65 Liter Platy And Cory Tank

[Antoniakr]

Hello everyone, i am a beginner and i am going to tell you all my plan for the future.

So i'll introduce myself, i am a girl from England - Leeds, 17 years old and my name is Antonia I have recently been very interested in keeping tropical fish as i find myself being lonely a lot and i want some amazing company and someone to look after  

I haven't bought anything yet i'm planning to buy everything i need before i get the fish, next month i will start buying all the things i need

The Tank

i am getting the Aqua One Aquarium Aquastart 500 it is 65 Liters/ 17.2 US Gallons. 

i am also going to get a 25'' Length tank for the offspring of my fish to live in. (i don't know much about it as i only had a quick look at it in my LFS)

Substrate

I am having sand mainly for my tank, there will be a corner feature what will go along the back of my tank what will include very small round natural gravel and some Dragon stones. i will have a main feature of a mangrove root tree or an archway what will be Driftwood. The higher part of the tank will be the back and right corner and slope down along to the left corner. the rest of the tank will be sand.

Plants

I will have java moss or christmas tree moss attached to the wood and rocks. I want some sort of grass to cover the bottom in the gravel section - im not too sure yet so suggestions would be great i want to add some dwarf hair grass and/or some Vallisneria nana grass to go along the back of the tank. I also want bunches of  Hygrophila corymbosa Siamensis in between some rocks in the gravel to add a nice leafy touch to the tank.

The Fish

Platy - i am wanting 4 platys for my tank. 3 female 1 male. i am going to breed them and try get some fascinating colours. I am not too sure whether i want Sword tails or the Normal Platys yet. First off i will buy 3 females. i will try and make sure i haven't got any pregnant ones but i doubt i will find any virgins as the platys in all my LFS have male and females together. My plan with these females is keep them for 6 months before i get a male, they can have up to 6 separate births because they store sperm in them. with the fry i will try sell them for real cheap, i will probably give them to any of my LFS. With the fry i will separate them with a tank divider once i find out the gender. when i sell them i will bag them up and label the bags with their gender, in hope that the LFS will put them in separate tanks so people wont have unexpected fry - i am sure this is annoying to most people because it can become hectic. i will probably keep my favorite coloured fry to try get even more exciting colours from them!

Corydora - I am also wanting about 6-7 Pygmy Corydoras i will get these probably before i introduce the male, i am not too sure yet as i have literally just decided to get them. i do not want to breed these though.


I am going to buy a breeder net and also Marina 3 in 1 Breeding Trap for my platy. im not sure what one will cause most stress as i think taking her to another tank that she isn't used to will probably cause her to abort, so i think a breeder trap in her home tank will be less stressful. i want the best for my platy  


i will update this if i change any ideas or if i come up with anything else, hope you all think this will be a great idea. if anyone has any tips or tricks that will be great. if anyone suggests anything then please do

Thanks all! have a nice day



 

 

[RSVBiffer]

Well you might be a beginner but you have certainly thought about it and are starting off on the right foot. My first memories in the hobby are of guppies, platies and swordtails breeding like mad in my father's community tank. A lot of people don't like the nets and traps but he used them and they never seemed to cause any harm. Will be watching this with interest, I have a feeling that you are going to be getting excited when the first brood is due . Must admit, don't think it'll be too long before you are trying to breed the cories as well

 

[Antoniakr]

Thank you very much! i already am very excited! i honestly can't wait but patience is key and i am going to wait however long it takes to get the best care for my fish once i get started i will constantly update and post photos, and some videos hopefully Haha never know! maybe one day  

 

[daizeUK]

You have certainly put a lot of thought into it! I like your ideas for the tank. Are you planning to fishless cycle the tank before you add the fish?

I am not too sure whether i want Sword tails or the Normal Platys yet.

Stick with platies. Swordtails require a bigger tank (90cm minimum).

First off i will buy 3 females. i will try and make sure i haven't got any pregnant ones but i doubt i will find any virgins as the platys in all my LFS have male and females together. My plan with these females is keep them for 6 months before i get a male, they can have up to 6 separate births because they store sperm in them.

I've not seen any LFS that keeps male and female platies in different tanks. They do it for guppies and endlers a lot because the females are comparatively drab but not usually for platies and swordtails.

If you want to breed your own platies and experiment with colours then I would get the male straight away. The new male will mate with the females and replace any sperm they are storing, so after they finish their current pregnancy they should start carrying his babies straight away.

 

[Antoniakr]

Yes i am planning to do a fishless cycle for my tank i heard some people put a part of their used filter system in their new tank to help with it, do you think i'd be able to do that with the filter that is in my goldfish tank? 

And oh right i never knew that, i will probably buy the male with them then Thanks a lot 

 

[daizeUK]

Yes the media from your goldie tank should help, although as I understand you have not been dechlorinating the water in that tank but still it might help to seed your new tank. You can cut about a quarter of the sponge and put it in your new filter.

I didn't know that females would use sperm from the most recent male either - I only found out when my sunset and wagtail females started producing hybrid mickey mouse babies after their first batch!

 

[Antoniakr]

What does the sponge from the other tank do? does it deposit bacteria and ammonia etc..  and thanks for letting me know  

I love mickey mouse platy, especially the blue ones! 

 

[daizeUK]

Yes bacteria - the sponge is where a lot of the good bacteria live. The bacteria eat toxic ammonia and nitrite. Inside your filter there is a constant water flow and the sponge has a large surface area which makes an ideal habitat for waste-eating bacteria to colonise.

My first fish were four mickey mouse platies. Just like you I wanted 1 male and 3 females. Strangely enough I got 1 male, one virgin female, one sterile female and the third 'female' actually turned out to be another late-developing male! You never know what you are going to get

 

[Antoniakr]

thats good then i will probably do that  

Haha oh dear, i hope i dont get a late developer! i bet the virgin female got quite stressed out, or did they still chase the sterile female?

 

[daizeUK]

The virgin female was absolutely fine, she got a LOT of interest from the male initially but after she got pregnant he mostly left her alone. She's happy and healthy. He never stopped chasing the poor sterile female and she's been stressed into ill health. Eventually I had to separate them but I should have done it much, much earlier.
I hope you get good, healthy fish

By the way, the chlorine in the water kills bacteria - that's why we have to use dechlorinator, in case you hadn't guessed, so that the good bacteria can remove the fish waste.

 

[Antoniakr]

Yes i am going to dechlorinate the water with the seachem stuff i was advised to get and poor platy