Calm Livebearer?

[Dwayne Brown]

Hi, I have some Endlers livebearers. And they are, Incredibly active and food crazy to say the least. I was recently in a fish store and saw some platy's getting fed, they seemed to be pretty calm compared to some other livebearers I have seen. So my question is this, are there any calm livebearers out there? 

Thanks

[Colu]

I have kept mollys platys guppy swordtails over years  and they were all voracious eater's

[Guppysnail]

Guppies are beggars and pigs 🐷 but adorable 😁

[CalmedByFish]

With my endlers and platies, I've noticed that the females are much calmer than the males. When females are in a shoal without males, they move noticeably slower than a male/female combo, or males without females. (Other species in the tank also cause faster movement.)

So if you're aiming for a calm tank, I'd say to try putting nothing but female endlers in a tank.  Set it up with plenty of hiding spots so they feel safe, let them get used to it for a couple days, then see if they're acting as calm as you're hoping. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to tell a difference.

[Hobbit]

My male platys would not be described as calm. 😄 Honestly, the females are fairly active and definitely gluttons. I don’t really blame them with how pregnant they are all the time. But even my tank with just female platys has a pecking order, with the head female chasing the others around. Compared to my other community fish (neon tetras, honey gouramis, otos, bristlenose plecos, yoyo loaches) the platys are up there with the loaches in terms of spunk.

[PineSong]

Hmmm, interesting to read others' replies. I have two community tanks with platies in them now (one male tank, one female tank) and in the past I kept an all female tank for a few years, and my experience of them is that they are very calm, especially compared to male guppies/endlers and my male mollies.

I have not noticed my females doing anything like establishing a pecking order. There are three large adult females, six juvenile 'pretty sure they're females' and three fry around a month old in my community tank, and they are totally peaceful. Of course they swarm around when food shows up, but the rest of the day they mind their own business and look around for food, groom the plants, and just look chubby and cute.  In my all-male tank, there is a little more chasing and activity that looks like hormones run amok, but nothing aggressive and nothing even remotely as harassing as my male guppies and endlers. My blue moscow guppies are like sociopaths on amphetamines. My platies are more like cows--always grazing. 

 

[Hobbit]

Okay I have a new breeding goal: platys that act like cows. 👍

To be fair, my females may feel overcrowded. I have 7 in roughly 15 gallons, with more vertical space than horizontal. Knowing what I know now, I would be more comfortable with 5 or less in that volume. I’ll probably be taking two or three to the LFS.

[Fonske]

My female variatus platies are definitely the most peaceful bunch among other livebearers (endlers, guppies, and mollies). They busy themselves with grazing algae all the time and never bother each other or other fishes. Maybe because I keep then separated from males that are sometimes a bit too amorous, even to other species.