Platties Need Some Friends

[Em29]

Can I ask some advise again? KittyKat has already been very helful but I feel overwhelmed with the 'choosing of fish'.

I think my Fluval Roma 90 is almost ready to have me two adult platy's move in. I will be getting another 6 adults once these oldies have settled in.
My water hardness is on the hard side and so I am trying to think of suitable fish to join them.

Are there any cory's that like harder water?
Or are plecs a better option?

I like guppies/ swordtails but I do not think I want any more live bearers. Thanks in advance.

Oh yes Stats are as follows:
PH 7.6
KH 10d
GH 16d
NO3 0
No2 0

Is this sounding ok? The water is really quite hard...

 

[KittyKat]

You know, I started reading that bottom up and thought "wow, someone actually posted all the relevant info for a change!" The water is hard, but it's nothing to worry about in the long term. Mine was actually harder in the last house. With time, you will be more able to keep soft water fish in that water, as you will know what to look for in case of problems and how to deal with them.

The most suited Cory is probably Corydoras hastatus as they do not mind hard water as much as some of the others and are one of the dwarf Corys. In a tank like yours, you can keep 10. You will need to know how to ID them when you go to buy because there are a number of dwarf Cory species and some like their soft water!

I'd also consider a school of 10 Trigonostigma espei for mid-level in the longer term.

 

[Em29]

Ah KittyKat Thanks again!

So I am going to have a look round our nearest Maidenhead Aquatics on saturday...should I ask for the Espe's Rasbora if I cannot see it or will I sound like a loon?
I had a good look at the corydora you suggested - lovely. I will have a look and see if I can find that particular species. If I happen to find some (in a few weeks or so) should I buy 5 and then another 5 later or all 10 in one hit?

I am going to post a pic of tank soon so you can put a picture to all this advice! I warn you now...it is blue gravel but my sitting room is teal and brown and it really makes a nice feature with the matching gravel

 

[Em29]

This is the tank so far.... Looking to buy more plants soon!

 

[KittyKat]

should I ask for the Espe's Rasbora if I cannot see it or will I sound like a loon?

They should know what espei rasboras are, but you should also make sure you know how to tell the difference from harlequins and hengeli as both of those get bigger.

I had a good look at the corydora you suggested - lovely. I will have a look and see if I can find that particular species. If I happen to find some (in a few weeks or so) should I buy 5 and then another 5 later or all 10 in one hit?

I'd get 5, wait two weeks, then another 5. Also, do you know how to drip acclimatise? If not, learn. Thanks for the warning about the gravel, yikes!

 

[Sailfin Zach]

Platies are hardy fish so they are tough like all live bearers but i have 3 platies but they all just keeped fighting it got so bad we could not take it anymore so we split them into 3 differnt tanks my double bar in my dads 36 gallon tank the Sunburst in my dads 20 gallon and the HiFin in my 20 gallon as shown below

 

[KittyKat]

Platies are hardy fish so they are tough like all live bearers but i have 3 platies but they all just keeped fighting [...]

(Some punctuation would be appreciated! )

Most livebearers are relatively aggressive and social fish, which is why it is generally a good idea to keep them in larger groups (I recommend 5+), so that any aggression is spread. Surpisingly enough, it is often the old females which actually end up being the worst!