Can a platy be gay?

[Queen_Khat]

So I have a 140l community tank filled with guppies, cherry barbs, dwarf gourami. My sister gave me 2 female platys which have been doing fine but I added a male last week and he hasn't wanted anything to do with the female platys so I got another male and 3 more females incase he felt lonely. so now have 2 males and 5 females which I thought would help make him feel more at home but he still isn't interested in any females and only wants to swim about with the other male platy. I'm just worried about him and don't know what to do because he is the only one acting odd.

 

[Lemon]

Do you know how old he is? I don’t know much about that species however juvenile fish and other animals don’t show any interest in the opposite gender until they are sexually mature. (i’ve never had Platys but this is my take on it I recommend not just going on what I say definitely wait for someone with more experience)

 

[Deleted member 149562]

The Platy fish seem to be quite recent additions, so I would not be concerned by the lack of activity tbh. All fish take time to settle into new surroundings and get used to their new tankmates....and some always seem to tag along with another fish more than the rest.

Let them settle in for a few weeks and get their hierachy sorted, then you will probably see no differences tween the fish in their behaviour with each other.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Yes fish can be gay. You might have a young male that is a bit stressed or he might like boys. Just leave him be. As long as he doesn't cause any trouble, he will be fine in the tank.

 

[Queen_Khat]

Thank you all for relying! I've never had platys before but I just started to worry when his newer platy tank mates seemed to settle and find their place alot quicker that he was. The other male doesn't seemed bothered by him following him around, so I'm more than happy to let them be I was just worried I was missing something . Thank you all again

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

My immediate response was yes, but I am very biased. There are plenty of other animals that take same sex mates so why not fish?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Platy can be strange sometimes

A few years ago I had a few of them, rehomed them to a neighbour after they went a bit mad on breeding.

Earlier this year I moved all my fish into a much larger aquarium from 5 smaller ones. Whilst moving everyone, I discovered a blue Wagtail Platy in with the Rams...had not a clue it was there. The aquarium had been home to my original Platy's and I guess this one was left behind somehow.

Silly Platy thinks its a Ram.

One of my Gold Rams has literally adopted the Platy. They swim side by side everywhere, they feed and rest together....and woe betide anyone else in the aquarium who dares to approach the Platy. They get a stern chase and a nip from the Gold Ram. No-one goes anywhere near the Platy, the Gold Ram has none of that, Platy is totally safe with the Gold Ram by its side.

They have lived together for about 3 years now, happy and healthy, no arguments or any bad behaviour....

Some Platy are just plain weird.

 

[Rocky998]

Wasn't there another thread months back where a platy was "gay"... I forget how it turned out but yah, it sure acted gay

It always tried to impress the males instead of the females

 

[Queen_Khat]

Platy can be strange sometimes

A few years ago I had a few of them, rehomed them to a neighbour after they went a bit mad on breeding.

Earlier this year I moved all my fish into a much larger aquarium from 5 smaller ones. Whilst moving everyone, I discovered a blue Wagtail Platy in with the Rams...had not a clue it was there. The aquarium had been home to my original Platy's and I guess this one was left behind somehow.

Silly Platy thinks its a Ram.

One of my Gold Rams has literally adopted the Platy. They swim side by side everywhere, they feed and rest together....and woe betide anyone else in the aquarium who dares to approach the Platy. They get a stern chase and a nip from the Gold Ram. No-one goes anywhere near the Platy, the Gold Ram has none of that, Platy is totally safe with the Gold Ram by its side.

They have lived together for about 3 years now, happy and healthy, no arguments or any bad behaviour....

Some Platy are just plain weird.

Okay that actually makes a fair bit of sense as when I first added him he did start hanging out with the guppies and cherry barbs, bless his little heart

 

[Queen_Khat]

Wasn't there another thread months back where a platy was "gay"... I forget how it turned out but yah, it sure acted gay

It always tried to impress the males instead of the females

sounds like my little Platy, he basically turns his nose up at the females and chases after the male. As long as he's happy and isn't stressed I'm happy, in pretty sure I remembered watching something about the possibility of homosexual fish but my memory isn't great so I couldn't be sure

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Sure, fish can be gay. Gayness is found in most species, and it's not doing any harm in your tank.

