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Platy Situation

2K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  tylergvolk 
#1 ·
I have 4 young platies in my 20L. I took 2 adult platies from my biocube 14 and put them in my 20L with the 4 young platies. So, now I have 6 platies in this 20L.

The adult male is acting aggressive. Chasing the younger platies around the tank. Should I be worried? Will this behavior stop?

I want to add maybe 2-4 more in this tank, but I am afraid that might be too much.

I already have:

4 young platies
2 adult platies
3 ottos
1 pleco
15+ RCS
 
#5 ·
I had about that many in a 10. Mostly juveniles, maybe an inch long. It is a lot of fish!
Yes, the answer to the pushy males is to give them a little competition from each other, then a lot more girls. Mostly they are more easy going than some other live bearers, but occasionally you get one that is a little more pushy and it takes several fish to divert his attention.
 
#11 ·
Platies are generally pretty mellow fish, and do not kill each other. Just the males chasing the females when the females do not want to be chased.

2 males may get a little pushy with each other, especially with females in the tank, but they do not kill each other. These are not Cichlids!

The best ratio seems to be more females than males, and more than one male.

That way the males will spend a little time pushing each other around (ignoring the females) and some time chasing the females around.
As long as there are safe places for the females to hide, and more females for the males to chase, they will not chase any one female to death.

Stocking levels can get out of hand with these guys. That is what happened with my tank. Started with just a few, and they had more and then the babies had more... it sure did not take long to have a tank full.
 
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