Platy Situation

[tylergvolk]

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

[steven p]

Originally Posted by tylergvolk

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

keep either all males, or way more girls than boys.. livebearers have trouble keeping it in their pants... it stresses out the girls..

[secuono]

I have 35+ Platy in my 20 long, so you're not over stocked yet.

I agree, keep all males or make sure you have 3x girls than males. You also need to give them hiding spots.

[tylergvolk]

Originally Posted by secuono

I have 35+ Platy in my 20 long, so you're not over stocked yet.

I agree, keep all males or make sure you have 3x girls than males. You also need to give them hiding spots.

35+ in a 20L. I'd love to see some picture of that.

[Diana]

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.

[rrastro]

I've got 20+ in a 10g along with 2 dwarf frogs. You just need to fix your male/female ratios, as suggested previously.

[tylergvolk]

Originally Posted by rrastro

I've got 20+ in a 10g along with 2 dwarf frogs. You just need to fix your male/female ratios, as suggested previously.

Pictures!!! =)

[tylergvolk]

Originally Posted by secuono

I have 35+ Platy in my 20 long, so you're not over stocked yet.

I agree, keep all males or make sure you have 3x girls than males. You also need to give them hiding spots.

Thanks for the advice, but let me get this straight.

Of the 4 young Platies I currently have, 2 are male and 2 are female.

Of the 2 adult Platies I currently have, 1 is male and 1 is female.

All together I have 3 males and 3 females for a total of 6 Platies.

You guys are suggesting I keep 3 times more females over males.

This means I need 6 more female Platies and this will give me a total of 12 Platy's in my 20L.

Does that sound right? How confident are you that this will solve my problem?

[1aqumfish]

If you at least 1 male and 1 female platy it will happen anyway like it or not, but many times over LOL.

[tylergvolk]

They won't kill each other will they?

[Diana]

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.

[tylergvolk]

Alright, I won't worry about it so much then. What do people do with there extra fish?