Ok... Tell Me Again This Is Normal For A Platy!

[PrairieSunflower]

I know I posted before that my one and only platy (a female) had one day taken to poking/brushing my guppies with her tail.... someone said totally normal platy flirting. She only did it that one day and hadn't done it again until today..... now she is going overboard poking my guppies with her tail and pretty much freaking most of them out.... no one wants to be with her. BUT... I also noticed the odd flick on a leaf as well... not constant or even often, but a few flicks..... is this normal too or should I be concerned? I don't SEE anything wrong and my water stats are normal, water was just changed yesterday.

Does she maybe need a buddy? Another female friend? I don't want to get her a mate as I don't want any babies.

 

[classicx10]

If you had a mate for her and she got pregnant you most likely wouldn't end up with much fry if you didn't try to save them. In a month I had 3 platys produce well for me 2 of which I had in a breeder box. The other I let have her fry in my community tank and the rest of the fish ate them as quick as they came out. So I don't think you would get over stocked unless you have slot of hiding places. Best thing to do is have 2 females to 1 male platy it gives the females a break because the males are very consistant in impregnating the females. Hope I could help

 

[Sailfin Zach]

2 females might fight for territory mabye not because i keep a gold panda molly male a sword tail male a marigold varitos male a hi-fin platy male all of those and i raley see any chasing although my tank is a 55 gallon what size is yours

 

[PrairieSunflower]

My tank is about 24 gallons. I have my 1 platy, 4 adult female guppies, 2 juvenile female guppies and 15 neons. Everyone gets along beautifully, so I don't want to add trouble.

I just can't tell if my platy's behavior means she needs someone of her own kind or she would do this anyway. Not sure how old she is but she is still about 1 1/2 inches long... I bought her since she was clearly too small to be pregnant and I wanted a virgin as to not add more fish than I wanted to my tank.

If I did add another platy, I'd also seek out a juvenile to keep my numbers stable... would that make a difference in whether they got along or not?

 

[OldMan47]

Examine her closely. Flicking like that often rtakes place when a fish has skin isues such as ich or a fungus.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

She is flashing less these days, but still flashing. I am trying the theory of maybe it is food related, as she has done it from time to time since I got her. At the moment I have swapped to one meal of my regular food and one of cheap flakes (only type I could get at short notice, have better stuff on order) and I think she is flashing less after the cheap meal. So... I am hoping that may solve it once I switch to the better quality stuff that will arrive early during the week.

As for her appearance. Definitely no sign of ich and I don't see anything different in her color or scales to make me think anything is there.

This morning I have feed the tank just the cheap flakes and she hasn't gone to the corner to hide the rest of the time... which is what she has been doing most of the time otherwise.