Do I Need Another Tank?

[1975durban]

I have a 350 litre community tank with sharks, loaches, barbs, plecs, catfish, etc in and a 60 litre tank which has my 2 pregnant platys in and 6 guppies (2 male and 5 female) which I got today, when the platys have their fry do I get a new tank set up for them if so what size? or just keep them in a breeding net in the 60L tank?? If the guppies get pregnant could I put guppy fry in with the platys fry??

 

[RamboFish]

I would say yes you always need a new tank lol

I had a similar thing when i got a group of platys in my 90l community tank and personally found it easier to get a fry tank. I got and aqua nano 60 which is about 22l. Just the job though for what you need. Plus the filter runs through a back unit which is seperated by black glass so it super easy to fry proof.

Oh and yes i think guppy and platty fry are fine together.

 

[OldMan47]

A 60 litre is about as small as you could get away with for 5 adult platies. If you intend to save fry, you will need a tank large enough to hold all of the fry that you keep until they are big enough to pass along. Around here, nobody will take a platy at less than about 1 1/4 inches long body plus the tail. It is reasonable to expect the fry to not get that big for 3 or more months and the female platies will drop about 25 fry each at periods of 4 or 5 weeks. You can do the math but unless you are ready for a very large tank, you will need to be selective in what fry you save. Even your 350 would be as bit small for that many platies.
Guppy fry can be kept with platy fry with no trouble except that it expands your population of fry even more.

 

[1975durban]

Once the platys have had their fry I will put them back in the 350 litre tank and when I notice two guppies are pregnant the rest will go back in the 350 litre tank also, as I only want to raise 2 or three lots of fry at once, then once my 3 tropical fish friends have had them I can start again for my lfs, what size would be ok for that please? Thanks (any excuse to get another tank!!)

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I started off with 60 litres for guppies only... it works but you will want a bigger tank if you intend to keep or rear fry to a decent size.

 

[twingogeekeo]

I got myself a little 25L tank for my fry. Fits on a side perfect. Also adding a few shrimp to it to give it a better feel. Once there big enough ill either put some in the 64L tank or sell them.

New tank is a great excuse for one

 

[1975durban]

Yes I think I will go with the 25 litre as it doesn't take up much room, once the fry are big enough I can put them in the 60 litre tank when big enough, thanks for all your helpful comments!

 

[OldMan47]

If you figure around 75 fry in all, you could get away with a mere 200 litre tank if you are willing to do lots of big water changes.

 

[FishFanatic04]

...200? Just checking.

 

[OldMan47]

That is how I see it. We each manage our fish a bit differently so many people will support smaller numbers, but I think we need to recognize that a tiny 1.5 cm long fry needs every bit as much food as a mature 4 or 5 cm adult whose growth has slowed. That means the tiny fry needs to be judged as the same impact as an adult on water quality and filter biological loads. How would you feel about 75 adult platies and guppies in a 200 litre tank? To me that would be about the maximum crowding that I would ever tolerate. This brings me back to suggesting that as a minimum size for 3 fry drops. In the real world, drops are almost always larger than 25 each but I assume some losses that bring us down to only 75 fry and then try to decide how much room would be required.
Please keep challenging FishFanatic04, it keeps me thinking and helps me figure out why I say what I say.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I was thinking about it wrong. I have just realized that when I had my platies in my 46g, I saved one drop of about 30 fry and my tank seemed very full at that point. I could have saved one more drop but I would have been worried about getting enough food to them. I found it difficult to balance feeding them and keeping the water pristine.

I have a hard time converting to litre in my head still as well I think I had better practice because I'm on this forum everyday. Thanks OldMan!

 

[OldMan47]

A quick ratio is 1 gallon is about 4 litres, just like it would be 4 quarts. It is actually only 3.79 litres but I can get a quick feel for things using 4 as a convenient conversion ratio. It keeps me from having to always calculate things the hard way.

 

[1975durban]

Hi, I am going for a 25 litre tank as I have just 11 platys fry. the mother will now return to my 350 litre tank, so no more fry as they will never survive in there, when these 11 are big enough to give to my friends I will start over again, do i need an air pump with a 25 litre tank??

 

[random919]

i would reccomend it just as they need space to grow and the other fish will eat them if they are put in too early. Also they produce a lot of ammonia so they will affect the other fish. thats why i am looking for another tank as my fish had her first lot of fry yesterday evening.(i had only just got home from a day trip out and she had already had 5). I would reccomend a
hope this helps
random919

* i would reccomend a 25-30L tank at least

 

[OldMan47]

You need a filter, not an air pump, for that fry tank, 1975durban. An 8 or 9 gallon tank for 11 fry will be a bit crowded as the fry reach sale size but should be sustainable, if you do enough water changes. I would suggest every 3 or 4 days you do a 50% water change on that fry tank. Feed to satiate the fry a few times each day and remove any excess food with each water change. Then get out of the way and watch those guys grow.