HELP!! Plays fighting

[Atomward]

HELP!! Platys fighting

Hi everybody
I'm having problems with 2 of my female platys attacking the rest of my females. I wanted to know if I have too many fish in the tank or if it is my male that is effecting things
I have a 65litre with
I male platy
7 female platys
3 loaches
I don't know what to do! I have already swapped fish replaced males with females! Can they get aggressive if I feed too little. Really sorry I'm a total beginner!!!
Thanks..

 

[librarygirl]

What kind of loaches? You're somewhat overstocked so they could be feeling cramped and are fighting for territory. Are any of the females pregnant? You could try moving decorations around, sometimes it confuses them and removes their territories. Or if you have a breeding net you could put the aggressors in there for a time out. Other than that you could see if the store can take the two aggressive ones.

Also how new is the tank? Did you add all these fish at the same time? Is the tank cycled? What are the water parameters?

 

[Atomward]

I have a bristlenose Pleco
1 bronze corydorus
1 albino corydorus (both small)
I think my wag tail platy is pregnant she is the one that is being most aggressive my blue platy is also aggressive. They are the biggest and I assume the oldest. I have 4 live plants the water is fine I check it regularly it's a 65ltr tank
Length 50cm
Width 34cm
Height 49 cm
Overstocked tank? :/

 

[Luananeko]

Cories and plecos are catfish, not loaches. Do you have loaches as well, if so what kind? Even just going off the cories, pleco, and platies, I'd say you're a little overstocked. Not as bad as some I've seen, but enough that pregnant platies might feel cramped and territorial. If the loaches are in addition to what you've listed, you're even worse off. As a sidenote, cories prefer groups of 4 minimum...

 

[Atomward]

Thankyou it does seem like the two pregnant females are being territorial. Feel bad not knowing enough. So remove a few platys and get a couple more corys?. No loaches I was wrong on that account.
Any advice on the amount of fish I can have would be great Thankyou

 

[Luananeko]

The calculator at Aqadvisor.com is what I use as a starting point for my stocking plans. There's a lot of things that can throw the numbers off (not taking into account how much water is displaced by decorations, if you have non-standard/non-rectangular tank sizes, etc), but it's a good sanity check. I'd play around with numbers on there to figure out what configuration you're happy with that still fits your tank and has your fish happy. Since you have livebearers, I'd aim to either have all one gender (to avoid fry in the first place), or understock the tank more (around 75-80% stocking) to leave room for the livebearers to give birth and have their fry grow out without feeling cramped. You'll still need to rehome the fry when they are big enough of course to avoid overstocking later.

 

[Atomward]

Hi I have now given 3 of my platys back including the male. Do I have space to add some more corys. Because they 4 in a group? I want to give them the best life I can I can exchange the albino or the bronze? Any advice is great thanks

 

[Luananeko]

No, you're still pretty fully stocked... Both of those cory types are of the larger variety, if you want a school of cories I'd trade them in for 4 pygmy cories. If you do that you'll still be pretty full, but it should be manageable if you have a good oversized filter and do weekly water changes.