Mating ritual or pure aggression?

[AngelMax]

Please can someone tell me the answer to this.

I have 6 adult Platy's (2 female & 4 male....I know the ratio is probably wrong!) they have all got along really well and seem to be very healthy. But in the last few hours 2 of the males (same colouring) have been doing this frantic chasing game, butting eachother etc, they are both swimming around with full finnage... almost like peacocks showing off. In fact they are barging one another so hard at times it seems to knock the stuffin out of them, they swim funny then charge again. I have removed one of them and put him in the fry net on his own....for a bit of time out.
Now we have seperated these two the other 2 males have started doing the same thing!!!!!!!!

Is this a mating ritual or pure aggression???

Oh by the way, we have these for 10 weeks or so and have had 3 fry batches!!!!!! soon to be over run....

Help...what to do next. We have become attached to these little fellas and I am not sure we can get rid....

Sorry abot the essay... )

Answer ASAP if you can as they seem to be getting worse

 

[Annastasia]

I'd say it's aggression. Fighting over the females, as there aren't females for all of them, much less 2-3 per male. Is there anyway you can seperate the males for now, and just leave one in the tank with the females?

If you can't, I'd make sure there are rocks, plants, caves..etc. Places for them to hide, and stake out their own territory. A longer term solution would be either get more females, or perhaps seperate males and females. But that can really depend on the temperment of the males, because they could just keep doing that even though there are no females.

If it's not aggression (I'd be surprised) what are your water stats, and any other symptoms?

Also, make sure they are getting enough food.

 

[AngelMax]

Naughty boys I have!!!!
They have loads of plants, a castle and a huge pice of bog wood to retreat to. It's weird as they have never been like this before. Knowing our luck, the fry will all be males too..
Hmmmm.... thinking about what you said about food, I'm wondering if its coz we limit the food ; we only feed them once a day. We have just fed them and they have stopped...for now anyway.
Water stats are spot on...no problems, in fact they are at their best today.

Thanks for your reply Annastasia.....

 

[Annastasia]

That's strange, seeing how it just started. Perhaps all the girlies are pregnant, and then they got frustrated, and started beating up on each other. Or maybe they are getting more aggressive as they get older, that can sometimes happen.

Since they stopped after you gave them food, I'm thinking that may be part of the problem. Sometimes my Males with get aggressive if I forget to feed them in the morning, so by the evening they are mad with each other. Then once they are fed *Poof* back to being nice. You may want to try feeding smaller portions, twice a day.

 

[AngelMax]

Cheers hun...think I will go tp doing 2 feeds.

Speak again...x

 

[Annastasia]

Okies, sounds good.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[AngelMax]

Poor lil thing....just let him outta the fry net and now he's hiding at the back of the tank....unlike him; always the smallest but always the bravest. Hope he will be okay. I figure he has a bruised ego and is a bit stressed. Hope he will be ok after this ordeal.

 

[Annastasia]

He should be. Unless one of the other fish he was fighting with hurt him...

But I think he'll be fine. Just give him a few days to get over the stress.