Having said that though, what colour are all the fish?
I had black/silver dappled mollies for years, then added a male yellow molly. He showed zero interest in the female black mollies. Seemed odd, since mollies, like other livebearers, are known for trying to mate with everything they can. Got a yellow female molly, and he chased her constantly. Shop keeper suggested that the lemon yellow male had been raised with and only ever seen other lemon yellow fish, and didn't even recognise the black mollies as potential mates.

That rule didn't hold true for the platies we had though - all the varieties interbred with each other freely.

 

[Queen_Khat]

Sure, fish can be gay. Gayness is found in most species, and it's not doing any harm in your tank.

Having said that though, what colour are all the fish?
I had black/silver dappled mollies for years, then added a male yellow molly. He showed zero interest in the female black mollies. Seemed odd, since mollies, like other livebearers, are known for trying to mate with everything they can. Got a yellow female molly, and he chased her constantly. Shop keeper suggested that the lemon yellow male had been raised with and only ever seen other lemon yellow fish, and didn't even recognise the black mollies as potential mates.

That rule didn't hold true for the platies we had though - all the varieties interbred with each other freely.

I wonder if that's the case actually as the other male is a sunset just like him, we weren't able to get a female sunset at the time as they had none in. I might go down today and see if they've got any more females in. If it I'd just the case of him preferring male company I'm happy yo leave them be but he does swim against the glass like hes stressed sometimes so I'll try to get a female like him first just incase. My waters perfect, the tank isn't over crowded and he's the only one acting this way so I'm on a Misson to make him happy now

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I wonder if that's the case actually as the other male is a sunset just like him, we weren't able to get a female sunset at the time as they had none in. I might go down today and see if they've got any more females in. If it I'd just the case of him preferring male company I'm happy yo leave them be but he does swim against the glass like hes stressed sometimes so I'll try to get a female like him first just incase. My waters perfect, the tank isn't over crowded and he's the only one acting this way so I'm on a Misson to make him happy now

If you can cope with the extra potential fry, then why not? Let us know how it goes

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I wonder if that's the case actually as the other male is a sunset just like him, we weren't able to get a female sunset at the time as they had none in. I might go down today and see if they've got any more females in. If it I'd just the case of him preferring male company I'm happy yo leave them be but he does swim against the glass like hes stressed sometimes so I'll try to get a female like him first just incase. My waters perfect, the tank isn't over crowded and he's the only one acting this way so I'm on a Misson to make him happy now

Do you have any live plants in the tank? If the tank seems too "open", without a lot of hiding places, that can lead to fish being stressed out. Some dense plants, especially fast growing stem plants forming a dense thicket the whole height of the tank, and floating plants so they feel safe from predators above (they don't know that there aren't any!) can make a huge difference in helping fish feel safe and settled in their tank. Also helps once the female platies have fry - the fry can hide in the plant matter, and less likely to be eaten by adults. So if you're going by the store anyway, I'd recommend getting some fast growing live plants at the same time

 

[Queen_Khat]

Do you have any live plants in the tank? If the tank seems too "open", without a lot of hiding places, that can lead to fish being stressed out. Some dense plants, especially fast growing stem plants forming a dense thicket the whole height of the tank, and floating plants so they feel safe from predators above (they don't know that there aren't any!) can make a huge difference in helping fish feel safe and settled in their tank. Also helps once the female platies have fry - the fry can hide in the plant matter, and less likely to be eaten by adults. So if you're going by the store anyway, I'd recommend getting some fast growing live plants at the same time

We've got quite a few live plants in there as we've got a cherry and amano shrimp in there but not many tall ones so I'll get a few when I go later thank you!