Bahavior in Platy's......water too warm?

[jaysono]

So my Red Wag Tail Platy's since I've had since Saturday are still behaving (or perhaps not behaving at all) strangely.

For the most part, most of my new fish, when first acclimated to my tank tend to hide in the back for a couple of days, and as they get braver show themselves. All my fish so far have done well,....except my Platy's

Day 4 still shows them cowering toward the bottom of the bottom of the tank in the rear. Though they do indeed eat, they don't participate with the others when food is dropped. Normally I found that a few flakes (and I mean a few) that sink towards the bottom right in front of their eyes, they will eat, but have really yet to surface like the others.

I'm not sure if they are 'crashing' or not. Granted this morning it was dark when I left for work, and when I went to check on my tank, they both looked relatively motionless (yet alive) at teh bottom of the tank.

I keep my tank generally at a contsant 79-80 degrees, and all teh otehrs seem well.

This morning I did a little research. Fish Profiles said teh optimal temperature is 71 degrees, and Fish Aquaria had a range for 68-75. This morning my tank was 80. I lowered the temp to 78 on my thermo, but now am wondering if something is wrong?

Water too warm? Not enough platy's (I have 2)? Really are sick (all others are fine)? Natural behavior?

 

[smallfry]

I have platys and my tank temp has been 79-80 past couple weeks (was doing high temp treatment to dispel parasite)...with no ill effects. In fact warmer temp makes them want to have babies!! I will probably lower it soon...but they don't seem to mind it at all - just as fiesty as ever!

 

[smallfry]

do you have some plant/deco cover for them to feel more secure? they may just feel "naked" if there's no hiding spot....

 

[Devilishturtles]

I don't think the temp would be a problem actually. Is there anything in your tank or around that could be scaring them? Do you have some plants and places for them to hide. What are your water parameters? I used to have platys a while back with tank temps around 80, and it never bothered them before...Sounds like they may just be settling in still in my opinion..

 

[jaysono]

Yeah, penty of plants which they do indeed gravitate towards, and a large decoration they can hide in if they so choose....they don't...one of my Ghost Shrimp is in there during the day

Water this morning was:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
GH: 8
Ph: 7.7
Temp: 80 degrees.

I'll check Nitrates tonight.

Are they normally bottom dwellers? I can undertsand being still scared after 4 days, but it did freak me out that they were more or less motionless this morning while all the other species looked fine.

 

[Devilishturtles]

No, platys are more a mid to top dwelling fish. If you just turned your light on this morning, if it was early enough, they may have just been sleeping. I wouldn't worry about it all that much if they seemed to have perked up after a while.

I was thinking...do you know the sex of the two? Perhaps if you have two of the same gender, adding 2 or so of the opposite gender might work....but looking at your tank..doesn't seem like you would have that much room left.

Otherwise, give them some more time is all I can say...

 

[jaysono]

Yes, I have 1 male and 1 female. I was thinking about 1 more female (perhaps a Sunset Platy), based on some others here who said 1 male to 1 female may not be a great ratio since the males can stress a single female out

 

[grimlock3000]

I have had my 4 new Platys for about a week and they are all over the tank, top to bottom. Each one is fearless and they will try to take food from the Ram without hesitation. The Ram is about an inch larger than the Platys but they do not seem to care. I did have one Platy hang out on the bottom for the first day, but she was perfectly fine after that and now swims around with the others. My tank temp is between 78 and 79 so I do not think you have a problem there. What other fish are in the tank? How did you acclimate the new fish?

Once thing I do with any new fish is feed them all Pepso Food (medicated food) for the first few meals. This clears out any parasite they may have from the pet store they came from. Also, when adding fish to the tank and acclimating them, add them to a DARK tank and leave the light off for a while (8+ hours) so they get used to everything slowly without having to deal with everything at once. Keeping stress at a minimum early on allows the fish to more quickly be comfortable in new tanks.

 

[jaysono]

Well, I think I noticed a pattern.....They seem more active when the tank linghts shut off at around 8:45 in the evening....and for the first time last night they noticed I was feeding the other fish...so I guess I hit a turning point.

I was a bit worried, I'll admit....didn't look like they were eating anything teh last few days....but of all my fish so far, boy were they deficating. I couldn't figure that out....they weren't eating anything, but they were going 'potty' the most. I noticed alot more "debris" on the gravel now since the 2 platy's were introduced.

 

[Menagerie]

I don't know what is it about live bearers, but they sure do produce a lot of waste 8O

 

[grimlock3000]

My Platys always seem to be picking at everything in the tank to see if they can eat it. My plants are looking a lot cleaner than they have in months because the Platys sit there all day and nibble the algae off them. They would probably eat the paint off the rocks if they could