SwordTail keeps pecking at Mickey Mouse Platy

[AKelly]

Hi,

My red swordtail will not leave my platy alone. The swordtail keeps pecking at the platy, and now it appears as if the platy is sore. The plat keeps swimming funny trying to avoid the other fish from pecking at sore, at one point the platy was laying on bottom of tank on side.

What can I do to stop this or to help the platy?

[Endgame319]

Its likely you have a male swordtail and a female platy. The two species are very similar and they will interbreed. The only remedy would be seperation, or adding more female swordtails/platys so the aggression will be more spread out.

[AKelly]

Do you think the platy will be okay? I was scared it was going to die, the way it is swimming now. I'll see about another swordtail. Thanks!

[Devilishturtles]

If it was just stress, it should get better once you get atleast another, if not 2 more (for this active male) swordtails. Do you have plenty of places for the platy to "hide" any? Plants, a cave, etc.

Best to solve this soon. I had the same problem with my rainbow, and it ended up stressing so much it got sick.

Good luck.

[AKelly]

It is too late the platy was found dead this morning. I am so upset. It happened all of a sudden last night. I looked one moment the platy was fine and the next it was acting all sick.

RIP Platy..

[docrak]

Stuff like this happens all the time. There is usually one dominant male in the tank and heaven forbid another male try to take that spot. I had a male gold dust mollie kill my male sunset platy. I have two male sailfin mollies right now that chase each other around the tank. There isn’t much you can do expect to provide lots of cover or to separate them. Adding more fish to change the balance can help, but I’ve found that adding more females doesn’t guarantee peace. I have a male to female ratio of 1:3 in that sailfin tank and still get aggression.

[AKelly]

Those **** males. So do you think the constant pecking is what killed the platy?

I don't know if I can deal with all of this death.....

I guess we will get something to replace the platy. Any recommendations.

I have: 1 Blue Gourami, 1 Rosy Barb, 1 Red Sword Tail, 1 Dwarf Gourami.....

We are also thinking of getting a bottom feeder...for all that darn algae... any recommendations on what kind of bottom feeder, it is only a 10 [acronym:c248ee04af="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:c248ee04af] We inheritted the tank with the fish and all...

[TankGirl]

In a 10gal you are probably stocked as it is now. You could look into an otocinclus catfish - they stay very small, but they are somewhat delicate so wait until the [acronym:96713ed644="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:96713ed644] has had some for a week or two before you get them as the [acronym:96713ed644="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:96713ed644] will likely lose several. The ones that stick it out are usually hardy.

I am concerned about the two gouramis in there - that is a tight space. You might have some aggresssion between them in the future, if not already.

[AKelly]

Yes, the blue gourami is constantly chasing the dwarf around. The dwarf has a spot behind rock to hide, but i feel badly for him. I was told that the set up that i have is terrible. That the fish I have are schooling fish and shouldn't just have one of each.

I did not set this tank up, we inherited it from the previous owners of our new house.

I also have a question abut heater. Right now there is no heater in tank, the temp is about 76 degrees. the fish have been living this way for i don't know how long.

The question is, do I add a heater, and how will this affect them? I am afraid if I raise the temp they will all die, especially because they have been living without a heater all of this time.

Please adivse....

[newaridiar]

76 degrees should be fine for tropical fish, you'd probably want the heater to make sure the temperature doesn't drop when the lights are off

**edit**
I bought a pair of otos once and they rid my entire 10 [acronym:11ca2041da="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:11ca2041da] including gravel, glass, and decorations of algea in two days, make sure you have some other food on hand for them.

And you might want to creat more hiding places with either plants or ornaments to give the dwarf gourmi more options