I bought 4 platies for my betta to keep him company, but one is...

[freakumDRESS]

This platy i'm having problems with is named El Stupido. From day one he's been following my betta, and was unafraid of him (the other three are fine and stay away from him, usually). From day two, El Stupido's been nipping at my betta. Now, it's day three or four (cant remember)... My betta hates him. He's constantly sneaking behind him, edges for him, just to get a taste of his fins. My betta is miserable. I lost the receipt for petsmart. Do I take El Stupido back? Will they take him? Will his other platy friends mind? Will the other platys do what El Stupido does and nip too? Yes, El Stupido tried nipping at his friends too, but he found that he prefers my betta, so he only nips him now. He's a cannibal. My betta is ironically named Salmon, btw.

[freakumDRESS]

I know you're out there.

[shinybetta]

Platys usually don't nip fins, what are their genders? If the other males have females, he may be angry and picking a fight with your betta.

[pumpkinspikepie]

I figure if you take the fish back in the same bag you got him in and explain your situation to the Petsmart employee, they'll probably refund you or give you store credit for the fish. That's what I'd do at my store so hopefully they'll be understanding. Also, if the other platies haven't been bothering the betta yet, I'd think they probably won't start. Since you have three of them even if you were to take one back, they'll be fine and won't get lonely. Do you know what the sexes of your platies are? If you have two females and one male, they'll probably find other things to do rather than pick on your betta, if you know what I'm saying.

[freakumDRESS]

I dont know the genders... I also dont have the bag i got them in unless i dig through the trash... Ewww.

How can you tell the genders of fish?

[pumpkinspikepie]

It's easy for platies. On this linked page the male is on the left and the female is on the right. Females have really distinctive anal fins while males just have a gonopodium.

[scootshoot]

My male platy did same. My 14 gallon originally had 1 male betta (transferred from his 5 gallon) alongside 1 male and 2 female platy's. The first time I caught the male platy taking a nip forced me to restart the 5 gallon.

Worked out for the better, the 14 gallon has now become a thriving sorority betta setup with the same 3 platy's, couple feeder guppy and ghost shrimp. The male is back in his 5 gallon. He is a lot more territorial in his 5. When he was in the 14 ghost shrimps were always ignored, however when I introduced one in his 5, he was back to attack mode lunging at the shrimp with full speed . Ended up xferring the ghosty back to the 14

[freakumDRESS]

I figured that i had 3 males, one female platy. I think i'll take back the male today.

[pumpkinspikepie]

You might want to adjust the ratio of males to females. If you only have one female and two males, the males are going to harass the female and stress her out. You could get a new female when you bring the boy back.