can I get another female?

[Jaxie]

My tank is 5.6 gallons and I have a small Plec (I have been told he won't get big), two albino corys, 1 female platy and two male platys that I bought yesterday. One of the new platys is already pestering the female and the other seems quiet and I have noticed him being chased by the other - is this an alpha thing going on?! I don't want to overstock but wondered if I can get another female platy?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

wow, your tank is hugely overstocked. You did say 5.6 gallons and not 56 gallons?

All plecs get too big for that (perhaps with the exception of otos at a push), and they are very messy, in that they create a lot of waste. How are your parameters?

The platies are acting like they do normally and this is going to be magnified if your tank is 5.6gallons. You need to have at least 2 females to each male to stop the female being harassed by one male. If there's 2 males to one female it's asking for trouble.

 

[yhbae]

As suggested already, I would get rid of that pleco, also one of the male, and get 1 or 2 more females. Given the size of the tank, this would still be considered overstocked though so you will need to do significant water changes and also watch out for that male platy's behavior...

Also, 2 cories isn't ideal number for them. Is there a chance that you can get a 10g instead? Then you could keep few platies and couple of cories without worrying about overstocking...

 

[Jaxie]

I am planning on getting a bigger tank once I have moved (my house is up for sale). I thought I was ok as I haven't exceeded the inch per gallon rule.

Will I need to get rid of any of them now or will I be ok for a while if I keep an eye on the water condition.

 

[clutterydrawer]

how long is it gonna be till they get a bigger tank? even if those fish do not exceed the 1" per gallon rule now, they are all going to grow, resulting in (i think) at least 15" of adult fish.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Well how are your water parameters? When will you be getting anew tank? You are way exceeding the inch per gallon rule as this is to be used with the size of adult fish and it's not only that. Plecs are notoriously messy and create a lot of waste, putting a lot of stress on your filter and the small water volume does not give much to dilute it. Also, you do not have much territory for fuish and your poor female platy does not have anywhere to hide from the 2 males.