Odd Platy Behavior

[Rewth]

a while back my female platy birthed a handful of fry. Two of these are now in a 6 gallon tank i have at work. both are male. one is notably larger than the other (1.5" vs 1").

initially i placed the smaller one in the tank (i wasn't completely positive it was fully cycled yet). after 3 days the ammonia levels were still at 0 and i could see a slight amount of nitrate i added the second (larger).

almost immediately the small one started following hte larger around. non-stop. stressing hte larger one notably. i figured it was jsut a by product of having been alone for three days and the fact that the larger one was a little stressed from the move.

but now we're a full week later and he's still doing it. the little gy follows him EVERYWHERE. and when they stop he hovers bout .5 inches back and at a very odd 45 degree angle (head pointed up). often pressing his body upagainst the larger one.

if they were male/female i'd figure its a mating posture. but they aren't.

is the little guy just confused? is it a submissive posture? the larger one seems notably stressed by it, regardless of why he's doing it. he's constantly trying to get away from him.

[squirt_12]

i would just say that it is a bully.....is the one its chasing around have any nip fins or anything??? is it pailer in colour???

[Sasquatch]

It's probably just territorial behaviour. He was in a small tank all on his own and he "claimed" the tank. When you introduced the other fish, he saw it as an intruder into his territory.

Try changing the decor around, adding things, moving other around. It'll break up the territory and the two should stake out their claims afterwards.

It's a small tank though, so there will always be some territorial behaviour. As long as it doesn't cause injuries it's not a problem, but keep an eye on it.

[squirt_12]

i agree with Sasquatch

[Rewth]

paler... heh... they are both blues... bout as pale as you can get. the larger one is a high-fin, and no has no fin nips or anything of that nature on him.

back at home the larger one was absolutely the dominant one. he spent all his time chasing mom around trying to breed and chasing off any of the smaller ones that got near her. that was one other reason i removed the smaller one as i was worried he was gonna get killed to to his size and hte agression he was being shown.

its hard to explain but the way he's acting appears far more submissive than agressive. the larger one occasionally gets fed up with in and is agressive towards him, if anything.

as it is, these two are really just keeping the tank cycled til i can track down some endlers for this tank.

[squirt_12]

what all do you have in the tank??? could you post a pic of what it looks like??

[Rewth]

sure.... should be a pic attached. its HORRIBLE quality as its from my cellphone.

its an eclipse 6. standard hood bulb (soon to be replaced with a fullspectrum) as well as a 40wat full spectrum CF bulb from behind. substrate is sand, small aquarium gravel and laterite.

parameters are: temp 80, ph 8.0, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0. local water PH is right at 8.0 as well, which struck me as odd, i figured the sand would change that.

the left side is a little barren right now but will soon have more water hyssop. currently on the left as some pieces of rose quartz and some small crypts.

middle forground is a few anubias plants and a mossball along with a piece of african driftwood.

right foreground is more anubias and some java moss.

back ground is i THINK some rotala indica anda handful of water hyssop (bacopa monieri)

current residents are two young platies, bout 1" and 1.5" and a single cherry shrimp. (testing water quality on the shrimp before buying a small handful of them as i don't have a clue what my water's copper content is. i figure if he lives for a few weeks things are groovy.)

[squirt_12]

well first of all was the tank fully cycled when you put them in there???
cause if i am not correct...i think that you need to have readings of nitrate.
ALso i would add something else to give your platys somewhere to hide...those plants arn't enough coverage for a platy. Give them something to go into and hide. Like a cave or something.

P.S.
Nice looking tank. :thumb:

[Rewth]

yep. it's cycled. there was nitrate on friday, very low though. then i did a water change. from what i've read, plants will absorb some as well. i expect by friday of this week i'll have a measurable amount of nitrate again.

and i'll be adding some more stem plants for sure. i just happened to buy all the hyssop my LFS had in stock at the moment.