Male Platy Harassing Female

HI all,
I have 2 female platies and one male. After being a perfectly happy and peaceful group for a month, all of a sudden the male Platy started chasing one of the females. It’s been going on for two days now and got to a point that she’s hiding and looks very scared. I don’t have another tank to rehouse him, so for now I put him in a 1/2 G temporary fish tank that’s only equipped with a heater. Obviously terrible conditions for him so I have to decide what to do fast.
Anybody has any advice, what can I do?
Thank you!

 

Is it mating season??

 

try getting more females!!!!!!!!

 

This is natural behavior for male platies to chase females due to mating.
What size tank do you have and how many total occupants?
You could try getting some plants and or decor to break the line of sight and to provide hiding places.
But, if you are referring to your 10 gallon, there is not much other choice. I would rehome the male - otherwise you are going to have babies from each female ( 20 + EACH birth ) and soon you will be overrun with fry.

I would not get any more females unless you have other means when they have fry.

 

Yeah I breed livebearers, so this is quite common lol I concur: suggest that you get about 2-3 more females for now, and see if that puts him in check! lol

 

So sounds like it’s not gonna stop
Yes, unfortunately they are in my 10 gal tank and I cannot add anymore fish and have no means sustaining fry.
I wonder if the store will exchange him for a female? My other question: what do they usually do with fish that gets returned? I would hate to think that he will get disposed of
We will miss him
I will try and put him back in the tank tomorrow to give him another chance. Maybe being in a “time out” will make him forget about her? I will also rearrange plants and decor in the tank to make him think he’s in a new surrounding? What are the chances of this working do you think?

 

So sounds like it’s not gonna stop
Yes, unfortunately they are in my 10 gal tank and I cannot add anymore fish and have no means sustaining fry.
I wonder if the store will exchange him for a female? My other question: what do they usually do with fish that gets returned? I would hate to think that he will get disposed of
We will miss him
I will try and put him back in the tank tomorrow to give him another chance. Maybe being in a “time out” will make him forget about her? I will also rearrange plants and decor in the tank to make him think he’s in a new surrounding? What are the chances of this working do you think?

If you do not have the means now, do not put him back in the tank. You will most certainly end up with fry. Take him back to the store. I would not get any more females, they too can come from the store pregnant.

 

Yeah...maybe give him another chance. And in addition, ehh yeah...perhaps give her some more "hiding places" to avoid his harassment. Poor fish...she's gota be really stressed out! : ( Oh and perhaps try not to move him in and out overly-nomadically TOO much though! That would probably drive any living thing nuts! lol On my 15L, (Fry tank with 1 male and 4 females) I have a smaller HOB filter, about 4 clay pots, meticulously and strategically stacked rocks, 4 smaller pieces of driftwood curved upward on the substrate (like a cave/hiding place) and heavy heavy Wisteria, Water Sprite and guppy grass for fry. If I were a fish, I'd almost get lost in all that! Pretty much all fish inevitably like hiding spots really.

 

Yeah...maybe give him another chance. And in addition, ehh yeah...perhaps give her some more "hiding places" to avoid his harassment. Poor fish...she's gota be really stressed out! : ( Oh and perhaps try not to move him in and out overly-nomadically TOO much though! That would probably drive any living thing nuts! lol On my 15L, (Fry tank with 1 male and 4 females) I have a smaller HOB filter, about 4 clay pots, meticulously and strategically stacked rocks, 4 smaller pieces of driftwood curved upward on the substrate (like a cave/hiding place) and heavy heavy Wisteria, Water Sprite and guppy grass for fry. If I were a fish, I'd almost get lost in all that! Pretty much all fish inevitably like hiding spots really.

Did you read her post? She only has a 10 gallon - its already on the borderline of being too small for what she has - Her male platy needs to get rehomed or she will end up fry that she cannot keep!
The male WILL mate with one of the females and will inevitably have fry.
Even if she gets another female from the store, the chances of it already pregnant when she gets it is very likely.

 

Ohhh ok, a 10 gal--my bad!

