Weird Platy Dance

[kaiofcanada]

I have three rescued sunset wag platys. Two females and one male. The male had previously been injured and I have him in a nursery in the same tank with the other two as his injury looked like it might have developed a fungus and he was lethargic.

The past two days he has rested at the bottom of the nursery with fins clamped and little interest in swimming, although he eats when I feed him. Strange thing is this. The female has been keeping vigil over him since I put him in the nursery. Today he finally seems to be feeling better and swimming around in the nursery. But the females today have started doing a weird dance to him and he gets really riled up.

The dance: the fan their top and side fins and spread out their tails, bend a bit to one side and shake in a flurry. They both seem to be doing this to him. He does it back and they have been doing so through this plastic nursery for about two hours on an off.

They can't mate through glass. What the heck are they doing?!? Is it normal for female platys to do a "sexy-times" dance?

I am sure of their sexes. The females have a fanned out anal fin and are fairly round. The male is thinner with a pointed anal fin and male part. That and the guy who gave them to me from craigslist said there was one male and two females.

 

[kaiofcanada]

well...I released the male as he was active in the nursery and because I was curious to see what they would do...and they are still dancing together. They do the dance and then the male seems to bite one of the females on her side and chase a bit,...then over again.

Anyone? is this mating or aggression?

 

[kaiofcanada]

anyone?

 

[mfdrookie516]

sounds weird, i've never seen livebearers do this, although that sounds pretty typical of the way mbuna reproduce (if you saw my video of mine i posted). Maybe those fish have some relatives in lake malawi??? (ok, guess it wasnt that funny)

 

[kaiofcanada]

sounds weird, i've never seen livebearers do this, although that sounds pretty typical of the way mbuna reproduce (if you saw my video of mine i posted). Maybe those fish have some relatives in lake malawi??? (ok, guess it wasnt that funny)

hahahahaah! no, it was funny. I will check their passports and see what the last stamp was.

They just keep doing it. And one of the females is missing her lips and some scales on her top right side near her fin. They usually have these cute little black lips. But one of my females was either injured, sick, or something in her last tank. I have been treating the tank with Melafix in case it was a fungus. She eats fine and picks at leaves, so I think her mouth isn't raw anymore. And the missing scales look more like skin now, no fungus or leision. Just worried about aggression.