Female Platy Swimming In Place

My favorite female platy is swimming in place with her fins clamped and whenever one of the younger males comes close to her, she chases them off. (Note: the young males have been chasing her relentlessly even though we have other female Platys in the tank. She normally just hides from them and then comes out every so often.) what could be wrong with her? I’ve never seen her do this... I can’t upload a video but I have a picture. It’s really hard to get a good picture bc she is swimming fast.

 

I had a similar situation with a female guppy. Even though there were several females in the tank all the males wanted her. She did the exact same thing got stressed and tried hiding all the time. She was removed to a 10 gallon with some neons and perked right back up after a day or so.

 

So should I just remove her from the tank forever? I don’t want her to die and I’m worried. The only tank we have available is a 10 or 20 (can’t remember the size) gallon tank with 4 African dwarf frogs in it. The fish in her tank get fed flakes and bloodworms but the froggies only get fed bloodworms (bc that’s all they will eat)

 

With adf in the tank long term the platy would definitely out compete them for food. That being said moving her there temporarily for a break would definitely let you know if it’s purely stress or something else. With no outwardly obvious signs of sickness that’s the first thing I would try

 

As a side note definitely make an investment in a 10 gallon for such occasions buy an extra heater, sponge filter and, air pump. I run a sponge filter in all my tanks so when the need arises. You just fill up the tank drop the heater and sponge filter and instant quarantine/hospital tank. Just be sure to break it back down and dispose of the sponge when done. Otherwise you end up with another 10 gallon display tank haha!!

 

So it’s weird. When I got up to check on her again. She was swimming around like everything was completely normal and nothing ever happened.

 

Yea I’d say she is just the platy that brings all the boys to the yard

 

I wonder why she was doing that... bc she was really swimming hard. Like if her fins had been out and she was swimming that fast, she would run into the aquarium glass in a second.

 

Haha fish behavior it’s interesting for sure!

 

Any chance she's close to giving birth?

 

Any chance she's close to giving birth?

I don’t think she is pregnant. She isn’t showing.

 

In that case it is likely a stress response or even an illness. As for a separate tank, I use sterilite containers in a pinch. I actually have two set up right now, lol.