BIGbadJOHN
Fish Fanatic
I have 4 male platys in a 10 gallon tank(shortly moving them to 28 gallon). I know I shouldn't have done this, but I'm fairly new to the hobby and didn't want fry because my wife would have cried if she saw babies eaten and I didn't want to rear any. They started out fine together, but now the two largest platys have distanced themselves from the others and are more aggressive towards the other 2. The smallest guy now stays to himself mainly and is staying in one spot a lot. I found him today at the bottom of the tank behind the driftwood just staying in one place. His dorsal fin used to be spread, but within the last couple weeks I've noticed it is dropped most of the time. Especially the past few days he's not very active and keeps to himself with his dorsal fin down. I figured it was just a sign of submission at first, but now that he's not swimming much, I'm not sure. He's also doing this weird thing by turning on his side when another platy comes around and shows his belly to them. They'll kinda pick at his belly quickly then he'll either stop or they'll stop and swim away. Otherwise he swims fine. I was worried he was getting swim bladder disease, but he seems to swim fine any other time. It really seems intentional. A sign of submission maybe? He also isn't eating as well it seems. When he does go for the food he spits a lot of it back out. I've been trying to feed some thawed green peas once or twice a week for a laxative, but it hasn't helped. Is he maybe just stressed from being cooped up with the other aggressive fish? If so, should I expect it to improve when I move them into the larger tank?