# Are platies evil?



## Devi (Jan 9, 2011)

My parents tank has platies that have gone a bit nutty and I wondered if it was normal?
We started with a pair of platies, a group of rummy nose tetra, and a load of shrimp, the female platy consistently hounded the male and we finally found her eating him, we weren't sure if she was responsible for his death, but were suspicious so thought replacing with a female might be better. The rummy nose succumbed to a whitespot outbreak so we replaced them with black neons after dealing with the issues, which are ever so slightly smaller.
Yesterday we saw the platies set on one of the neons and literally rip it to pieces within seconds, we did wonder if the neon had been ill or weak, so checked the others and they all seemed fine. Then today they've done the same to another. Both times it looked more like something you'd expect from a piranha than a supposedly friendly community fish.
We are taking them back to the shop today but also wondering what went on to cause it. Has anyone else seen this?


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

Well if you only have one or two platies, that will by why you have problems. They only think about 2 things... food and breeding. They dont care if its the same species or the oposite sex, they will still chase it...

You need to keep platies in groupd of at least six to keep them occupied with each other.


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## Devi (Jan 9, 2011)

Moogloo said:


> Well if you only have one or two platies, that will by why you have problems. They only think about 2 things... food and breeding. They dont care if its the same species or the oposite sex, they will still chase it...
> 
> You need to keep platies in groupd of at least six to keep them occupied with each other.


Now that's something I'd never heard, I used to breed guppys and always kept pairs or trios, I've read most places that platies and mollys are the same, pairs or trios. Shop said the same thing.. although we know they aren't always the best source of info.


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

Obviously not, I work in a shop and always advise keeping livebearers in larger numbers, platies seem to be especially bad this year so far, never seen it quite so bad! Have had loads of platies returned for being aggressive.

Only 2 common factors...

1/ low numbers of that species of livebearer in the tank.

and/or

2/If kept male only... they can be really wound up by females of other livebearer species...

Found a lot of people with 6-12 male platies... should be ok... but with 2-3 female mollies in the tank, it drove the platies mad, removing the mollies and a few waterchanges and eveything settled down.


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## Devi (Jan 9, 2011)

Wow, maybe that's it then. We swapped them for a pair of honey gourami, apparently much less likely to play shark!


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## Sutters (Oct 31, 2009)

I have a tank solely set up for platies and i probably have about 30 of them maybe a little more ...I love these fish and i have never ever had issues where they are attcking each other to the point of ripping each other apart....Lovely little shoal of fish and very stunning to watch them all together..

My Platy Tank


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## Devi (Jan 9, 2011)

Sutters said:


> I have a tank solely set up for platies and i probably have about 30 of them maybe a little more ...I love these fish and i have never ever had issues where they are attcking each other to the point of ripping each other apart....Lovely little shoal of fish and very stunning to watch them all together..


They're ace Sutters. I do like platies, but might be a bit more careful where I put them in future! 
My parents have seen much more chilled out behaviour in the tetra since the terrible twins have gone, they're exploring the decor rather than just darting about in a tight shoal. I think all the fish are a lot more relaxed. I hope the platies find a nice home in a big tank like yours!


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## canth (Sep 23, 2009)

when I bought my platys and guppies from the shop I was advised to keep a minimum of three of each and as I bought a Male guppy was told I would need a minimum three female guppies to keep him happy so I bought 5 girls. When I got home with my Plattys I found that there were 2 boys and one girl so had to leave them in the tank for a couple of weeks before I could introduce anymore and they didn't seem to settle properly constantly chasing the female platy and the female guppies, after I introduced another 3 female plattys in it all seemed to calm down! 
although I have now had to upgrade my tank to a deep 3ft tank as we had a lot of fry lol, luckily a few of my neighbours and other friends keep tropical fish so always have somewhere for my fry to go once they are big enough so should never have an overstocked tank x


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## Polistes (Feb 20, 2012)

Yes platies are evil, I regularly observe mine preforming various satanic rituals in which they sacrifice a younger platy to the prince of darkness.... They also lead hedonistic lifestyles with open relationships and gorge to the excess in fine foods.


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