A few questions about platy fish?

Question

Last week I just bought 5 platy fish 3 being females and 2 being males.I am a total beginner at raising fish.I have a couple questions about how platy fish breed.

1) What dose their mateing supposed to look like?I read something that told me...it said that they do a sycronized swim together and after that they mate.

2)If my female is pregnate would the males still want to mate with her?

3)Why are they only chasing one of my females and not the others?I have 3 females and 2 males.Both males are only chasing one female and won't stop.I just want to know why they dont even attempt to breed with the other females in the tank?

Answer 1

As long as you have males and females together in a tank, you will always be having fry. Males chase the females around trying to mate with them whether they are pregnant or not. Sometimes the males can sense the females are ready to drop their fry and are chasing them in hopes of eating the fry. You will usually not see the fish mate. You might get 2-3 more females to add to your tank. The rule with platys and other livebearers is 2-3 females per male. This might help your males calm down a bit  they have more females in the tank. Make sure to seperate the pregnant female platy in a breeding net right before she is going to have her fry. The adults will eat the fry if the fry are not provided adequate hiding/coverage in the tank. Enjoy your fish!!

Answer 2

Right the easy way to know that they are mating is that the male chases the female a lot when he catches her up he tilts side ways a bit and their stomachs look as if they are rubbing together.You will also notice the males "stick" will be sticking outwards ready to fertilize the female.

Even if the females are pregnant the males will still try to mate with them or still chase them at least.

One reason why they probably don't want to breed with the other females is because the females may still be young and not mature enough to breed.

Another reason is that the other female is bigger and therefore more appealing to the males.

Hope this helps and good luck

P.S    

The Adults are likely to eat the young unless there are plenty of hiding places such as live plants and ornaments  

Answer 3

1) The males will chase around the females constantly to breed. You rarely actually see them mate but the males try all of the time.

2) Yes, the males will still want to mate with her.

3) The other females may be younger, but also the males are more attracted to females that have just had babies. It is very possible that that particular female has had babies within the last month and the males sense that and are more attracted.

Also, you need to get one or two more females because your male to female ratio is not large enough. The ratio should be 2-3 females per male so the females are not harrassed too much.