Do I have the wrong platy breed?

[kristin27]

Thank you to everyone who keeps answering all the questions I ask about my fish. I am really new with platies and am slowly starting to pick things up!
I do have another questions..

I have four platies (all female) in a 10-gallon tank, which has been running for a little over a month. Within the first week of having the platies, I needed to replace one of them because she was a bully, and constantly chasing and head-butting the other fish. I exchanged her for another fish of her breed (which were cheaper, and only called "assorted platy" with no real name.

Everything was fine with the new fish until a couple weeks ago, she has progressivly become more and more violent, just like the last one I replaced. I could see the other fish were stressed too, so i changed the water but she was still violent after that. Today, I removed her from the tank for an hour and put her in a seperate bowl. And INSTANTLY (not even 5 seconds after she was gone) the other fish were swimming around, up and down, happily the way they always used to.

I'm assuming this means that the mean fish's violence kept them in fear, and stressed them out. They were happy again as soon as she was gone. So I'm thinking of taking the mean fish back to the store to do ANOTHER exchange. The thing is... how can I make a good judgement this time so I dont have to go back again?
Why are both fishes of this breed ("assorted platy") violent? Could it be because they're smaller than the others? Or maybe there is just something wrong with that breed and thats why they're cheaper.

Anyway, if anyone has any input or advice for me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks a lot!

Kristin

 

[Puriti]

I'm assuming this means that the mean fish's violence kept them in fear, and stressed them out. They were happy again as soon as she was gone.

Sure sounds that way, considering they went back to being happy. If I was being antagonized by another person I'd be a little upset too 8O

The thing is... how can I make a good judgement this time so I dont have to go back again?
Why are both fishes of this breed ("assorted platy") violent? Could it be because they're smaller than the others? Or maybe there is just something wrong with that breed and thats why they're cheaper.

Were the other platies a different kind other than "assorted platy"? (Just curious)

I don't see why those specific kinds would be more aggressive if the other ones are the same species.

How long did you leave the new molly in there for after it started to bully them? ime sometimes new fish (and the old ones) get into nipping fights for the first few hours then get over it.

As for being cheaper, it's probably just cuz they're assorted colors and not just a specific breed. (Not sure though)

 

[Aquarium Freak]

You have to remember though all tanks have a boss well at leats mine do. But if it was really bad maybe you just had a fish?

 

[kristin27]

How can I tell if she's the boss of the tank, or just very violent and stressing out the other fish?

Thanks Puriti for your help.. the new platy was in there for about three weeks before she started to act violent. Yesterday when I put her in a seperate bowl for an hour, she got soooo depressed, and changed a different colour! (At least thats what it looked like.) So I put her back in and she hasnt attacked since.. and they still all seam very happy.

Do you guys know anything about Platy's changing colour if they're depressed, or just in water thats too cold?

 

[Fluff]

Fish will darken when stressed.
I agree with AF. They were probably just establishing a pecking order and just need some time to work it out. Hopefully your problem has been resolved.

 

[Puriti]

Fish generally develop their own pecking order, like Fluff said. Don't worry, she probably just thought that since she was in a new place she was gonna try to run it, but looks to me like she finally learned her place

I had to do that with my female mollies once. They were attacking my new black skirt tetras when I bought them and now they're over it...though I had to leave mine out longer than an hour lol

But yeah, my blue gourami changes colors too when he's stressed out, no worries! Fish tend to change color based on emotion, well at least some do. ^^;