Platy's - Bullying Advice Given

[justjon]

OK, so I went into my LFS to ask if they would take back a rather mean Platy in my tank, to which they couldn't.

They did explain that the problem may be because I have only 3 males in the tank, and suggested adding 2 females and this should stop the bullying going on.

What do others think here? I'm ofcourse stuck with a male bully platy if this doesn't work.

 

[fluffycabbage]

OK, so I went into my LFS to ask if they would take back a rather mean Platy in my tank, to which they couldn't.

They did explain that the problem may be because I have only 3 males in the tank, and suggested adding 2 females and this should stop the bullying going on.

What do others think here? I'm ofcourse stuck with a male bully platy if this doesn't work.

well apparently you're supposed to have 1 male to every 3 females (i think, may be 2, someone will confirm that in a min im sure) - i think it would be a good idea to get some females! see how it goes.

 

[Nick16]

if you add females you are just going to have millions of babies which you then cannot get rid off unless you sell them for live food.

do what i did and get all females and then you get no breeding and no aggression!

 

[justjon]

Ah, well - the problem is i'm looking to stock my tank with other types of fish... so it'll limit me if i were to add 9 platy's! Infact, that'd probably be full stock?

I only want 1 more hatchet, maybe 1-2 glowlights and 2-3 Apistos or 2 Blue Rams...

if you add females you are just going to have millions of babies which you then cannot get rid off unless you sell them for live food.

do what i did and get all females and then you get no breeding and no aggression!

Would they definately breed in my tank? with my current stock?

That's ashame, I certainly don't want to get rid of my male platy's...

 

[Nick16]

yes they will breed and apart from your gourami's, no other fish will show an interest. depending on your tank layout and size of gourami's, most of the babies will probably survie as they normally have about 50, and can do this once a month.

 

[justjon]

yes they will breed and apart from your gourami's, no other fish will show an interest. depending on your tank layout and size of gourami's, most of the babies will probably survie as they normally have about 50, and can do this once a month.

I guess i'll have to give the bullying male to someone I don't know, no one I know has a spare tank

 

[kizno1]

I wouldnt think 3 males would be that much of a problem. How long have you had them? they might just be sorting out a hierarchy. They problem with changing the males to females is its likely the females are already pregnant so you could get babies from them every 4-6 weeks for the next 6 months.

 

[justjon]

Yeah, that's why I got all males.. no one told me at the LFS they could be aggressive to eachother!

I had the two involved (bully and bullied) together for ages, NO problems.. then I added another male and he turned on him... result is now a very frightful male platy...

I've had the problem well over a month, was hoping it'd sort itself out.

 

[kizno1]

Yeah, that's why I got all males.. no one told me at the LFS they could be aggressive to eachother!

I had the two involved (bully and bullied) together for ages, NO problems.. then I added another male and he turned on him... result is now a very frightful male platy...

I've had the problem well over a month, was hoping it'd sort itself out.

You could try adding another 2 males and see if that spreads the aggression out rather than one picking on just 1 it will be over 4 so its shouldnt be as bad.

 

[fluffycabbage]

if you add females you are just going to have millions of babies which you then cannot get rid off unless you sell them for live food.

you could also just give the fry nowhere to hide, and that way you wont ever get a population growth where do you live?

 

[justjon]

I'm in Jersey, Channel Islands... i'm really stuck at what to do

 

[Twinklecaz]

Hi, was it you I spoke to the other day?

As seems to be common, what your LFS said is crap. As you said you'd actually have to 6-9 females which is just stupid. I have 3 male Platys together with no females and they are fine, they chase each other but it's all "even" and they hang around together all the time so all is fine. The trouble with Platys is you'll always get individual personalities. I had a bully one initially and I did have to take him back coz he really was quite violent to one of the others. I replaced him with another male and all is fine now.

Do you have another LFS near you? Coz that really is quite bad they won't take him back. See if you can take him to another one then either leave it at 2 or try your luck with another one.

 

[fluffycabbage]

blimey that really is a terrible shop have they been together a long time, and added together?

like twinkle said, fish all have personalities, some nice, others not so

 

[Twinklecaz]

I did feel bad for bad for my little bully though. I went back to the LFS a few weeks ago and actually managed to pick him out from all the other mickey platys.........he's still there

[edit] Oh my god I just had an idea!

 

[fluffycabbage]

awwww