Too Many Male Platys?

[Matt86]

Ok i have started a new aquarium up a week ago and today i decided to buy some fish, know i have done my research and have had some experience in the past. Today when i went to the pet store i bough 4 Platys and i told the fish guy that i wanted 1 male and 3 females i know the difference between male and female platys the male has the gonopodium. So i told him what i wanted and he acted like he knew the difference and turns out when i got home he didn't because i got 3 Males and 1 female Platy.. so my question is could this be a problem? Would the males harrass her to death? since it's a new tank i don't want to add to many fish at once and it's a 29 gallon tank. My pH is at 7.6 kinda high. What should i do go back very soon to get some females or is it not that big deal and wait a week till i go back i was going to get some Neons to add next week but please tell me if i am making a mistake i want to learn and become an expert one day.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I could potentially be a problem if they are old enough to breed, which I am going to assume that they are. Livebearers have an extremely high sex drive and with three males, they will badger the female in hopes of getting lucky. They could potentially really stress her out to the point of becoming ill, or dying. I would take a couple of the males back, and when you exchange them, choose the fish yourself so you know for a fact you are getting what you want. Or, inspect the fish carefully before you take them home. I have a petstore bag a bolivian ram for me rather than a german blue ram. it happens. I really do advise you correct the male to female ratio though. Nothing could happen, or, most likely, she will be very stressed and high strung.

 

[Matt86]

Thank you i will take that into consideration i most likley will take a few back and correct the ratio but could i instead of taking them back buy 3-4 females? or do you think that would be too much too soon i need not to be over anxious but if you think i shoudn't do that then i will deffently take 3 of those guys and exchange them and choose the females thanks again

 

[Dieses Madchen]

How big is the tank?

 

[Matt86]

How big is the tank?

29 Gal

 

[Lettybetty]

I would take 2 back for 2 females
when I buy fish I always pick my own so you can make sure they are healthy
my 11yr old daughter now knows how to sex them she likes picking tham out last week we got 2 platies she picked them as I got home we had 8 fry in the bag lol she said I know they was going to have fry mum thats why I picked them lol te other one had 22 fry 2 days later my fry tank is full as got 30+ guppies born thursday so now on daily water changes

hope you get them exchanged or you will need to get 5 females which is alot if you are wanting different fish as well

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Like said above, if you are wanting other fish in the tank, other than platys, 8 platys is a lot. 5 females to 3 males is still a little less than I would do, but it would spread out the badgering.

 

[Matt86]

Thank you for your responses

 

[Akasha72]

I'd also take the males back. Tell the staff they made a mistake and you asked for females. Whoever served you needs to be taught the difference between male and female. He/she will carry on making the same mistake over and over unless someone corrects them.

Good luck

 

[Matt86]

Thank you all for your responses it helped this is what happened i hope you don't all think i am fool but here we go i went back to Pets mart where i had got them in the first place the guy that had helped me there before was there and i told him about my situation he apologized to me and i asked about being able swap out two of my male platy's for two females for 2 females and he would not let me because i lost my receipt i am a idiot i know but anyways he helped me out and knows he made a mistake and let me get two females for free so but here is where i kinda went stupid again i also bought two female guppy's 4 Neon tetra's so all together 2 platy's 2 guppy's 4 Neon's so that is a lot i am an idiot but i am happy to announce they are all doing well getting along so far i know i am at my limit about. In case your wondering how big the tank is it's a 29 gal tank. I am very pleased though with what i have in there.

 

[Akasha72]

sounds okay but all I will suggest it keeping a close eye on Ammonia readings and Nitrite aswell. Your filter may not cope with that many new additions at once.
You may find yourself doing a few daily water changes over the next few days/weeks until it catches up. So long as your happy to do that I'm sure the fish will be fine

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to our forum Matt86.
I see good advice from a number of members but one thing they may have missed was this statement in your first post "Ok i have started a new aquarium up a week ago and today i decided to buy some fish". If you truly just set up that tank a week ago, take back the excess males and get them to give you some kind of slip that you can go back and use later to get those females. In the extreme short term you need to cycle your tank and that is always easier to do when you have less fish. I have a link in my signature area to a topic of fish-in cycling.

 

[Matt86]

Thank you the filter i am using right now has been used before so does that help with cycling? and yes i am going to try to go by your advice i am going to go back to pets mart see if they let me i hope

 

[OldMan47]

It only helps if you got it from someone who was actively using it on a tank containing fish and you kept it wet until it started on your tank. Otherwise it is just hardware. What are your test results for ammonia and nitrites?