Fish gone wild!

[PlatyLady]

My 4 month old male platy has finally been promoted to my main tank. He's gone wild and has been trying non-stop to mate with everything he sees - platies, guppies, males or females, my barb... I assume he'll eventually learn who to mate with.

My question is - is this stressing out the other fish? and, (can not believe I'm asking this ) is constant rejection stressing him out?

 

[Allivymar]

*starts laughing*

Horny lil bastard isn't he! I doubt he's feeling rejected; as long as he's not harassing the others too badly or nipping at fins you can prob just sit back and laugh *grin*

 

[madasafish]

BUT, you should be aware that he might successfully mate with your guppies, and perhaps platies. It happens! I've seen a platy/guppy hybrid before. So, there's always a possibility!!!!!

 

[Terry]

I think things will be fine, just give him time and he will sort himself out.

Horny lil *beep*

 

[Scottw68TN]

is constant rejection stressing him out?
Thats funny! maybe hell get some hagen das and sulk in the corner watching your txv for a week or so.

 

[platylover]

I had a male platy do this same thing when I got him. He will be fine in a couple of weeks when he realizes that he will get farther with the platies instead of trying the barbs. I have 5 female platies in the tank with him and I think that at least three of them are pregnant now. He has left the mollies and the danios alone now and trys the platies only. I am now overrun with fry and he is only 7 months old now and soon you will be overrun with fry also. I would listen to Allivymar and sit back and laugh. I wouldn't worry about the rejections stressing him out much. If he is rejected by one fish, he will simply move on to the next fish and continue this cycle for a long lifetime.

 

[PlatyLady]

still can't believe I asked that. I'm a tad paranoid I guess!

Anyway, he made it through the night. This morning he was MIA, but I overturned a big rock and he must have got lost in there and swam out happily.

This morning he's still trying to get it on with everyone. Alli's right - horny sucker ...and I was so excited when he was born!

 

[webmoose]

I have a mickey mouse platy that acts exactly the same I call him "peppy le pew" He even tries to get friendly with my bronze cories. I have guppy fry I am keeping my eye on to see if they have any of them have mickey mouse markings on their tails.. haha

Anyone interested in mickey mouse guppies!

 

[Scottw68TN]

Ive got 11 molly fry about 3 weeks from the main tank and all h*lls gonna break loose. Its going to be a 60's love fest! I had 3 black mollys that turned int 14 within a month! Doing the math that has a potential to be 80 in few months. Of coarse that won't happen and I wont be able to seperate every pregnant fish. Nature has its ways of keeping the population down.

 

[platylover]

I feel your pain Scottw68TN. I have 20+ molly fry that have survived the feeding fest that I thought zebra danios, neon tetras, and platies are supposed to have on fry. I wonder if molly fry don't taste as good as platy fry. I seem to be able to keep the platy fry population down in the tank with only 1 or 2 fry making it out of a batch of fry. I would rather let each and every fry have it's chance, but I don't have the room to keep all of them and I can't find enough good homes for all of them and the LFS won't take them until they are 3-4 months old.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Have you had the Birds & The Bees talk with it yet? Maybe some protection is in order LOL

 

[TankGirl]

I have the same thing going on (probably not too many livebearer owners out there who haven't had this happen!) and have 1 male black molly and 3 females, currently quarrantined in my soon-to-be African Rift Lake tank. The day after I brought them home there were about 20 fry, and it looks like I have another gravid female. The number of fry has not gone down, and they are growing like weeds, so my theory that they would eat the babies did not hold true! They will eventually go into my community/angel tank so overpopulation will probably not be a problem, but I almost want to get a few more females because that male is after the 3 females constantly. They need a break!

 

[Scottw68TN]

hmm. The talk. I don't think i'm qualified i'd probably giggle all the way through it then they would never take serious. Seriously a public school will straighten em out and if they can't learn the right way theyll just give protection. Was that to political? probably.

To extend my population concerns my wife wants to try and save them all! I think I can get credit for them probably 1.00 store credit each of coarse as you said they have to be raised a few months.

 

[PlatyLady]

lol! This little guy won't listen to the talk. He's too busy getting busy!

As for somebody to eat the fry, I used to have a male betta in there to take care of over-population. Of course, there were no fry for ages, and he started picking on everyone, so out he went. I can't put him back in, cuz now I also have guppies, and he shoots after them first.

Let's hope my guppies and platies can control the population on their own, or I don't know what I'll do!

 

[myriam]

Whoaaaah...I didn't know those fish could all interbreed...how bizarre! The crossbreeds must look pretty interesting.

Well all my fish are pregnant now so I, too, have the horny livebearer males So far they have left the other species alone. My 4 yr old did notice, though, the male molly sidling up to a female, and then his gonopodium did a 180 degree wag towards the female...yikes. So of course my daughter yells, "What's he doing?! He's going to poke her!" LOL, I had to keep such a straight face trying to explain to her what was going on

 

[Madame_X]

I saw a Mickey Mouse "platy" at Petco the other day that was HUGE. This was the biggest platy I've ever seen and not just length. She was as big or bigger than the mollies in the next tank.

I'm sure that she had a molly for a mommy or a daddy. Her coloring was definitely gold Mickey Mouse platy, but the size had to come from a molly. I have a female platy that is long but she isn't nearly as large in general as this one was.

 

[platylover]

I know that swordtails and platies breed, but mollies and platies! Man, I could be in trouble on this one. I bought two female black lyre tail mollies so that I didn't have the breeding prob, but still have more than one kind of livebearer. Man am I in trouble!

 

[Allivymar]

Don't think mollies can breed with platys and swords; diff genus aren't they? All platys n swords are of the Xiphophorus genus, but mollies and guppies are genus Poecilia. Supposedly those 2 can also breed, but I've never heard of successful fry.

 

[madasafish]

Alls I knows is that I've seen a platy-guppy. Usually those genus delimitations are based not on genetic difference, but on observed characteristics. But you may be right, AlliV.