Aggressive Male Platys

[lizard]

Hello.

In my 10 gallon tank I had three Platys, two females and a male. The male seems to like one of the females just fine. However, he frequently chased the other female. She would swim away from him and try to hide from him, but he kept chasing her. She was looking rather stressed out, so I put in her my other tank that has one male and two females. The male in that tank is doing the same thing! Poor girl. Any suggestions as to why the males keep bothering her, or what I can do about it?

Thanks!

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[KimmyFishy89]

Sounds like she is a ripe and ready female and the males know it They probably want to mate with her, and the female doesn't want to. Thats the problem with live barers, the males are little monsters somethings

By any chance, is the other female pregnant?

 

[allnatural]

I have several platy species, and the males can be quite agressive. One thing you might consider is to place your males together in one tank and your females in the other. This will give the females a rest.

--Tim

 

[lizard]

By any chance, is the other female pregnant?

Yeah, two of my females are pregnant for sure. The female in the 10 gallon looks like she may be pregnant, but I don't know for sure. She's not hugely pregnant like the two are (they look like they're going to pop!). Silly boys...

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[lizard]

I have several platy species, and the males can be quite agressive. One thing you might consider is to place your males together in one tank and your females in the other. This will give the females a rest.

Good idea. I shall consider ways to do that. Trouble is, three of the fish in the five gallon kind of need to stay there 'cause they're still getting treatment for the ich they had last week. If that wasn't an issue, I'd put the four females in the 10 gallon and the two males in the five gallon. I suppose I could do ich treatment in the 10 gallon and the five gallon... I hate to do that though...don't really want to risk bringing "fresh and live" ich bugs to the ten gallon, where the majority of my fish reside. Suggestions? I suppose as a last-resort option I could put the harrassed female in the one gallon with my Betta for a few days, if she's getting really stressed (yes, I know the one gallon is too small for that, especially long term, but it's between that for a few days, or getting constantly harrassed and chased). Hmmm....

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[allnatural]

That is quite a dilemna. You could risk giving ick to your betta too. I would not treat the healthy 10 gallon tank if you don't have to. I think I would leave her in the 5 gallon and hope for the best.

I am not sure how you are treating for ick, but I have successully treated it on platies without chemicals by raising the temperature to 82F degrees for about 10 days.

--Tiim

 

[KimmyFishy89]

Mabye she will just give up and mate
J/k


Mabye get a couple of hidey holes for the poor female platy, give her some rest in a little cave or something. Wait until ich is treated and don't put her in the 1 gallon bowl.

It sounds like your other platy is pregnant. Males tend to calm down with a pregnant female (Except when she is about to burst, he might poke her tummy for a free snack).

 

[yhbae]

I had the exact same situation and my female ended up getting injured - she developed some bacterial infection due to a cut on her side body. For some reason, the male only followed after this one and she used to dart around the tank to get away from him. During feeding time, the male pretty much rams into her so I dunno if this was a breeding ritual - it's little too physical for that...

Now she is in a separate tank and the male is back close to the other female but he never treats this one roughly...

 

[CrystalClear]

I'm having a situation like this occuring now. I have 2 male platys with 3 female platys. One of the males will chase the famales and poke at their bellys like an attack. I think he does this with the other male, too. All 3 of the femlae platys are pregnant with their big bellys. I think their pregnant. Their stomaches are very big, and u can see little tiny clear circles.. like eggs.. and some have a black dot in their stomach.. i suppose they are eyes.. and beyond the silver oval thing.. it's darker with dots. uhmm.. Are they pregnant? Well, anyways i ended up putting the aggressive male in a isolation tank and now the females are picking on each other. Do u think this mostly has to do with them fighting over territory in a 10 gallon tank?