Given up on gouramis...How about a few platies?

[RachelG]

After much time and effort searching around for Sparkling Gouramis and not finding them(except for high prices online) and trying to figure out a safe and inexpensive way to soften the water and lower PH, I think I may have to give up on having Sparkling Gouramis for my ten gallon tank. Apparently I can't have my cute little chili rasboras, either. (All of the fish I want are impossible to find and need conditions that I cannot provide! What gives with my liking for fish? Why can't I like guppies like a normal person? Those are common!)

But how about I get three male platies instead? (Males only to avoid fry)
My water is fairly hard and has a PH around 7.8 to 8.0, and I've read that livebearers appreciate conditions like this(correct me if I'm wrong). My tank has an Aquaclear 20 filter and is planted heavily with anubias, java fern, hornwort, and anacharis, most of these floating or tied to driftwood. The tank is FULL of plants(set up with Sparkling Gouramis in mind). Would conditions like these be suitable for a small handful of Platies? They are supposedly hardy, so I think they might be good for me considering my limited experience with aquariums. They are very pretty and adorable, too! I'd love to have some. But are they right for my tank?

Also, my ten gallon is not fully cycled yet, but nitrites are dropping now, so I think I'm close.

Now that I've decided not to go for gouramis, maybe I can actually have some cherry shrimp! Would the platies eat them, harrass them, or just ignore them?

 

[Mebbid]

Honestly, Unless you are keeping high profile fish such as discus, wild caught fish, or attempting to breed then your pH and hardness wont faze most aquarium fish. They have adapted to the parameters that are common to most tap water and do just fine in it. As long at your pH remains stable then it's not a big issue at all. So go ahead and get the fish you like!

 

[RachelG]

Well, if I could find the sparkling gouramis, I would buy them...but they are as elusive as unicorns, unfortunately.

Unicorn fish. Wouldn't that be cool? Like little narwhals. Except they are fish. Hehe.

 

[Mebbid]

Well with some superglue it could be possible!

The platies would be a great addition to your tank.

Although, I will add that keeping more than one gourami is a bad idea in a tank. They tend to hate each other.

 

[RachelG]

According to posts from people who have kept them, sparkling gouramis can easily be kept in groups. It's just a problem if you have a lot of males in a smaller tank...Which is why I wanted to track down mature fish and try to sex them, so I could only get one male and the rest would be females. But I can't even find babies anywhere. You would think cool little fish like these would be popular and common. But they probably aren't because they are so tiny and don't have bright colors.

 

[Jewel_cichlid03]

If your worried about the price check out liveaquaria.com there asking price on a sparkling gourami is less then 2$ i think it was a $1.39 not 100% sure but i kno it was less then 2$

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

True about live aquaria, but shipping is $30 bucks

 

[RachelG]

If your worried about the price check out liveaquaria.com there asking price on a sparkling gourami is less then 2$ i think it was a $1.39 not 100% sure but i kno it was less then 2$

Their minimum purchase amount is about $30 I think, and shipping costs $30. So I would spend a lot of money and have to buy a lot of fish. It does seem like a great site to buy from. I may buy stuff from them in the future if I have a better job and more tanks for the fish, but that isn't very feasible now.

 

[cgthebeast]

Could always give pet sloutions a look. I don't know if they have them, but their known to carry fish like that shipping is only 19$ also