Question About A Bully

[freshy]

Hi,
I have a situation with my two male platys. Let me start by saying taht although I was aware of the male-female ratio, ended up with two males and just one female by mistake. The thing is, my female platy died several weeks ago, and ever since, my yellow platy has been acting aggressive towards the orange platy. I thought this behaviour would go away by itself, but I think it has gotten worse. He chases him almost constantly, pecking and nibbling; and orange platy has a torns tail fin and is running out of hiding places. Although there are a few plants (natural and artificial) and some rocks that can provide shelter, yellow platy seems to go after him even when he's hiding under a rock.

I had been offered some advice before, but I can't relocate him and I really can't afford a second tank to put him in (neither enough money, nor space). Plus I've had these fish for over a year now and I've grown attached to them; call me sentimental but I can't bring myself to get rid of any of them. I also have thought of getting a couple of girl platys to get Yellow off Orange's back, but as you can see, my tank is not that big and I wouldn't want to overpopulate it.

Tonight I placed Mr. Bully in my floating plastic maternity box, hoping some "time out" might help mitigate the attacks. I have read on these boards that this has worked for some of the posters here. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

My question is: how long should I keep Mr. BUlly in the box? I do want him to behave but I don't want to overdo the punishment either. Would a couple of days do? or is it too long? (or short?)

If any of you guys have some advice I certainly will appreciate it. Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[nmonks]

Well, that's the problem you see... the right advice isn't always what you want to hear. It sounds as if you already know the answer: these platies need to be kept in a groups, with females outnumbering males. If you try to do things cheaply or for sentimental reasons, that's fine, but appreciate that sometimes the result is stressed or unhealthy fish. Really, keeping fish properly depends on a scientific approach.

Anyway, you have 3 options:

- Remove one of the males
- Add 3-4 females
- Buy a bigger tank with more hiding spaces

Cheers,

Neale

I had been offered some advice before, but I can't relocate him and I really can't afford a second tank to put him in (neither enough money, nor space). Plus I've had these fish for over a year now and I've grown attached to them; call me sentimental but I can't bring myself to get rid of any of them. I also have thought of getting a couple of girl platys to get Yellow off Orange's back, but as you can see, my tank is not that big and I wouldn't want to overpopulate it.

 

[Annastasia]

with males outnumbering females.

I'm going to jump in and say Neale probably ment females outnumbering males, just so people don't get confused.

The best options you really have are getting rid of one or getting a bigger tank. I think females in a 10 gallon with all those other fish might stress them out a bit. You can usually keep all males (Platy and Guppy wise) if you have at least 5. This spreads out the aggression so not just one is being picked on. I would say it would be best, since you want to keep them both, to get a bigger tank. A 20 gallon would do. Then you could have your group of males, and you could plant it and decorate it all up. And you'd also have room for other fish.

Edit: In regards to the box...I wouldn't keep him in there any longer then 3 days. After that, they will start getting very stressed, especially since he's in a trap not a net.

 

[nmonks]

Oops!

Made the change!

Cheers,

Neale

I'm going to jump in and say Neale probably ment females outnumbering males, just so people don't get confused.

 

[Ddraig Goch]

While your bully male is in the trap is it possible for you to re-arrange the tank a little? Hopefully he won't feel quite so much the 'boss' of the tank if he doesn't know his way around so well, this will also give the orange one some new places to hide and may make him feel more at home.

Also, you could try to add another male platy, (since your female died I'm assuming you have enough space for this), this is not the ideal situation, but if you really want to keep the fish you have and can't change the tank you don't have many other options. If you decide to do this I'd introduce the new male the same day you release the bully, (or soon after), so he has many new things to deal with all at once.

Good luck, let us know how it works out.