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I have 2 male Endlers' that are bullying my 3 male Platys and I don't know what to do.


KyleKVK
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Hi,

The title says it all. The Platys are the newest fish (less than 2 weeks since I bought them), the Endlers' are part of the original stock. Those two little Endlers' chase the Platys everywhere. I can see no visible damage anywhere on the fins, and for all I know they're "playing", but it doesn't look like they are. The Platys appear stressed (swimming up and down the sides of the tank).

I have plenty of plants in the background and driftwood to hide in/under (and caves for my Apistos, but it's usually only the Apistos that go in there). They only do this to each other, and also to themselves. Every other fish is cool and peaceful and gets along.

I can't separate them (only 1 tank). I don't know what to do, short of getting a breeder box and temporarily putting the Endlers' in there.

Any advice would be appreciated. I've never had a bully fish before. Thank you all 🙂

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I would get some dither fish. This will cause the endlers to spread up their aggression to other fish, this way not all of their agression is on the platys.

As far as them being stressed, check your water parameters and do a waterchange, add a water conditioner to the water to make sure there isn't any heavy meatles in the water.

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38 minutes ago, James Black said:

I would get some dither fish. This will cause the endlers to spread up their aggression to other fish, this way not all of their agression is on the platys.

I have some. The tank is stocked with a mystery snail, a male/female Apistogramma pair, 4 cardinal tetras, and an Oto Cat. It’s a 20G high so it’s pretty close to fully stocked. Maybe that’s not enough?

Water parameters are good. I recently had a bad nitrite spike, but this has been happening long before that. I added some Seachem Prime, and did a large water change and it was all taken care of.

 

 

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43 minutes ago, KyleKVK said:

I have some. The tank is stocked with a mystery snail, a male/female Apistogramma pair, 4 cardinal tetras, and an Oto Cat. It’s a 20G high so it’s pretty close to fully stocked. Maybe that’s not enough?

Water parameters are good. I recently had a bad nitrite spike, but this has been happening long before that. I added some Seachem Prime, and did a large water change and it was all taken care of.

 

 

get more cardinals (like 4-6). if that doesn't work try the breeder box.

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This is going to sound a little odd, but I think the endlers are bent on breeding the platies. You have some choices, either you get the endlers some girls of their own, or you get more platies to spread their attentions out. They are not likely to be successful, but that may not stop them from trying. 

Male endler breeding behavior involves a lot of chasing, nipping at sides and "dancing" sideways to show off fins.

Edited by Brandy
I can't tell the difference between platies and mollies apparently.
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1 minute ago, Brandy said:

This is going to sound a little odd, but I think the endlers are bent on breeding the mollies. You have some choices, either you get the endlers some girls of their own, or you get more mollies to spread their attentions out. They are not likely to be successful, but that may not stop them from trying. 

Male endler breeding behavior involves a lot of chasing, nipping at sides and "dancing" sideways to show off fins.

Someone else told me this is what is happening, I thought it was crazy! That’s  so funny, they do that sideways dancing thing all the time. Is it harmful to the Platys? I mean, they’re clearly annoyed at the Endlers’ but I’d live with it if it wasn’t actively harmful.

 

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