eagerinsight

I have 5 platies, 2 male 3 female. I've had them for over 2 months and everything was normal. Over the past week one of my males has been terrorizing the other male. The victim fish now hides up in the corner of my tank all day and night, as soon as he leaves that spot the other male bolts over and chasing him till he returns. I have a second tank, but I am waiting for it to cycle.

I have a breeder net and I put the victim fish there. Is this ok, did I isolate the right fish? Would it be better to isolate the aggressor?

finmama

I would isolate the aggressor, like a "time out". Or you could make them take turns in the net until the other tank is ready so they both still get time to swim, if their not too hard to catch.

Arizonagrace

I would isolate the agressor, and before releasing him back in the tank, move some of the plants and deco around so it appears to be a 'new' tank to him.

Here_fishy_fishy

i agree i had problems like that i put the agressor in a "time out" lol while my other fish could eat after doing so for awhile when i would catch him being a bully then came his time out .. he kinda learned his lesson but then he became mean again! so i finally got rid of the fish he was being a bully to

finmama

You may want to get a couple more females, maybe they are fighting over them. I have 2 males and 4 females and the males still bug each other occansionally.

COBettaCouple

I would recommend moving 1 male to the 2nd tank and add 3 females to his tank (or 3 males). 4 platies pretty much fills up the 10g tank and part of the problem could be they're getting crowded as they get bigger.

For now, you can try isolating the bully and rearranging the tank, then reacclimated him as suggested. It could help but is about 50/50 with the 5 platies in the 10g tank.