How Many Female Guppies And Male Platys To Get?

[Torchwood~Mindfreak]

Okay I'm talking about for my 37 gallon tank (Stocking is in my sig) I have 4 male guppy's and 1 female fry whos probablly about a month or two old. She is the daughter of one of my boys and a previous female. She'll eventually be put in the big tank when she's big enough. But I'd like to get a couple other girls to keep her from being "overworked" when she's older plus I'd just really like to breed them to see what colors I can get. So how many other females shoud I get? And about the platy I have one female (Virgin, I've had her since she was a tiny fry. She's probably about 9 months old now) She's a red wag and I'd like to get her a boyfriend. Is the ratio 1:1 okay for platys? And If I get a different colored male will the babys look like a mixture, one of the parents, or just plain ugly?

 

[roz568]

Okay I'm talking about for my 37 gallon tank (Stocking is in my sig) I have 4 male guppy's and 1 female fry whos probablly about a month or two old. She is the daughter of one of my boys and a previous female. She'll eventually be put in the big tank when she's big enough. But I'd like to get a couple other girls to keep her from being "overworked" when she's older plus I'd just really like to breed them to see what colors I can get. So how many other females shoud I get? And about the platy I have one female (Virgin, I've had her since she was a tiny fry. She's probably about 9 months old now) She's a red wag and I'd like to get her a boyfriend. Is the ratio 1:1 okay for platys? And If I get a different colored male will the babys look like a mixture, one of the parents, or just plain ugly?

hi its best with guppys,mollys and platty to have 3females to 1 male

 

[spike123]

i have had no trouble with platys 5males 2females and my guppys befor my recent ones i had about 10 males and 3 females i just find that they breed more rapid the less females you have and fin nipping is a higher possibility

 

[chrisodapz]

i have had no trouble with platys 5males 2females and my guppys befor my recent ones i had about 10 males and 3 females i just find that they breed more rapid the less females you have and fin nipping is a higher possibility

I am a newbie to tropical fish but i read that you should have a few more females to males as the males can stress the females if you have more males

 

[lilfishie]

the general 'rule' as such is 2-3 females per male, so your looking at least 8 gups and ideally a male and female platy

 

[OldMan47]

Let me weigh in a bit on the ratio subject. A typical situation where you cannot observe and react to fish in a community is to suggest at least 2 females for each male in a tank. On the other hand, if kept in small arrangements like a 10 gallon tank, a single pair of fish will do fine. Another case where equal numbers works is in huge arrangements where the sex ratio will quickly reach 1:1 simply because the fry are born in relatively equal numbers. It is when you are keeping 2 or 3 males in a small setting that the ratio becomes important. In that situation, one of the females often becomes a favorite of the males and experiences excessive breeding pressure. That means providing lots of females for the male's choices so that no one female is singled out for breeding.
I have set up many tanks over the years with a simple pair of fish and have had no troubles. I have also set up lots of single species breeding colonies having decently large populations with good results. Commercial breeders tend to use about 5 females to each male simply because it lets them produce more fry by having a larger relative population of females. That ratio is not driven by breeding pressures but by commercial interests.
In a 37 gallon tank with a variety of occupants, either choose to use a single pair of a species or default to the 2 to 1 ratio if you want more. In that setting, you cannot afford the numbers it would take to end up where my single species tanks are with equal numbers of a large number of fish.