Platy Problems

[darkangel216]

I have 4 platys in my tank, what I thought to be 2 adult females, 1 young female and 1 male. It's looking like one of the adult females is a male, mainly because I've watched him/her constantly chasing the male around the tank today. Is there anything to do other than returning one of the males?

[tf1265]

You have a couple options, but without knowing the size of your tank or what else is in there I can only give you some suggestions.

With platies, you can tell male vs female by the bottom fins - females will have wider fins and males will have more of a rod-like fin. Unfortunately this only works with fully adult platies, as it can be hard to determine with young platies.

If you have enough room, you can get 2 more female platies to add to even them out. This obviously is only an option if you have enough room to add 2 more fish. Otherwise, you may have to get rid of one of the males - IF you are sure one of the females is actually a male. It might be too soon to tell, and sometimes platies are funny. It could just be a boisterous female, in which case the male is getting a taste of his own medicine for a while. Wait until mating time, then you'll really be able to see who the males are.

[darkangel216]

Thanks tf1265. I would have added more females, but with 4 platys and 3 tetras in a 10g, I figured that would be too much of a bio load. I took the aggressive male back after watching it for a while to really get a good look at it's bottom fin. Now the ratio is 3 females to 1 male, unless the small one turns out to be a male when it grows up. . . but at least for now there is some semblance of harmony. :D

[Bombalurina]

Not meaning to cause more problems, but is there any way to boost your tetra school numbers? :)

[darkangel216]

Yeah, I realize the tetra numbers are low. There were originally five, then two vanished. o.O I'll be adding two more soon so they will be back up to five.

[Bombalurina]

o.O Where did they go? That's wierd.
Sorry, didn't mean to lecture or anything. :)

[darkangel216]

I have no clue. o.O
I figured they were hiding in the barrel, but after looking through everything, no sign of them. Maybe the other three hid the bodies. :P
It's no problem, you're looking out for the fishies and that is a good thing. :)