Agressive Female Platy Towards My Male (Coldwater)

[HomeOfThePlaties]

MY FEMALE PLATY IS BEING AGRESSIVE TOWARDS MY MALE

About three days ago I bought a male Platy (Along with a Placo) and added it to my tank with a Black Moor Fish and Fantail.
The day after, I bought a female Platy (Along with another Placo) and added the two to my tank. The first day was fine, but now they have started to settle
things between the fish have changed.
My male Platy is hiding under rocks and behind plants and im not sure if he is eating the right amount of food, when he does come out my female
chases him around the tank and bumps her nose into his side.
I'm not sure if this is part of the mating process, these are my first lot of fish since I've been more into rodents and I can't find anything useful on the internet
to suit my problem.
The last thing I want is my male to die of stress. I read on a couple of 'similar' problems that I should introduce more female and make the ratio more even,
but my tank is at it's limit with six fish in a 24l.
ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT TO DO??

Any information would be helpful, thanks.

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi, there, welcome to the forum.

I'm afraid you're probably not going to like what I have to tell you; please don't take it personally, I'm only saying it because I'm sure you want the best for your fish.

You have far too many fish in your tank.

This means that not only do none of your fish have enough room to call their own, which will lead to aggression, but also that there is probably a lot of ammonia, from the fish's poo and pee, building up in the water which will be making them feel sick. Lots of fish will pick on, bully or attack other fish that are ill, it's horrible, I know, but that's how they are.

I'm afraid there's not much you can do, except either take the fish back to the shop, or find someone you can give them too, or buy a much, much bigger tank.

The goldfish (the black moor and the fantail) need a tank that is about three feet long and 100l

the plecs might be one of the small species; on the other hand they might be one of the ones that grow to about two feet long! So they might need a very big tank. I can't tell you which ones you might have without seeing a picture of them, I'm afraid. They might need a tank with a heater

the platies can be in a smaller tank, but not really a 24l.

Can I ask how long your tank has been set up? Is it cycled at all and do you have any test kits for the water?

 

[HomeOfThePlaties]

Thanks for your reply

All my fish are coldwater, I know this beacuse I got them from PetsAtHome. They have fully trained staff and have Tropical fish and Coldwater in two sections.
My Plecs are two different sizes. One is about the size of my thumb the other only half. They are both the same age, but most likely different genders?
The Plecs I bought are called Butterfly Hong Kong Plecs.
And I'm not sure how big my Platies will grow, but I don't think they will be very much bigger than they are now. Maybe grow a little more.
All the fish in the 24l are small at the momment but as they grow I will be updating the size of the tank.

There has been no agression execpt between the Platies. The others are doing just fine.
I might be able to buy a new tank and put both my Platies in there with another female but it will be smaller than the 24l, but 20l instead.
Would this be better to do?

- Also I could take a couple photos of the fish if you would like.

 

[fluttermoth]

Please don't put too much faith in the staff in shops. The training is really not all that, tbh; we've seen numerous examples of absolutely shocking advice being given out by shops, even the big chains like the one you mention (we do have to be careful about making potentially libellous statements on this forum!).

You fish are what we call 'temperate'; that means they don't need a heater, as long as they're kept in a normal, warm modern house. If your house gets very cold (below around 18°C/64°F) than you would need a heater, set low.

I would try and get a bigger tank as soon as you can. If fish are kept in too small a tank, it can affect them so they just stop growing; that shortens their life. In the meantime, do plenty of large water changes. That'll stop the hormones that the fish produce that stop them growing building up, and keep them healthy while you sort out a new home for them It would be better if you could add another female, but I wouldn't add another fish to a tank that small. Make sure you have plenty of places for the fish to hide if they're being picked on, that's the best I can suggest, at the moment, I'm afraid.

The 'butterfly plecs' (they're really hillstream loaches; probably Beaufortia kweichowensis, not related to plecs at all!) can be quite a difficult fish to look after. They need very clean, very highly oxygenated water, so for them you need a pump that will turn over the whole volume of the tank 10 or 20 times an hour. They need quite a specific diet too; what are you feeding them on?

Hope that helps, and best of luck. Do post again if there's anything else you'd like to ask

 

[HomeOfThePlaties]

Thanks for all your help, we have seemed to sort out the problem.
Earlier on today we went back to the pet store and thought we bought a female, letting the staff choose out our fish.
Turns out when we got home it was a male! As soon as we added the new male
the female started to bully the other one too.
In the end we took the female back to the store and got a refund, now the two males and my goldfish
are swimming around the tank and the previously bullied male Platy has now
returned to his natural feeding times.
And I'm glad to let you know we have just upgraded our tank to a 65l, hopefully now the fish will be
more relaxed and have a space to call their own.

Thanks very much!

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm glad things have settled down for you

Don't forget to keep a close eye on the water parameters in the new tank, and do a water change if you ever see any signs of ammonia or nitrite, especially if you haven't added the old filter media to the new tank (which you should do, as it will have the good bacteria your fish need).

I'm afraid your goldfish might need an even bigger tank eventually, but you've made a huge improvement, so that's marvellous, well done