 

And I just thought of one important question. Theoretically, if I were to let them have fry and put him back in the tank.
How do you tell the difference between normal mating behavior and too aggressive? Can my female Platy die due to stress?
Thank you

 

Mating time

 

If you take him back to the store you may or may not get store credit, but usually, if healthy, they will be put up for sale.
I rehomed 3 black kuhlI loaches. They were healthy. The LFS owner was happy. 3 free fish = 100% profit.

 

The female can indeed die. The general rule for guppies, mollies and other aggressive mating fish is 3 female to a male so the male does not overstress the females. However, it seems more like yours wants that one and not the other... If you do not rehome the male you will lose the females. Them getting pregnant will not stop the male. If you do get babies, you shouldn't worry too much, the females tend to eat them themselves. Some will probably survive if your tank has good hiding places though.

 

If you cannot handle fry, you shouldn't have any females. Return the females and get males only. Unless the females at the store have been separated from males since reaching sexual maturity (doubtful because every store I've been to mixes genders and not all breeders separate fry by gender) all females there are pregnant. And since they store sperm it's gonna be a problem for a while.

 

The female can indeed die. The general rule for guppies, mollies and other aggressive mating fish is 3 female to a male so the male does not overstress the females. However, it seems more like yours wants that one and not the other... If you do not rehome the male you will lose the females. Them getting pregnant will not stop the male. If you do get babies, you shouldn't worry too much, the females tend to eat them themselves. Some will probably survive if your tank has good hiding places though.

Thank you,
Do you by any chance know how long this mating behavior lasts? I mean if he doesn’t stop when a female is already pregnant...
I put him back in the tank this morning and now his behavior is even worse. Now he’s relentlessly chasing after both of the females.

 

They just keep going once they start. They won't stop unless they get sick- that's how it is for my crossbreeds anyway. I'm down to about 4 or 5 females to a dozen males and the males started heavily shredding each others fins. With the males still chasing the females sometimes the pregnant ones won't drop which kills them anyway.

 

So sounds like it’s not gonna stop
Yes, unfortunately they are in my 10 gal tank and I cannot add anymore fish and have no means sustaining fry.
I wonder if the store will exchange him for a female? My other question: what do they usually do with fish that gets returned? I would hate to think that he will get disposed of
We will miss him
I will try and put him back in the tank tomorrow to give him another chance. Maybe being in a “time out” will make him forget about her? I will also rearrange plants and decor in the tank to make him think he’s in a new surrounding? What are the chances of this working do you think?

Won’t work!

Just doing what Mother Nature tells him to do.

You need another, bigger tank. Or lose the platys.

 

So, just as I was about to take him back to the store, he settled down significantly. He still chases them around now and then but he stopped behaving like a total maniac and the girls don’t seem to be scared anymore and sometimes even swim up to him to “flirt”. This has been going on for a few days now. I think we can live with this. I just have to decide what I’m going to do when we end up with fry...

 

You can sell the fry, or give them away, you could also get a tank for them and learn how to keep them.

 

If I decide to raise the fry, either some or all, should I set up and cycle a small tank in advance?

 

If I decide to raise the fry, either some or all, should I set up and cycle a small tank in advance?

I set up another ten gallon tank for my platy fry. I have four platies in a ten gallon. 3 females, one male. Every time a platy is pregnant, I move them over to the fry tank. They give birth, I move the platy back to the other ten gallon. Then I grow the fry up separately and sell them once they are big enough. This works best for me because then they have their own tank, at least until they are big enough to be sold. If it helps, I like to feed them frozen and live brine shrimp to because it helps them grow faster.

 

I have almost a similar situation. I didn't realize the difference in gender and ended up with five makes to one female. She ended up giving birth today and I had read that sometimes the fish will peck at her Prego belly till she has birthed. Now my males or one in particular won't stop harrasing her. Why?

 

I have almost a similar situation. I didn't realize the difference in gender and ended up with five makes to one female. She ended up giving birth today and I had read that sometimes the fish will peck at her Prego belly till she has birthed. Now my males or one in particular won't stop harrasing her. Why?

All the males are trying to breed with her, and this kind of harassment could stress a female fish to death. It's recommended that there should be at least two females for every male. If you can, return some of the males to get females in order to reduce stress.

