Shy Platy

[Averus]

I recently added some varitus platys to my tank, 55 gallon with a lot of plants and wood.  I have three females and one high fin male, who is also the smallest of the batch.  They have been in the tank for a couple weeks now and the male just seems painfully shy.  A lot of times he hides in the plants, but not always, as he does venture out at times to eat food and nibble on algae.  He does not have any clamped fins or other signs of disease, and as I said he is eating.  His swimming looks fine, when he pops out.  I will admit this is better then the first week where he just hid

He does sometimes stay near one of the females, but many times when I do see him he is busy wandering on his own.

The three females are a lot more visible, I see them all the time.  Their only tank mates are six black neon tetras who ignore them ( I had some juvenile emperor tetras, but re-homed them as the males were already acting territorial and chasing the black neons away.

Any ideas about what is going on here?  I would like him to be comfortable about being out in the open more, he is a very pretty fish.

Would getting some more platys help?  The only thing  is I would need to wait to add them because I would need to quarantine them.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Averus
removed extra word

[FrozenFins]

I would suggest to wait it out. It sounds like the platy is slowly warming up to you, give it time. You can also try adding more plants/ hiding places, this will make him feel more secure and he may decide to come out more as a result.

[Averus]

I have an update on the male platy.  He has gotten a little more bold then before, I do see him swimming out in the open and happily picking algae on the leaves of my anubias and also some of the foods I feed, he loves freeze dried bloodworms.  Also he is sometimes playing in the bubbles from the air stone, well till he got bored with that.  He is still rather shy, the three females are just a lot more boisterous then he is. He seems to like being near the black neon tetras more the other platys.

I have noticed that he isn't scared of me, he often comes out of the planted part of the tank he likes to rest in when I am around.  I guess he is just way more reserved then your usual platy, but at least I can see him a bit more now.