The Art of Platy Seduction

[BigDaddy]

New to community fish.

My male Mickey Mouse Platy has been chasing my females from behind then swimming with them with his head by their tail. In a cichlid I'd figure he's tail nipping but I'm not seeing any evidence of that.

Am I right in assuming its a mating thing or is it just aggression? Should I dim the lights and play some 80s hair band rock anthems?

 

[DragonFish71]

It's a normal male thing. If you find the females being bothered too much, you can add more females or remove the male (depending on your tank size). Male live-bearers can chase the females endlessly. It's always good to outnumber the males.


Personal favorite 80's hair band epic song "I Remember You" by Skid Row.

 

[BigDaddy]

Awesome. Thanks for the answer. He's my favorite looking fish in the tank, blue with a bright orange dorsal fin, so didn't want to have to trade him.

As much as Sebastien knew how to croon, I'd have to go with Cinderella 'Don't know what you've got til it's gone". Epic school slow dance music.

 

[Tommyboy13]

Our platys do that all the time and we usually end up with tons of fry. You definitely do have to watch the number of females to males. We only have 3 males and they're constantly after the females. You'd think they'd get tired of it after a while, but they're still going.

 

[birdma]

I vote for Poison's "Every rose has it's thorn".

ETA - I had 2 male platys to 1 female and they would not leave the poor thing alone. Her tail was practically gone overnight! I got more girls and things have calmed down a lot.

 

[BigDaddy]

Nice. I forgot about Poison. Though I heard Whitesnake 'Here I go Again' on the way into work and I'm tempted to change my vote.

My wife says all boys are dumb like that so why would fish be any different. Things seem to have evened out so he either got shot down or I'll have some little fry soon.

Thanks for all the great answers.

 

[birdma]

There's a huge cardboard cutout of Bret Michaels in Petsmart which is what reminded me of Poison. I used to think he was so dreamy back in the day, lol.

Guess you'll find out soon enough if your platy got lucky.

 

[BigDaddy]

Lol. I saw that the other day then two seconds later saw a dog in the store wearing the bandana.

 

[Platybreeder16]

Make sure you get that female into a breeding net when she starts to get squared. That way your babies will survive