Platy Bully

[mrjspeed]

Hi all,

Still new to this hobby. I recently lost almost all of my stock due to Ich. All that survived was a female red wag platy. It has been 2 weeks since the Ich, so I went to LFS to get 2 more Platys, 1 female and 1 male.

My stock is now 2 female, 1 male. The new female Platy seems to be bullying the other two. I've fed the fish since being introduced to the tank and know all of them have had a healthy meal.

The fish mostly wander off in their own areas, but when the bully female comes across one, they sort of get in a "formation" side by side. The bully lets the other swim a little farther forward and then chases and nips at the back of the other.

I have a 29G tank, the new fish have been in there for about 5 hours. Any suggestions? I don't think LFS will let me take it back due to aggression.

 

[Darkseid76]

Are you sure that its a female? I've raised quite a few platies and swordtails and one thing I've learned is that some males will develop late and will closely resemble females.

The only "give away" is the displaying or formation as you call it.

If your platy is really a male there's really nothing you can do aside from separation or return for an exchange. Or add more females to distract the troublemaker.

 

[mrjspeed]

Well, I snapped some pics in case it helps. I swear i was told by the guy at LFS that the male had the bigger blacker bottom fin.

This is one of the new ones, I thought was male:


This is my veteran platy:


This is my new bully:

 

[Rodeo one]

Female , male, ??

 

[mrjspeed]

here is the other side of the bully in case it helps:

 

[Rodeo one]

Looks like a male. I took all my males back & just have females. It s a much happier tank now.

 

[mrjspeed]

thanks for the advice, I will see what they say.

 

[Darkseid76]

Yes the the 3rd pic is most definitely a male.

 

[AlexandraDanielle21]

Yes the the 3rd pic is most definitely a male.

I agree. All males have the long, thin fin at the bottom called a gonopodium (bad speller, don't know if its correct) If you search it up on the Internet you'll see.

Here's a pic.