Too popular for her own good

[Jazz]

Hey all,

I have a pair of mickey mouse platies, a pair of sunset platies, and a lone female platy.

My two males constantly fight over the female mickey mouse. The three of them are always zooming around. What do I do?

Thx.

 

[TankGirl]

With this type of fish it is very wise to get many more females than males. I have 3 female mollies and one male, and that is almost not enough for him, as he pesters the three relentlessly. If you have the space, get as many more females as you can. The problem with this is that you will inevitably get babies and have a population explosion. If you don't have the space, keep only females and the zooming should stop. Good luck!

 

[Madame_X]

If you have room, get more females. Its best to have at least a 2-1 ratio of females to males with livebearers (as well as some other fish).
If its the Mickey Mouse they chase, try to get more with a similar coloring. I've noticed that my male Mickey Mouse platy doesn't show any interest in my black platy, just the female Mickey Mouse.

It is possible for her to become stressed to death if they won't stop hassling her, so you're right to be concerned.

 

[Jazz]

Yep, I've got room for more platies. I'll try to add more if I can, but my male mickey mouse gets aggressive to new fish. I think he's making it clear that it's his turf. He still darts at the others sometimes. I thought platties were supposed to be peaceful. Who knows? How do I add new fish without them being picked on?

 

[tennhound]

This may sound stupid but what is a mickey mouse platty. My mom has all kinds of platies but i have never heard of them. All her other ones don't pick on each other.

 

[TankGirl]

The mickey mouse platy has a marking near its caudal fin that resembles Mickey Mouse's head, or three black spots adjacent to each other. Here is a picture: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=1068

I have heard of an occasional platy being aggressive, and from what I have read of others' experiences, nothing can really be done about it (adding, removing fish, changing tank environment, etc.) I have had some success lowering the temperature a few degrees, as with some fish (not all, check their individual requirements) a higher-end temperature can contribute to aggression.

 

[PlatyLady]

I have a female platy who is peaceful with most fish, but aggressive with one of my other female platies. She gets along with guppies, my barb, got along with my algae eater too. I don't get it either, they're supposed to be peaceful.

 

[Sati]

I had never heard of a Mickey Mouse platy either, but I guessed what they are. I saw a bunch of animals on TV a few months back that all had the same marks. Mickey Mouse pigs, kittens, horses, cows, etc.

I played a video game that had cows and the funny thing was that the shape of the world/island was one of the spots on the cows :]