FishProfiles.com Message Forums

we have 3 platys, there is a male and female that seem to have paired up. the third, we are not sure whether tis male or female. the third one gets chased all the time by the male from the pair. poor thing cant do anything or go anywhere. is this a case of threes a crowd? should we move him to another tank or add another (though we are at our stocking limit)

any thoughts appreciated.

Wendy,

I think it would be good to find out if the “chased” platy is male or female. I once had a similar setup, 2 females one male. In my case, it was actually his lady of interest that was chased by him relentlessly. The other one was hanging with him once in a while, but he had no interest of mating with her (she did though).

Why do you think the 2 have paired off (signs)?
Is he after the 3rd one all the time, or only when he/she gets too close to the “pair” (I guess that would be pretty often as it is only a 15G)?

You say you are fully stocked, so I would not add additional Platies. Could you take the single one out and place it in another tank?

Hope this helps,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

hi, had a closer look and i think the third one is female. i think the other too are paired up cos they are by each others sides most of the time. whenever the male sees the third one he chases it off, so it hides alot of the time. we could poss move it to the 75g, see if that helps. would it be ok on its own??

Wendy,

Why don't you move her to your other 15G, or does this one not exist anymore?

I think she would be fine alone, at least for a few weeks. You could try to re-introduce her after some time-out from the stress.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

not keen on putting her into the oher 15g - it has 4 serpaes that were moved into it because of aggression to other fish - also that one would be overstocked. will keep an eye on her for now, if she needs moving she will go to the 75g tank. thanks

i wouldn't reintroduce it back if i were you, i've had the same agression towards my other female. IME platies do always remembers the ones hated. But if you try it anyway, just keep an eye on them. Good luck!