Platy Behaviour

[Alexis]

Hey everyone! I just signed up to these forums, but I've read them quite a bit, and gained a lot of information from them regarding my fish!

Anyway, I have a question about one of the platies my fiance and I own. FYI, we have a 13 gallon tank. It currently holds (we have no intention of getting any other fish) 3 platies: two male and one female; a swordtail; a guppy; 2 plecos and 2 cories.

In the past couple of days, one of our platies seems to be acting a little strange. After he's eaten dinner, he and the other male platy we have seem to... I dunno... stick really close together and move around in a tight circle. We kinda thought they could be fighting or something? Anyway, after they've done that for a bit, the platy in question (Aragorn), kinda just goes off and... sulks. His fins all get flattened against his body, and it looks like he's hiding from the others. The platy we think he "fights" with (Legolas), comes up to him and when he does that, and Aragorn swims away ASAP as if he's lost the fight and is retreating in shame.

My fiance and I thought they might be "fighting" over the other platy who is female (I know you're meant to have more males than females, but we only realised she was female after we got her ), but I've seen them do this before we got her. And they always seem to do it after they've eaten. At the moment, Aragorn is kinda just sitting down the bottom of the tank, moving his fins and tail a little, but it does look like he's hiding.

Is this something to be concerned about? Are we just worrying over nothing? We tested the water last night, and all is good. He doesn't appear to have any disease, and all the other fish seem perfectly fine.

Thanks to anyone who can help or give input!

 

[mrplaty]

im not 100% sure but it could be what you said about fighting over the female. I have also had guppies in a tank without any females and they have given each other a hard time because of a lack of female attention!!!

 

[confusion]

yes, they are fighting over the female. There should be 2 or 3 females for every male. Also, keep in mind that your male swordtail is going to compete for her too, so it's really not a good situation. The easiest way to remedy the situation would be to get rid of the female (take it back to a store, give it to a friend, start your very own MTS condition, etc)

 

[Nickelback]

yes, they are fighting over the female. There should be 2 or 3 females for every male. Also, keep in mind that your male swordtail is going to compete for her too, so it's really not a good situation. The easiest way to remedy the situation would be to get rid of the female (take it back to a store, give it to a friend, start your very own MTS condition, etc)

HI ALEXIS YOUR CLOSE TO ME IN SYDNEY IM FROM LEMON TREE PASSAGE NEAR NEWCASTLE BY THE WAY ADORE YOUR FISHES NAMES LOVED THE LORD OF THE RINGS MOVIES ANYHOW THAT IS SO IRONIC IM HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM AS YOU AT THE MOMENT I HAVE FIVE PLATIES 4 MALE AND ONE FEMALE NEVER GOT TOLD AT THE PET STORE THAT I SHOULD HAVE MORE FEMALES THAN MALES AND I FIND IT QUITE FUNNY TO READ THIS AS JUST TONIGHT MY RED PLATY A MALE WAS GETTING CHASED AND HARRASSED BY ANOTHER MALE AND THEY WERE SPINNING AROUND SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU SAID LOOKS LIKE I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM AS YOU AND I THINK FOR SURE THE OTHER COMMENT ON THIS TOPIC IS SPOT ON AS THE TWO MALES TONIGHT WERE EVEN ATTACKING ONE ANOTHER REALLY BADLY THE RED ONE WAS ACTING REAL STRANGE AND HIDING AND THE YELLOW ONE WAS REALLY BULLYING HIM THE POOR RED ONE WAS BENDING HIS BODY ALL FUNNY AND ACTING SO STRANGE WELL I NOTICE THE OTHER PERSON THAT REPLIED ON THIS TOPIC SAID TO TAKE THE FISH BACK(THE FEMALE)BUT IT'S HARD IF YOU HAVE NAMED THEM AND ARE ATTACHED TO THEM LIKE I AM WITH MY FISH WELL IM LUCKY I CAN GET MORE PLATIES AS IM TRANSFERRING THEM INTO ANOTHER TANK SOON.HOPE YOU GET TO KEEP YOUR PLATY WELL WISH YOU ALL THE BEST OF LUCK ENJOY YOURSELF AND HAVE FUN

 

[Alexis]

Hey thanks to everyone who had a say!

But the thing I don't get is why they were "fighting" before the female came along? Or were they fighting over something else? We've only had the female (Arwen) since Thursday.

Bonnie The Best Whippet: Hello! Nice to meet another Ozzie!

We're currently not too sure what to do. We're thinking of getting another female... we really don't want to get rid of Arwen!

 

[Morquinn]

Not to get off your platy question or anything, but im hoping you could find homes for your plecos when they get a little bigger, because they cant stay in a 13 gallon tank their whole life. Your cories will do the cleaning... when your plecos get bigger, they actually make excessive waste, and grow extremely large. Just an FYI

 

[Alexis]

Not to get off your platy question or anything, but im hoping you could find homes for your plecos when they get a little bigger, because they cant stay in a 13 gallon tank their whole life. Your cories will do the cleaning... when your plecos get bigger, they actually make excessive waste, and grow extremely large. Just an FYI

Actually, the type of pleco we have doesn't get that large. We're aware that there are lots of huge plecos out there, but the ones we have don't get very big. Like... a couple of inches.

Oh, and I should probably add that we're HOPING to get a larger tank in the future. The one we have now is not going to be forever.

 

[Morquinn]

Oh cool, what type of pleco did you get? I'd really like to get a bristlenose or something, but they dont sell them around here too often, I would have to order one.

 

[Alexis]

Oh cool, what type of pleco did you get? I'd really like to get a bristlenose or something, but they dont sell them around here too often, I would have to order one.

Umm... I think they're bristlenose... I THINK. My fiance knows the most about plecos. LOL.

Anyway, to update, we're thinking of getting another tank. He was going to buy me one for my birthday which is coming up, but we figured we'd do it sooner now, for the sake of the current fish. I'm excited and worried at the same time. I don't like my fish fighting!