Male Platy Harassing Female

[AnnaP]

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!

 

[GrayGray4231]

Is it mating season??

 

[phantom]

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

 

[Junne]

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.

 

[SFGiantsGuy]

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

 

[AnnaP]

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?

 

[Junne]

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.

 

[SFGiantsGuy]

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.

 

[Junne]

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.

 

[SFGiantsGuy]

Ohhh ok, a 10 gal--my bad!

 

[AnnaP]

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

 

[Jaden]

Mating time

 

[JoeCamaro]

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.

 

[InsanityShard]

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.

 

[luckdown]

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 seperate fry by gender) all females there are pregnant. And since they store sperm it's gonna be a problem for a while.

 

[AnnaP]

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.

 

[InsanityShard]

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.

 

[Hunter1]

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.

 

[AnnaP]

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...

 

[ZebraFishLover]

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