Female Platy Question

[Proud Pastry]

Hello! I recently made a thread asking a question about my guppies, but I now have a question about my new female platies!
I recently purchased 3 new female platies (a Mickey mouse sunburst and two blue ones), since I had one female platy already, to balance out my tank since I had 5 guppies (they would chase her all the time...)
Buying the new platies has seemed to bring harmony to my tank (yay!)
However, the two blue platies I purchased chased a few of my guppies when I fed them, and sometimes they'll swim over to a guppy rather quickly and then stop about an inch away and leave them be.
The two blue platies were also nudging each others sides and kind of whipping each others faces with their tails? Haha
They seem fine and none of them are bothered (except for when the guppies got chased, they kinda freak out a bit.. but they were totally fine after )

I just wanted to know more about female platy behavior and what was normal, what's aggressive, if they can injure each other (or guppies) in anyway, etc etc... I can't seem to find much on the internet about specific gender behavior

Thanks for reading!

 

[snazy]

It's me again
Just my two pieces. The platys are very peaceful, especially females. They'll chase new fish for a while, like a day max just to check them out and they'll settle and eat like pigs from then on.

 

[Proud Pastry]

It's me again
Just my two pieces. The platys are very peaceful, especially females. They'll chase new fish for a while, like a day max just to check them out and they'll settle and eat like pigs from then on.

Haha Hiya! Okay, that's good to know!
Hehe they were actually already eating like pigs XD I wasn't expecting them to each much since they just arrived, but nope, they were all over them flakes!

 

[slimeneo]

I don't want to freak you out, but I have a more aggressive female platy. When she was first introduced to the tank, I already had 2 red platys. Naomi and her sister, genesis were the new bumblebee platys. Naomi would charge mostly the red platys, but mostly the smaller one and sometimes even her sister. It was a really quick movement, she would just charge at them and chase them. Poor little Owen (small red platy) had nipped fins and was stressed what I ended up doing was everytime I saw her charging at another fish, I'd take her out and let her sit in a little container for awhile until she calmed down. Now she's pretty peaceful, but all the other fish move away when she comes near them. So I guess it's somewhat her personality I guess

But yeah, in general they're really cute and sociable fish who live to eat, haha.

 

[basboi85]

Replying to your pm

I've got 8 Mickey Mouse platys in my tank with 20 Molly's and I've recently just just passed on my 4 male wild type Guppys to my neighbour and I've never had a issue between any of my fish besides when it comes to feeding time with my older bigger Molly females having a fight ( tail slapping ) with each other and and that's all I've seen them do

weirdly my guppy boys trying their luck with only one of my Molly females but they would get shrugged off

I've got a orange sail fin male that's turned quite heavy handed quite Latley and he tends to peck and fight with all the male Molly's in my tank and quite bravely peck my gourami who is double his size and she just swims off without retaliating which suprises me.

I think the " fighting / chasing " maybe be to do with a role to say who is the "queen bee " of the females but I've not had any chasing fighting with my platys. To me I would describe my platys liked stonned hippys that are to relaxed for their own good but I'm not complaining as its nice and peaceful.

If you think it's getting our of hand I would get a v.large plastic food container and drill a few holes in it make sure it floats properly and put it in there for time out for 10 mins see If that helps and on the plus side you could use it as a hospital tank or a fry trap obv depending on the size of your tank.

That in thought what is your tank size?? Because if its to small or crowded this could be a reason why.

I got my gourami off my neighbour as he's tank was to over crowded and it kept hitting the thermometer and filter and eating his fry since its been in my tank I've had no issues including eating fry that I know of.

 

[Proud Pastry]

I don't want to freak you out, but I have a more aggressive female platy. When she was first introduced to the tank, I already had 2 red platys. Naomi and her sister, genesis were the new bumblebee platys. Naomi would charge mostly the red platys, but mostly the smaller one and sometimes even her sister. It was a really quick movement, she would just charge at them and chase them. Poor little Owen (small red platy) had nipped fins and was stressed what I ended up doing was everytime I saw her charging at another fish, I'd take her out and let her sit in a little container for awhile until she calmed down. Now she's pretty peaceful, but all the other fish move away when she comes near them. So I guess it's somewhat her personality I guess

But yeah, in general they're really cute and sociable fish who live to eat, haha.

That's good that she calmed down! That doesn't sound very pleasant! I'll keep that in mind and try separating them :3
Thanks!

Replying to your pm

I've got 8 Mickey Mouse platys in my tank with 20 Molly's and I've recently just just passed on my 4 male wild type Guppys to my neighbour and I've never had a issue between any of my fish besides when it comes to feeding time with my older bigger Molly females having a fight ( tail slapping ) with each other and and that's all I've seen them do

weirdly my guppy boys trying their luck with only one of my Molly females but they would get shrugged off

I've got a orange sail fin male that's turned quite heavy handed quite Latley and he tends to peck and fight with all the male Molly's in my tank and quite bravely peck my gourami who is double his size and she just swims off without retaliating which suprises me.

I think the " fighting / chasing " maybe be to do with a role to say who is the "queen bee " of the females but I've not had any chasing fighting with my platys. To me I would describe my platys liked stonned hippys that are to relaxed for their own good but I'm not complaining as its nice and peaceful.

If you think it's getting our of hand I would get a v.large plastic food container and drill a few holes in it make sure it floats properly and put it in there for time out for 10 mins see If that helps and on the plus side you could use it as a hospital tank or a fry trap obv depending on the size of your tank.

That in thought what is your tank size?? Because if its to small or crowded this could be a reason why.

I got my gourami off my neighbour as he's tank was to over crowded and it kept hitting the thermometer and filter and eating his fry since its been in my tank I've had no issues including eating fry that I know of.

I have a 10 gallon tank with 9 little fishies It definitely doesn't look over crowded haha
I haven't seen them show any signs of stress and they all eat like pigs

The two blue platies have stopped chasing my other fish, but now one of the blue platies is only chasing the other blue platy... and no other fish D: only her.
Maybe it's because she's the only one in there that looks like her? (since they're both blue) and they're relatively the same size... maybe she feels threatened? <.< not sure haha
But it kind of worries me because she'll ram her sides with her head Will she stop doing it eventually? and can she hurt my platy in anyway by doing what she's doing?
And I'll definitely try that food container idea! Thanks!

 

[slimeneo]

10 gal with 9 platys and guppies? That's overcrowded >.< The general rule is 1" of fish per 1 gal. Platys can grow up to 2.5".

 

[snazy]

10 gal with 9 platys and guppies? That's overcrowded >.< The general rule is 1" of fish per 1 gal. Platys can grow up to 2.5".

I think with a good filtration they'll be just fine. Platies are not the most active fish in general and I think they like their own crowded company. All they do anyway is look for food all day

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Interesting to read. I'm new to platies, I only have a baby (begged the store to sell her to me so I could insure I didn't buy one that was pregnant). Love my little platy... my guppies adore her and often follow along behind her.

SOOOOO noticed her piggishness! She seems to poop constantly and manage to find food while my neons and guppies are coming up to the glass begging every time I walk by!

 

[Proud Pastry]

10 gal with 9 platys and guppies? That's overcrowded >.< The general rule is 1" of fish per 1 gal. Platys can grow up to 2.5".

Oh no no no, I only have 4 Platies and 5 guppies haha not 9 of each o.o that's wayyy too much lol