So Fishy

Recently, my red mother platy died. I knew she would after she gave birth. I don't know if she had an internal parasite or if it was a lack of will to live. She seemed afraid of her babies and hid from them all the time.

This week, I transferred a baby molly and a baby platy into the male tank. I don't know if these babies are male or female. But they are almost half the adult size, and I figure they would like some adult company, especially the mollys. I have only the one baby left (the others all died) and the male adult, kept in separate tanks. I thought they would like to know they are not alone. The two babies know each other, so they aren't going to a new home alone either.

So into the adult tank the babies go. It's a very interesting drama that played out the next couple of days with the addition of the baby fish into the tank. They are after all children of the adult males.

The baby molly was immediately drawn to the adult molly. It followed him around, nipped at him, and stuck close. The adult molly didn't seem to mind. The two male platys seemed more interested in checking out the baby platy. They circled each other a lot, but after a while, the adult platys lost interest in the baby and ignored it. How do the fish know they are the same kind?

I've suspected the adult platys are rather aggressive males, bullies even. I've seen them chase each other and twist their bodies into fight mode. What I hadn't expected was the platys taking an interest in the baby molly.

This morning, I saw the little black fish hiding behind the filter. Inches from it were both adult platys, hovering and waiting. More surprising was the adult molly. It kept swimming between the baby molly and the platys, as if trying to stop the platys from scaring the baby molly.

After a while, the baby molly swam out to follow the adult. Later, I found one of the platys sitting in the spot behind the filter where the baby molly was. Was it sitting there to stake out its territory just because the baby molly had been there? I've never seen the platy sit in that spot before.

Are these fishy social interactions really happening or am I ascribing dominance and defensive traits to fish? I could be spending too much time alone.