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My female platy is chasing the males???

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PickleWolf307

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So we have a community tank and we had some tetras, a couple gouramis, a pleco, and one female platy. We put 2 male platys and a young angelfish in recently and our female platy has been chasing the males. Does anyone know why she would be doing this? I know the ratio about 2-3 female platys per male, we had some other females but they didn’t make it. I’ve heard about the male platys chasing the females but never the female chasing the male, so I was a little surprised when she did it. I am new here so I don’t really know anyone, but would love some input!
Thanks!
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

She is dominating the new fish because they are intruders into her territory. With any luck she will remain in charge and keep the males in their place.

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In the wild, female livebearers hang out in large groups consisting of between 20 & 50 (but sometimes up to 100 or more) females. These groups have a pecking order with the biggest most dominant female ruling the group and she has a group of girlfriends who back her up. All the other females live in the group but are lower down the pecking order. It's a bit like high school with the popular girl and her girlfriends acting like queens and being in charge, while the other girls in the class are just there to make up numbers.

The groups of females move around rivers and waterways looking for food and places to hang out. As the groups move around a few males follow the group and try to breed with any females. The groups of males have a pecking order too and the biggest male will bully his smaller mates.

In the confines of an aquarium, the males will constantly harass the females and try to breed with them. This puts undue stress on the females and if there are too many males constantly pestering the females, the females can get sick and die. Fortunately your female is a bossy boots and this shouldn't happen with her there.

It is preferable to keep livebearers in single sex tanks (either male or female but not both sexes together). If you want a group of males and females then have 1 male and at least 6 females (preferably 10 or more females per male).

Female livebearers can carry up to 6 sperm packets from breeding with males and they use 1 sperm packet to fertilise each batch of eggs. The gestation period (from the time she fertilises the eggs to when she gives birth to free swimming babies) is about 1 month. After which she will fertilise another batch of eggs using another sperm packet. This allows female livebearers to produce young about once a month for up to 6 months without any males being present.

If you want to breed livebearers for specific colours, then have a tank with females and let them give birth and use up all the sperm packets they are carrying in their body. Give them a few months without being pregnant and then add a male to the tank for a week before moving him out, or move the female/s into a tank with a male for a week and let them breed. Then move the females back into their own tank.

The above information applies to most livebearers but female swordtails can turn into males if there is no male present for a long time. If you have a group of female swordtails and they use up all their sperm packets, and there is no male around, the dominant female will turn into a male and start breeding with the other females.
 
Hello! Actually saw this reply a few weeks ago just hadn’t gotten around to answering it. The male platys haven’t chased her at all so that’s good, but she has been acting really strangely lately. She has been staying by the heater at the top of the tank and sometimes whooshing around the tank rubbing her belly on the plants and driftwood in the tank. She seems quite stressed and hasn’t been eating very much, and I have noticed her belly has increased in size a little. She also has a small red spot near the front of her belly. Any insight on this?
Thanks!
 
Hello! Actually saw this reply a few weeks ago just hadn’t gotten around to answering it. The male platys haven’t chased her at all so that’s good, but she has been acting really strangely lately. She has been staying by the heater at the top of the tank and sometimes whooshing around the tank rubbing her belly on the plants and driftwood in the tank. She seems quite stressed and hasn’t been eating very much, and I have noticed her belly has increased in size a little. She also has a small red spot near the front of her belly. Any insight on this?
Thanks!
Hmm, Colin will def have a better answer for this but your fish could have several different things wrong.

My guesses:
-Worms
-Gill flukes
-Stress
-Pregnant
-Old age
-Too much food

Not saying that is what is wrong, but those are my guesses!
 
not saying anything without seeing pictures and video of the fish.
 

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