platy is a bully - what can i get?

16 years ago

I have a platy that is such a bully. He's bullied two platties to death now. I would like to get rid of him and get something else to go with my two julii corys & three oto cats. I kinda hate to do that, since so many fish died while I was cycling and I guess he's pretty hardy since he's still around. But, I'm afraid to add anything else for fear he will pick on them too.

Any suggestions for fish for my 10 gallon recently cycled tank? We absolutely love the julii corys, and plan to get more, but I would like something colorful that swims around alot in the middle or near top of the tank.

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Comments (7)

james_ny
16 years ago
Most tetras and rasboras stay small enough to keep in a 10 gal. Neons, ink spot rasboras, sepra, emperior terras are all good and pretty mellow.
woeisme
16 years ago
Perhaps your platy is nuts from the ammonia poisoning durring the cycle. Just kidding. James has great suggestions. I like fancy guppy's. Maybe just dump that platy back to where you got it and ask for replacement, or just to take it off your hands. That way if you still want platy's you can get a small group of more peaceful ones. I think a large group of guppy's is awesome. They are small and don't add much to the bio-load. Oto cats, when they mature, don't show themselves much durring light hours. But they are great tank cleaners. Every tank I have had has at least a team of 5 as a cleaning crew. Once in a while if you can find zebra otos, they are real cool looking.
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hi To the best of my knowledge there are around 700 recognized varieties of platies ,swordtails..So color is no indication of anything. When the differences you mention are seen thet are already sexually mature. They are all born neuter as I mentioned but the anal fin develops into the gonopodium. The male copulatory organ. In females it remains fan shaped. With swords of course the male also develops the caudal extention. Hybrids between the two may or may not develop this. Have heard rumors that they can actually change sex but have no first hand observation of that. So keeping all of one sex may or may not work. The fry that have the best color are those you wanrt to keep. i raise red wag swords and have noted that those that are pink at birth will become the brightest red. I'm not familiar with the strain you mention but red came from the platy side of the cross so would probably work the same way. I keep mine in outdoor pools so firsthand observation is almost impossible. gary
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Stephanie, I understand your confusion, and agree that it is not a true bully / victim situation. However, I really think that what my son did was over the line, and wanted to be sure he realized it, too. If they were playing out in the yard, I would have handled it differently, but there are different rules for the yard than for school, and he is old enough to save any roughhousing for after school. I don't know what, if any, punishment the other boy received, and truthfully, I'm not even sure it matters. Ds has never complained about "MJ", so what reason would the school have for punishing him? When the asst principal first talked to ds, ds only said that they were playing around - didn't mention the pencil-poking until later when he talked to dh. What I wanted ds to get out of this, is reinforcement of something he learned years ago with my niece. My boys and their friends all play rough with each other, and know not to expect any sympathy from me if they get bruised while wrestling or playing dodge ball. But when my niece would come over, ds would play with her the same as he plays with his friends, she would screech, and he would get in trouble (because she had made it clear that she was not interested in their games). Pretty soon she would screech whenever he came anywhere near her - I think just for the fun of getting him in trouble. So I told him, I know that she is overreacting, but I can't defend you if you have so much as touched her. So just stay clear of her, and then you'll never be in trouble. I know it isn't exactly fair that he has to walk on eggshells around her, but in life he'll find there are always a few people who don't play by the same rules he does, and I wanted him to be able to differentiate between who is "safe" and who is not. To me this is nearly the same situation - the school makes it clear that students are not to touch each other, but he did it anyway and paid the price. Yes, the other kid seems to have changed the rules between himself and ds midstream, which is unfortunate, but still, I really don't feel that I can defend ds' behavior here - he has to be responsible for what he does regardless of what anyone else did. Probably will not call "MJ"'s mom, though - your comments made me realize that there is really nothing I can say to improve what will be an uncomfortable situation. "MJ"'s mom will eventually see ds out playing with his friends enough to realize he is not a big bad bully :)
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midwestmom
Original Author
16 years ago
I was thinking about guppy's, since I've seen them at the fish store. We have three oto cats and they are always swimming around, kind of fluttering around, on the bottom and sides of the tank. That's disappointing to hear that they may hide during the day. My kids love the otos and the corys and have them all named and can actually tell them all apart!
I have heard that tetras are very hard to keep and die very easily. Of course I don't remember where I heard that at but it is what was keeping me from considering them. I see lots of mollys in the fish store. What's their story? They are kinda big though, the ones I've seen.
I've never heard of rasboras, sepra or terras. I'll have to look for them next time.
petiolaris
16 years ago
Perhaps you can take the Platy back to the petshop and get something else? I used to have a tank full of livebearers (Platys, Mollys, Swordtails, and Guppys) and another for Bubblenest Builders and another for.... Anyways, maybe you can another tank?
midwestmom
Original Author
16 years ago
Good to know I can mix platys, mollys, swordtails, & guppys. I guess the platy I got is just a mean one.

Getting this tank started was a nightmare. It was my 9yo son's christmas present (please noone ever do this to a mom without asking first!) and of course he's not old enough to take care of it. i didn't ask for it, but i'm learning and i love watching them. but one tank is plenty for me!
woeisme
16 years ago
Don't worry once you figure it out and this becomes 2nd nature and the tank is stocked to capacity you will have nothing to do but maintainance. then you may go back to the pet store to get new food or a filter or something. You happen to notice an awesome fish or 3 that you may want and you decide one day to upgrade because the 10 gallon which seemed so big and sufficient looks like a tea cup. Then you upgrade and the addiction begins. Enjoy it.
petiolaris
16 years ago
My dad started me off with a 10 gallon tank when I was 7. By the time I was in high school I had 8 tanks in our basement.

platy is a bully - what can i get?

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platy is a bully - what can i get?

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james_ny

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