 

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank 65L (17.2 Gallons)
How long has the tank been running? 7 Months
Does it have a filter? Aqua One Clearview 280 Hang Filter
Does it have a heater? Aqua One 100W Heater
What is the water temperature? 26°C (78.8F)
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
2 Female Platys
1 Male Platy
4 Peppered Corydoras
2 Brittlenose Plecos
Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Every 2 Weeks
How much of the water do you change? 50% of Water
What do you use to treat your water? No as i am on Rainwater with no Chlorine
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
I vacuum 25-40% of the gravel every 2 weeks when doing water change

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? I did the in Fish Cycle
What do you use to test the water? API Freshwater Master Kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5
pH: 6.8-7.0

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Every day except for Sunday (No Food Day)
How much do you feed your fish? 1 small pinch of tropical flakes for the Platys, 2 Algae Wafer for the plecos and corys
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Aqua One Dried Food
Do you feed frozen? No But i put Cucumber in the tank for the bottom feeders.
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? No

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 4-6 Months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? 2 Days ago when i added more female platys
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Male Platy wont stop nipping the 2 Female platys
Have you started any treatment for the illness? I added Melafix as my LFS recommended it to stop disease from new fish
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? NO
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? I recently had a female platy pass away and he was fine before she passed.

Explain your situation in detail?
Hello Everyone
I am new to fishlore and haven’t found a thread on this story. Since my Female Platy recently had babies, she was Fine for 2 weeks than she went downhill and passed away. I than left my male Platy for 2-3 days and he would not stop going up and down the glass all day. So then i got him 2 females friends and since i added them to the tank 3 days ago, he wont stop nipping on them. As soon as he sees them he chases them around the tank really fast. And than eventually the females will hide away in my cave rock and my plants and than he leaves them alone until he sees them agian and then it starts again. My LFS said run the dose of Adding new fish of melafix through the tank to stop any diseases and prevent stuff that the female Platys could carry into the tank. So i did a 25% water change yesterday and fed them a bit earlier than usual. 2 hours later i added 6ml of melafix and under-dosed it as Corys are apparently more sensitive to it. I noticed 1-2 hours later after i turn of the light the platys would have cut it out and would be sleeping in a corner of the tank. As soon as he sees light in the morning he will start it agian. i was told by my LFS to not seperate him as then it is hard to reintroduce them back into the tank. I have fed them right now and adding the last dose of melafix tonight in 30mins.

Video Link: IMG_2774


Any Help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks Heap

 

is there any injuries on the females?

 

is there any injuries on the females?

Hi
Thanks for your quick response
From what i can see there are no visible injuries on both females. Thanks

 

Hi
Thanks for your quick response
From what i can see there are no visible injuries on both females. Thanks

I think it should probably be ok? I have platies and there is one male who always chases a couple fish. Nothing has ever happened to them though. If you wanted to mitigate it you could try getting more females?

 

Hi
Thanks for your quick response
From what i can see there are no visible injuries on both females. Thanks

then he is just trying to shower some love around then get more females like 2 or 3 if u can then when he chases one the others can take rest

 

In the size tank you have I would not add anything else. I actually believe you have too many considering you have 2 bristlenose pleco and they should be in a larger tank already and platys breed like rabbits. The male is just being a male trying to get the females to breed. Totally normal. Just make sure he isn't stressing them out too much. If he is add more plants to give them more hiding places.

 

Thanks everyone for all the responses

I am using Platics plants at the moment and i am thinking to add live plants to the tank to improve water quality and all the benefits that come with live plants. I dont really know anything about them. Is there anything that i need to know to use live plants. Any maintenance that you need to do? ect.

 

Hey Everyone.
I think the male Platy is getting a little better as he seems to have lost a little interest in them. But he will still nip them if they move too fast or comes too close. Thanks heaps for your support!

 

Hey Everyone.
I think the male Platy is getting a little better as he seems to have lost a little interest in them. But he will still nip them if they move too fast or comes too close. Thanks heaps for your support!

Glad to hear that! Hope he stays more peaceful from now on!

 

Showing the pecking order happens from time to time as well. But that moment will pass at a certain point.

 

Showing the pecking order happens from time to time as well. But that moment will pass at a certain point.

Thank you for that info. I notice it happens more somedays and less somedays. Thanks heaps