Thanks Everyone

[Mollydolly]

I wanted to let you know that my mollys i brought were ill that is why they were attacking one another and also one developed swim bladder problem last night, today i phoned the lfs and asked advice. They told me i could take them bith back which i did and change them, as i dont trust there other mollys not to be desease free atm i opted for some mickey mouse platys, have done an 80% water change before adding them made sure the temp and levels were grand before i put them in. Amazingly the two new fish are totally different in behaviour to the other two id brought. These two are swimming around and exploring and seem very settled already.

So i do have a question, ive just looked and noticed i have one male and one female. Are platys fine in just a single pair ir do i need another female so this one does get stressed from the male please if so in a fairly new set up how many females would you safeky add would another 1 be good for now or would people wait to do that please.

 

[daizeUK]

One female might get stressed as she will be constantly hassled by the male but you also need to think about how many fry you can handle.  Platies can produce a LOT of fry very quickly and you need to have somewhere for them to go.  Two females means double the fry.
 
As for adding more fish that depends on how big the tank is and how well it was cycled.   There's no immediate need to add more unless you see the female being actively harassed anyway.  If she is already pregnant then he may not be interested for a while.

 

[SamB]

My family did away with our platys after we ended up with over 40 fry which we were able to raise to adulthood and sell (50 cents a fish.. lol). Just a warning.. they are population boomers!

 

[Mollydolly]

Thankyou for the replies, i wil stick to the one of each for now the shop said they were both females but its not the case, ive got some nice caves and hiding places and adding some more grassy type plants for if i do have fry. Wasnt planning on any yet, but ill keep my eye out for harrassment maybe when i add more fish later along it wont be a big issue. I only have these two atm in my 100l tank and no rush for more

 

[Arcticfox1977]

I originally asked for 3 female platies. Only found out about 4 weeks ago I had 2 female and 1 male. I have had 3 fry who are juveniles now.
If anyone knows how to catch plagues quickly and stress free let me know.

 

[daizeUK]

I originally bought 1 male and 3 females.  A couple of weeks later it turned out that one of the 'females' was an immature male.  It seems to be quite common for them to reach sexual maturity after being introduced to a new aquarium.
 
"If anyone knows how to catch plagues quickly and stress free let me know."  Hehe gotta love autocorrect!
I find the juveniles are very easy to catch as they're far too trusting, the adults are wiser.