Male Platy Problem

[Newby65]

Hey Folks,
 
brand new to the forum and pretty new to fishkeeping, though i seem to have been rather bitten by the bug.
 
We recently (10 weeks) bought a 19 litre Tank for my youngest son, as much to head off demands for a dog! and now i wonder if a dog might not have taken less time and effort! Based on advice from the store, which I understand is not always bang on the money from reading forums, we stocked it with 3 Platys after 5 days and then 2 shrimps a week later. one of the platys died in less than a day and so a few weeks later, having learned about cycling and got the tank water quality settled we added two platys and two shrimps. again the smallest of these platys died soon after joining the tank possibly due to attention from an agressive male. I found, after learning how to sex them, that I ended up with two males and a female. which was not working for the female at all as she was constantly chased.
 
So I decided to purhase another tank  in order to seperate them and somehow ended up with ainterpret fishbox  48L (12 gallon US I believe) heater etc.. originally with view to have a male and two females in each, somehow, with the assistance of my son and the shop, still not 100% sure how it happened, I eneded up with 3 female platys and six White cloud minnows, with platys going to 48l tanks and the WCM in the 19 litre.
 
All water qualities are fine with exception of a low ph so need to address that one and the tanks are  populated
 
19l 2 shrimp (nt that i ever see them very often) and 6 WCM room temp
48L 6 Platy set to 24 degrees
 
BUT Platy males, who were finetogether  when i seperated the female and left them alone in the 19l tank have been a total nightmare chasing and fighting both each other and the 4 females (who it has to be said potter along nicely themselves when not being chased) I took the most agressive male out into a breeder box for a few hours to see how one male and 4 females worked, unfortunately daughter decided he looked unhappy and used a net to take him out the breeder box, in the process i think she mayhave injured him, fins are all ok but think a few scales maybe damaged swims around ok but is suddenly submissive in fight from being tank boss--still chases the girls though. not 100% sure but when he went back to general population the other male, who had been submissive to him up to now went bonkers attacking him hard at every opportunity and not just nips but full on fighting that neither retreats from. so have isolated him again while i think
 
So now I am at a loss, I am not keen to buy a third tank for this, at same time I do subscribe to the concept that once you take them on they are yours, fairly sure, as they have grown alot, the store would simply dispose of them if i took them back. I dont believe the 2 males and 4 females is tenable in a tank if i want my (I mean my sons cough cough) nice tank with fish flowing around in it in a peaceful fashion.
 
So seeking advice:
 
my options seem to be:
 
put one male back in the smaller tank with WCM but think that tank is borderline on load if not over already from what i read (after buying the fish of course)
put both males in the 19L condemned to a life of bachelorhood and stick the 6 WCMs in the 48L with heater (has live plants in it) turned off would 4 platys and 6 WCM overload it? not now they are little but when full grown
put 2 females and one male in each tank (bit of a cilla black moment) and so have 6wcms and 3 platys in 48l and 3 platys in 19l?
or buy yet another tank for one male
 
noting one male(the injured one) was always chasing females hard before and when in larger tank seeming to stress them so maybe naturally agressive when not hurt.
 
I had thought to make a tropical tank of the 48l but rather feel I have overdone it with platys and WCM so bit stuffed with that i suspect..
 
any ideas gratefully received dont want fish to die as a result of my actions nor do i wish to send them to certain doom as a result of my actions (wussy i know) so all advice gratefully received
 
thanks in advance

 

[nic1]

Hi,
I originally got my tank for my daughter.... Cough cough!!

Well I can see a problem straight away with your stock.... Platys are live bearing fish and will give birth every 3-4 weeks, you clearly don't have the space for anymore fish so I would separate the males from the females indefinitely unless you leave the fry to be eaten by their parents, give them away or if you purchase a bigger tank and use the smallest tank as a hospital tank or a shrimp tank. (If you're anything like me you wouldn't want anything bad happen to pets under your care and that means sacrificing to the parents or giving away baby fish)

In your circumstance I would keep the two males in the 19L with a totally new tank arrangement to disrupt the fighting, add loads of plants so they won't see each other that often and try and knock 7 shades out of each other, include loads of long fast growing plants like vallis and hiding places, they should be alright if they have places to go and chill out for a bit, or places to hide.

Put the 6 white clouds and other 4 platys in the 48 ltr but add no more, no matter how much the children ask!

I still would try and buy a bigger tank.... But that's just me!

Someone else may have other suggestions, but given what you said about subscribing to the fact that they are yours, this maybe a better option.

 

[Newby65]

Thanks for the swift reply. and Sound advice. think I just needed someone to tell me the WCM could go in the 48L tank as that was my preference. Daughter (who has gerbils but seems rather proprietary about little brothers fish) is rather keen to see babies, I am not so keen so the advice works doubly. think the male in me was keen to make sure they had a harem, but their caddish behaviour towards the ladies means they dont deserve it!
 
I also had a look at the WCM at lunch time and followed up with reading and seems the little tank is not right for them anyway, and they rather suffer in the flow from the filter getting knocked around so sure they will be happier (if i can only manage to catch them!)
 
thanks--and dont worry am already eyeing up bigger tanks so sure it will only be a matter of time

 

[Newby65]

Just a quick, possibly premature, update with thanks. made the move last night as suggested, was a bit concerned with stress on the fish, WCM were really in a sorry state in the smaller tank, being blown around by the filter and looking to all the world like they were half dead (so if anyone ever says small tank = small fish = WCMs i now know this is not the way to go), the Male platys had been netted too often over the previous days, so was not hopeful. After the move the males showed signs of stress (one particularly showed all the signs of a fish on the way out) and the WCMs were slow to adapt to the new tank  ...BUT this morning happy to report a world of calm and tranquility, a nice school of WCM swimming normally around, the female platys unconcerned by the addition to the tank and the males bobbing around together back in their old home seemingly calmed by the lack of female company and feeding well. Water qualities are all bang on the money and even saw the shrimp, who may have been a little surprised by the feng shui move around of thier environment!
 
So hopefully...all is well thanks nic1 for the advice so far worked like a dream
 
now will just leave well alone for a few weeks

 

[nic1]

Aw that's good news! I love the WCMs ability to bounce back, they are quite understated sometimes being so small.
I kept male only guppys once (they are a lot like platys fighting for female attention and being the big boss in the tank) and the only time they fought was when I introduced females, I had to separate them in the end.

Glad everything turned out ok in the end