how many platies in a 20gallon

[HeatherW]

So I am planning ahead...
how many platies can I put in my 20 gallon tank? I have 7 cherry barbs and 1 mm platy right now. I want to add at least one more male and one more female to give me a 1m/2f ratio.

right now I have 12-15 molly fry and I just found one surviving platy fry. my plan is to sell the molly fry maybe in another month. that is when I would like to add more platy.

how many can I have in my 20 gallon before I am getting too crowded?

 

[BBradbury]

Stocking a 20 G Tank

So I am planning ahead...
how many platies can I put in my 20 gallon tank? I have 7 cherry barbs and 1 mm platy right now. I want to add at least one more male and one more female to give me a 1m/2f ratio.

right now I have 12-15 molly fry and I just found one surviving platy fry. my plan is to sell the molly fry maybe in another month. that is when I would like to add more platy.

how many can I have in my 20 gallon before I am getting too crowded?

Hello H...

I've kept small "Livebearers" in small tanks before and found that they're most comfortable in larger numbers, but I never kept more than 30 to 40 small fish in a 20 G even when changing half the tank water every week.

The real issue with livebearing fish is they're such fast breeders, a small tank can become overstocked in a short time. I have fry in my tanks every few weeks and nothing else in the tanks but several Corydoras, so I have a high fry survival rate.

B

 

[HeatherW]

so... I should be fine with 7 cherry barbs, 3 platy adults and then babies until I move them out?
didn't quite know what you meant with the 30-40 fish... I know I can't have 30 platy adults in my tank

 

[BBradbury]

Stocking a 20 G Tank

so... I should be fine with 7 cherry barbs, 3 platy adults and then babies until I move them out?
didn't quite know what you meant with the 30-40 fish... I know I can't have 30 platy adults in my tank

Hello again H...

The 30 to 40 fish wouldn't be adults, that's way too many. This number range would be Livebearers of all ages. I was getting so many fry with my Livebearers, I went to 55 G tanks.

I'm a water change and aquatic plant fanatic and Livebearers thrive in pure water conditions and a lot of floating plants, so I always have fry in my tanks. I feed quite a bit, so the adult fish really show no interest in the fry and with no other fish but Corydoras in the tanks, most of the fry survive.

Above everything else, have fun!

B