ssfwong

I have a 20 gallon tank.
Two male neon mickey mouse platy
One silver male platy
One female red wagtail platy
One calico female platy
One Male and Female swordtails
and finally one neon tetra.
I was reading your forum about agressive male platies and how we should put the agressive platy in a breeding net for time out. I have one mickey mouse male platy that fights with the other mickey mouse male platy. The victum started to wedge itself between my aquarium glasss and live plants. I was worried every moning because it looked dead. It was playing dead to avoid the mean platy. I time out the mean platy for one hour. During the hour all the female fish hung out with the timeout male. The other male fish swam freely and ignored the timed out platy. As soon as I allowed the male platy back in the main tank there was a sundden need for all of my fish to fight for domination. This was quite interesting to watch. All my fish became agressive. I checked back the next day and the silver male platy became the dominate fish. The new dominant fish swims around to make sure no one is being mean to other fish. Is this normal?

TFA101

domination among platy and other xiphophorus members is relatively common from what I've experienced. These fish have loads of personality just waiting to be unleashed. To avoid this, or lessen the chance, follow the "1 male/2-3 female" ratio for success.

Your neon will need buddies, and a school of 5 is the bare minimum they should be kept. These fish are very social and not exactly the "centerpiece" kind. They will pine away without the company of others of the same species.

COBettaCouple

The platys do need to establish the 'pecking order' and TFA101 is right about needing 2 or 3 females for each male, but the tank can't support 5 more neons AND more female platys. If it's possible, I would return the swordtails and neon and get some female platys. You could have up to 10 platys in that tank.

ssfwong

thanks for your recommendation. Sounds like it is time for an upgarde.