Fishy Lovin

[Liquidshokk]

Oh my lord, I didnt expect to see that after a long day in the office....

As some of you may have read I bought my first fish at the weekend (4 platys) and they have always seemed a bit exciteable, chasing each other now and then...

But tonight its all got a bit frisky under the water! Me and my flatmate have just been sat in fascination as we witness what can only be descibed as the fish making 'fish love' (in case any kids are reading!)

Stupid question but hear me out, does this mean we will soon be Overrun with lots of platy juniors in the near future??? (Yes i know that making love=babies

Is there any way of knowing how many males and females we have?? The one sticking his doodah around the place we can safely say we know about but are there any other 'tail' tell signs?

We have kinda worked out that two are chasing one of them so think they may be males and it appears that they are darker than the one they are chasing....is the darker colouring a sign of manliness? if so it doesnt really explain why they are not chasing the other lighter coloured one we have?!?!?...........I guess she's just a minger....

Any help on this fishy issue would be greatly appreciated!


L

 

[Htw]

Have a look at the one sticking his doodah around. [gonopodium] If any of the other fish have one of those, they are male. The females have a rounded fin in it's place.

 

[Liquidshokk]

Have a look at the one sticking his doodah around. [gonopodium] If any of the other fish have one of those, they are male. The females have a rounded fin in it's place.

Aaah ok, that would kind of make sense wouldnt it lol

in that case we have 3 males and a female (lucky cow)

She's not going to get any sleep for a while!

 

[Htw]

OOh dear! She won't survive very long with all those males pestering her. The boys may also start to bicker, fighting over her. It may be best to either take some of the males back to the shop and replace them with females, or get some more females [at least 2 to every male] for the males you have, or just have males in the tank.

 

[nukeonekitty]

Not to be mean, but be easy on the post button so you don't triple post again.

 

[Liquidshokk]

Not to be mean, but be easy on the post button so you don't triple post again.

Yeah soz, noticed that, browser was playing up so didnt realise it had posted! Ill consider myself told!

HTW - Thanks for the reply, We will be adding a couple more tropical fish next weekend but they wont be platys, should that sort out the male/female issue even though they are different types??

 

[Htw]

No not really I'm afraid. There are colour variations in the platys. The males won't be fussy as long as it's a girl platy. That would bring different colours into your tank if you want to add more fish. Think your best bet though is to replace 2 of your males with females, then problem solved. The shop you bought them from should be happy to do this. Surprised they gave you the combination they did though, in the first place.