mollies, platies, guppies

crazydaisylou

crazydaisylou

This is Achmed
Feb 26, 2007
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what is the biggest tank you think that mollies, platies, and guppies can go in? I bought about ten a couple of months ago (total, not each) to put in a 20 gallon and they keep BREEDING!! I have about 30 in the tank now. most of them are still small. I also have seven that were born a week ago in a one gallon tank, and two of my platies and one of my guppies look like they are going to explode any day now. I wanted to put them in my 55 gal and put the fish from the 55 into a 29, but I was told by someone at work that they wouldn't do well in a big tank, but she also said that she hasn't had a lot of experience with these particular fish, she likes cichlids. I wanted to get an opinion from someone who does have experience with them. Oh, and I do have homes lined up for some of them, but not all of them. I don't have a 29 yet, I want to get one after christmas.

Also, how often should I be doing water changes for them? I thought maybe once a week or once every two weeks.

Thanks

Daisy <~~~~~:screwy:
 
They will do fine in a big tank, but they just keep breeding and breeding... I would take a large jug of water, filled with babies all of one kind (once they are 1" or so) and take them to the LFS for credit.
 
or better yet, get some bigger cichlids for the 55 gallon, and use your overstocked livebearers as "breeder conditioning" food. yummy
 
I have a community of platies and mollies and other small fish in my 120. They are fine in there. The usual issue with a large tank is that people keep things like oscars and severums in them. They eat small fish so it won't work.
I intend to put my endlers in my large tank when I start moving things around and they are only about half the size of a guppy. Very small fish in a large tank can make it come alive because the stocking level in sheer numbers can be high enough that there is movement everywhere and never a quiet area in the tank. Cories go well with your live bearers and a few of them would be nice in that 55 as well.
 
i do know not to put them in with the cichlids. I was hoping to get rid of my convicts but no one seems to want them (big surprise there, not). Do you think that if I left my catfish in with the mollies and platies that the catfish would eat them? My largest catfish is about five or six inches long at the moment, i guess full size. I know it's iffy with the young ones, but I wasn't sure about the adults.

thanks for the suggestions


Daisy <~~~~~:screwy:
 
ghjhreed said:
I intend to put my endlers in my large tank when I start moving things around and they are only about half the size of a guppy. Very small fish in a large tank can make it come alive because the stocking level in sheer numbers can be high enough that there is movement everywhere and never a quiet area in the tank. Cories go well with your live bearers and a few of them would be nice in that 55 as well.
Click to expand...


Ditto---great idea. I have a 20H with 30-40+ endlers in it, loads of action, and it's nowhere NEAR overstocked. I've checked the water params after 6 weeks no WC and they were still darn near perfect. Am adding a few skunk corys for bottom action.

I have a 40 Breeder with about 20 platys and a dozen corys, 2 otos, looks great, loads of action. I dare newcomers to TRY to count the fish :)

Another member of local fish club has a big tank with many live bearers in it...he said he was surprised how much he enjoyed it vs a few large fish..and he has plenty of room for bigger ones like large mollies and montezuma swords.

25% water changes every week or two is a good goal.
 
there really isnt a limit to tank size. you could have a pretty cool looking tank that is full of different color platies.


6 weeks without a water change is NOT a good idea whatsoever. do NOT add anything to that tank, especially corydoras. there are probably plenty of nutrient imbalances that are not picked up by the nitrate, ammoina, and nitrite tests. there is also very little chance that your nitrates are under 20, regardless of how big the fis are. there are still
40 fish in there.
 
we keep our mollys/platys in a 55gallon.

aand they've filled it up quite nicely.
 
quote from jm1212:
6 weeks without a water change is NOT a good idea whatsoever.

FYI, I'm not the OP...and we can take this to another thread or to PM if necessary.

I should have noted that the 6 weeks was a BAD thing...

Seriously though, between the plants and the heavy filtration, the tank really is close to equilibrium...it really doesn't need attention more than every 3-4 weeks.

Daisy: I suggest you have plants in your livebearer tank. Java Moss and hornwort work very well in lo-light tanks and provide lots of cover for babies too.
 
I was thinking about getting java moss for both tanks for at least a few months, but they don't sell it around here, and I hate buying plants on the internet. It's expensive, too, on the internet, or the shipping was anyways. At least the places I looked it was. I'll look around for the hornwort. If you look on the bottom right of my avatar (I know, it's blurry), you will see a live plant. My convicts killed them, so I wasn't sure what I could get to put in the tank with them. I remember reading somewhere that they will kill most plants, but I know the plants I had were on the short list of things they liked. I don't remember what plants I had.

What, by the way, is an endler? I'm fairly new to fishkeeping. I've only had my convicts for about a year, and they are the first ones I ever had.

Daisy <~~~~~:screwy:
 
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