Complete make-over of 10g tank - Will my platies be happy in there?

hazyvonne · Dec 21, 2022

Hi everyone!

I recently bought yet another 10g tank, so I decided to turn my old quarantine tank into a “real” tank that will be the new home of the 4 male platies I separated from the girls a few months ago (waaaaaaaaaay too many babies. Sooooo many babies. Even now, 4 months later, soooo many babies). All my other tanks are super heavily planted, overgrown-jungle-type tanks. I wanted something a bit different this time. I’m quite happy with how it looks, but I guess I’m just not used to not having a crazy amount of plants. So, what do you guys/gals think? Does it need more of something? Will the boys be happy in there? Would you put anything else in there with them (other fish/snails/shrimp)?

Plants in the tank:
. java fern
. little bit java moss
. vals
. dwarf saggitaria
. red tiger lotus (just a bulb right now, planted in right corner by the driftwood)
. alternanthera rosanervig mini
. two anubias (bateris round and golden nana)
. lucky bamboo (that's an experiment. I read a lot online, and it seems to work for some people but will rot for others)

Stefan3289 · Dec 21, 2022

I think that they would love it there. As for other fish, I think personally shrimp would not be the best idea as the platys might view them as a snack rather than a companion especially if they are more full grown, but I would see what others say about larger shrimp as that might work. As for other fish, what is the hardiness of your water? I don’t have any experience with snails so I would not know about advice on that.

Ellie11 · Dec 21, 2022

I only submerged the roots when I tried Lucky Bamboo. Your method looks better. Mine failed to develop a good root system. I prefer pothos, again with only the roots underwater. Your setup is awesome!

I keep platys in a 55 gallon community tank. No babies! Must be the bigger fish are eating the fry. I have pearl gouramis in there

hazyvonne · Dec 22, 2022

Stefan3289 said:
I think that they would love it there. As for other fish, I think personally shrimp would not be the best idea as the platys might view them as a snack rather than a companion especially if they are more full grown, but I would see what others say about larger shrimp as that might work. As for other fish, what is the hardiness of your water? I don’t have any experience with snails so I would not know about advice on that.

Thank you for your reply! I have some neocaridinas in my community tank that has the female platies in it. Of course, I can't say no shrimp ever gets eaten (I wouldn't know) but the majority seem to be doing fine. I was more worried about tank size - this is a 10 gallon tank. Not sure whether putting anything but 4 platies in there would be overstocking it

hazyvonne · Dec 22, 2022

FishLady18 said:
I only submerged the roots when I tried Lucky Bamboo. Your method looks better. Mine failed to develop a good root system. I prefer pothos, again with only the roots underwater. Your setup is awesome!

I keep platys in a 55 gallon community tank. No babies! Must be the bigger fish are eating the fry. I have pearl gouramis in there

Thank you for replying! I do really like the way the lucky bamboo looks, but the internet (as always) gives very ambivalent advice. Some say fully submerging them is no problem, other say it will rot every time. I guess we'll see

I keep my platies in a 55g community as well. But they are the biggest fish in there. Within the last few months, I have brought literally hundreds of baby platies to my LFS as a donation. I was thinking about adding a bigger fish like you do. I had an angel fish in there for a little while and he certainly helped but he got sick (first fish I ever lost

) now I was thinking maybe a dwarf gourami (but that might be too small). Pearl gouramis sounds like a good compromise. How many do you have in there together?

emeraldking · Dec 22, 2022