Bullying in our  Tank

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Brian

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Hi,
we have six Platies in a 40x15x18 Tank, 3 different colours, 2 of each colour. Problem is that the bigger of the Red Wagtails who we think is a male, is bullying the smaller female, hounding her mercilessly, and keeps nipping at her :(. She has become a bit of an outcast and now has a split in her tail because of the bully !
What can I do, I have another smaller tank, so I can separate them, but which do I remove ?

Do we need to do anything with the split fin ?

thanks, Brian
 
I'll leave the remidy to the livebearers. But as for the split fin, I'd just leave just now. If it's bullied more there can be fungal infections which attack the fish, you'll see this as white areas.
The best remidy is a suliton to the bullying, and I think it's a typical livebearer thing so those livebearer keepers will help more.
 
The male bully also appears to be up for some frisky business with one of the other females - does this have anything to do with it ? He constantly follows her about, when he's not chasing the other, with his fins spread and lots of attitude !
 
I keep platies, actually only had them since january. For the first few days the platies would establish a 'pecking order' however I never encountered anything as vicious as what you say.

You can tell the sex of platies by their back fin on their bellies. If it is a triangle then the fish is a female and if it is a long thing spike that points backwards it is a male.

Livebearers do like Aquarium salt however if you plan on keeping tetras etc.. then I wouldn't recomend it because the salt will burn some fishes skin :( . Right now I am getting the aquarium salt out of my tank through water changes weekly and reckon it should take a couple of months just to be safe :) .

Your fish are quite new to the tank and so expect the situation to calm down fairly soon.

William
 

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