Beginner 15 gal tank

[Gypsyfish]

I have 15 gal tank. I started with 2 male platys. What else can I add? My original plan was 2 platy then add 2 guppies and some of those small neon tetra(the red white and blue kind) snails were suggested as clean up crew. What do you all think? With my current platys, one is always chasing the other.

 

[fluttermoth]

What are the dimensions of your tank and is your water hard or soft?

Do you know the sex of your platies?

 

[Gypsyfish]

My tank is 24x12x12. I measured when I put the water in after decorations and everything, it took 10 gallons. I think we have hard water but not sure. It leaves a pinkish film around my drain. I was told that is hard water. Well as of today I have 2 male and 2 female all platys.

 

[Essjay]

Limescale is a better indicator - does your Kettle or shower head fur up? If it does, that's hard water. I have soft water and get that pink but no limescale.

However, if you look on your water supplier's website you should find your hardness on there, somewhere. (If you can't find it tell us the name of the company and we'll have a look). You need the hardness number and unit, as they could use any one of about half a dozen different units.

 

[hobby5]

I thought the pink stuff were bacteria (biofilm) and have nothing to do with hardness, but develop on wet (moist) spots.

 

[Essjay]

That was my understanding too.
My son used to work in a hotel, and one of the chefs told him the pink stuff was salmonella But that was probably a myth spread amongst the kitchen staff to ensure the kitchen was thoroughly cleaned.

 

[Gypsyfish]

Ok I will have a look at the website. Excuse my ignorance but would the water hardness make a difference on how many fish I could have?

 

[Gypsyfish]

I checked. It says 20-62.

 

[fluttermoth]

Ok I will have a look at the website. Excuse my ignorance but would the water hardness make a difference on how many fish I could have?

It doesn't make any difference to the number of fish you have, but it is important for choosing fish who will be happy in your tank. Soft water fish don't live long or happy lives in hard water, and vice versa.

I checked. It says 20-62.

We need to know what unit/measurement that's in (GH, KH, PMM?).

 

[Gypsyfish]

What is that ? Where do I find it?

 

[fluttermoth]

It should say somewhere on the page where it gave you the numbers. Hardness can be measured in lots of different ways, and we need to know which scale or measurement they were using to get the '20 - 62' numbers.

Else it's like me asking you big your tank is, and you saying '5'. I'd need to know whether that was centimetres, or feet, or metres, before I'd know how big or small it was

 

[Gypsyfish]

Ok that says ppm. I'm such an air head