JennDFK

I have 4 platys in my tank. 3 males and one female. I was just reading a little about the 2 f to 1 m ratio that was suggested in the general description section about platys. Is there any reason why you can't have all males or all females? The female seems to be expection right now... and that's cool and all... but I don't want to have a bunch of fish that I don't know what to do with every month. I know that the ratio had to do with aggression... wouldn't the aggression stop if the tank mates were all one sex?

Thanks in advance,
Jenn

dakotajim

If you do not want to have fry, then get all male or all female. with 3 males and 1 female, it may cause the males to become very agresive with each other. Males will get along fine with enough females or if no females are in the tank to fight over. Kinda like human males.

Nick G

With 3 males and 1 female, the males will more than likely chase the female to death, trying to mate with her. I would exchange her for another male if I were you.

JennDFK

The female was a mistake. I had planned to have all males... but one gal just slipped in the mix. I can't really take her back to the pet store... I guess I'll try to find a home for her. Thanks for the input

ABCDemily

All male and all female are fine, currently I have two males and they are doing fine. Before that I had two females and two males (purely by chance, but nothing went wrong) I think that having a vast number of more males to females may cause stress however.

ThatGuy85

I'm pretty sure you can always take a fish back to the store. Whether or not they give you a refund, well that's another story.

babyblu

I'd at least try to take the fish back to your LFS.

We had a bad experience with all male platies. One male killed two off and began an unwanted "love relationship" with our male Gourami. Since we added 3 females to the tank, he's doing much better and not even bothering our other fish. However, we have fry. Not an issue for us as our LFS said they'd buy the babies from us.