Strange Platy Fish Behavior - Bullying or stress?

Hey everyone,

I had posted a thread earlier here about some concerns I had with my new platies and their water quality. A few days ago my female platies suddenly started acting odd and tilting when they were close together which made me think they might be stressed or ill or there was an issue with the water quality. I've been doing 50% water changes to clear up any chances of this being the issue and my readings seem okay:

pH: 7.8
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0-5 ppm
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm

The rest of the tank seems fine now, but I just saw my two largest females doing this tilting thing again today and managed to grab a video of it:

The orange platy is definitely the alpha of the tank and doesn't seem to like the darker female who I just got earlier this week. Since they only tilt like this when they're around each other do you think it's a stress/behavior issue? Outside of this they've been active and energetic with fins spread out, full appetites, etc.

Any tips?

 

Since they otherwise act normal, I would guess that this is a behavioral thing and not a health issue. But I'm not exactly sure what's causing it, you have a good sized school so stress from aggression or lack of numbers seems unlikely.

 

I've never seen my platys showing this behaviour (I only have males), but my male guppies and endlers do something similar in an attempt to show dominance to one another. My guppies 'display' to one another, by spreading their fins wide, and positioning themselves so that they are perpendicular to the fish they are showing off to. I think what they are trying to do is make themselves look as large and fabulous as possible, and the other fish can't possibly miss this 'display' when they positioned directly in front of them.
Interesting that your females seem to be doing this. Like I said, I only have males, but I was under the impression that they were the only sex that 'display' this way to each other, as it's main purpose is to be the dominant male, which is 'more attractive' to females.

Someone with female platys might be able to shed some light

 

I can see why you would be concerned. I don't know for sure but it looks like a submissive behavior instead of an illness of some kind. Hopefully some one else has witnessed this behavior before and can confirm one way or another.

 

I have several female platies, and I've never seen this specific behaviour before. The males and females do something similar to this, but not quite. I wouldn't worry about it though, it looks to be some kind of posturing. As long as they don't injure one another regularly then you're all good.

 

Thanks for the replies!

I used to have platies a few years back and never noticed anything like this before either, and since it was only when they were together I doubted it was swim bladder or any buoyancy/balance related thing. It's not consistent behavior either so I'm hoping things settle a little with the group over the next few days. It just worries me whenever I see a fish tilting like that in general.

 

I have 2F 1M platy and call them my flirty fish.
Most commonly
The females do a dance or display to one another with all fins out and one nearly vertical. It seems to vary who is displaying and often both are. I don’t get any inter species chasing.


I haven’t confirmed if both my females fall pregnant - asF may convert to M, maybe I have a F-> M, perhaps you do too?

either way I see this a few times a week and they’ve been happy and alive with me since November