratio. Just about everything i read said it was bad to do males only and that they would all pick on the weaker one until it died. Then start over with the next weakest. Is that not correct?

 

[Jrogers5228]

So the agressive female will probably stay agressive. That sucks. Shes the prettiest lol. Thanks tho

 

[Byron]

I looked at a lot different sites and they said platys were okay in a 10 gal. I did do some research before jumping in. Originally i was going to put in some other fish to help eat the fry and do a 3 female 1 male ratio. Just about everything i read said it was bad to do males only and that they would all pick on the weaker one until it died. Then start over with the next weakest. Is that not correct?

No, that is not correct (last sentence/question). It is true however that individual fish can have "problems" in behaviour, so there is no guarantee. But you will find many threads here in which members suggest males only to avoid the fry problem. And believe me, that is going to be significant.

A 10g tank is not sufficient space for platies. One alone maybe. But this is not a small fish, growing to 2 inches (male) and 3 inches (female). Confined in a small space like a 10g is another reason for the negative interactions.

All sorts of sites spring up on the internet, but unless you know the individual who owns them you cannot trust them. Seriously Fish is trusted by ichthyologists and biologists:

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/xiphophorus-maculatus/

 

[Colin_T]

In the wild, female livebearers hang out in large groups consisting of between 20 & 50 (but sometimes up to 100 or more) females. These groups have a pecking order with the biggest most dominant female ruling the group and she has a group of girlfriends who back her up. All the other females live in the group but are lower down the pecking order.

The groups of females move around rivers and waterways looking for food and places to hang out. As the groups move around a few males follow the group and try to breed with any females.

In the confines of an aquarium, the males will constantly harass the females and try to breed with them. This puts undue stress on the females and if there are too many males constantly pestering the females, the females can get sick and die.

If you want a group of males and females then have 1 male and at least 6 females (preferably 10 or more females per male). However, your tank size is not suitable for this.

Female livebearers can carry up to 6 sperm packets from breeding with males and they use 1 sperm packet to fertilise each batch of eggs. The gestation period (from the time she fertilises the eggs to when she gives birth to free swimming babies) is about 1 month. After which she will fertilise another batch of eggs using another sperm packet. This allows female livebearers to produce young about once a month for up to 6 months without any males being present.

If you want to breed livebearers then have a tank with females and let them give birth and use up all the sperm packets they are carrying in their body. Give them a few months without being pregnant and then add a male to the tank for a week before moving him out, or move the female/s into a tank with a male for a week and let them breed. Then move the females back into their own tank.

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You can get rid of the male and keep all 3 females and monitor them over a couple of weeks. But the dominant female might still bully the other 2.

If you have lots of plants in the tank it can help reduce aggression. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is the best plant for livebearers. It floats on the surface but can also be planted in the gravel.