Please Help!

[-FighterFishh]

In my 64L, my stocking currently stands at 2 fully grown platies, 9 male endlers and a lot of platy fry!
The endlers seem to be always showing off to each other. They sort of bend themselves and then flare their fins at each other, then swim away, though some times they do chase each other, too.
I've also noticed one endler seems to be chasing one of my fully grown platies. I'm assuming this is because he wants to mate with her, but if he does, then I have a lot more males than females in that tank, and I'm unsure what to do.
Any advice on the endlers or platies (or both!) would be much appreciated.
Thank you!

 

[KittyKat]

Do you have only male endlers? Basically, almost any common male livebearer will try to mate with almost any common female livebearer. So if you have 2 female platys and 9 male endlers, you do essentially have a ratio of 2 female to 9 males, in terms of the stress males will put on the females.

I can't give you any recommendation except to be more careful with stocking.. this is one of the reasons why I prefer to not mix different livebearer species.

 

[amy1994]

So if you have 2 female platys and 9 male endlers, you do essentially have a ratio of 2 female to 9 males, in terms of the stress males will put on the females.

You should have atleast 2 females to every male, this puts less stress on the females as it evens out. You could either swap the 2 female platies for males, which means there won't be any aggression as there are no females to fight over. Unfortunatly you are going to have to change something, otherwise the 2 platies will die from too much stress, also your tank will get overcrowded from so many fry. I would know, i've got loads of fry at the moment, they can get out of control.

 

[KittyKat]

[...] also your tank will get overcrowded from so many fry.

Endlers and platys are very unlikely to cross breed, so fry are not an issue here..

 

[-FighterFishh]

Do you have only male endlers? Basically, almost any common male livebearer will try to mate with almost any common female livebearer. So if you have 2 female platys and 9 male endlers, you do essentially have a ratio of 2 female to 9 males, in terms of the stress males will put on the females.

I can't give you any recommendation except to be more careful with stocking.. this is one of the reasons why I prefer to not mix different livebearer species.

So if you have 2 female platys and 9 male endlers, you do essentially have a ratio of 2 female to 9 males, in terms of the stress males will put on the females.

You should have atleast 2 females to every male, this puts less stress on the females as it evens out. You could either swap the 2 female platies for males, which means there won't be any aggression as there are no females to fight over. Unfortunatly you are going to have to change something, otherwise the 2 platies will die from too much stress, also your tank will get overcrowded from so many fry. I would know, i've got loads of fry at the moment, they can get out of control.

Thank you both!
I was aware of the male to female ratio, but I didn't think that it would apply to different species.
I think to solve this I'll have to move the stockings around a bit to be something like..
30L:
9 endlers

64L:
2 mollies
3 swords
5 platies
1 guppy
? platy fry

I'll keep a close eye on the 64L ammonia levels, but apart from that, those stockings should be able to work, shouldn't they?

 

[KittyKat]

I think to solve this I'll have to move the stockings around a bit to be something like..
30L:
9 endlers

64L:
2 mollies
3 swords
5 platies
1 guppy
? platy fry

I'll keep a close eye on the 64L ammonia levels, but apart from that, those stockings should be able to work, shouldn't they?

That would work, although I do personally think that most mollies and swordtails need at least a 3ft tank. If the guppy is male, he can go with the endlers.

 

[-FighterFishh]

I think to solve this I'll have to move the stockings around a bit to be something like..
30L:
9 endlers

64L:
2 mollies
3 swords
5 platies
1 guppy
? platy fry

I'll keep a close eye on the 64L ammonia levels, but apart from that, those stockings should be able to work, shouldn't they?

That would work, although I do personally think that most mollies and swordtails need at least a 3ft tank. If the guppy is male, he can go with the endlers.

The mollies and sword tails seem happy in the 30L, but I'd still like to give them more space.
Also, I think that I could put a male fighter in the biorb with the endlers, so I wouldn't want the guppy in there in case that causes any casualties.

 

[-FighterFishh]

Ah brilliant. Now the guppy has rips in his tail and a whole chunk bitten out
I'll move them ASAP (probably tomorrow) and hopefully the extra room and new girls will mean he's able to get away.