Platy Problem

[jeni_shirlaw]

Hiya everyone,

I have a leeetle prblem that i hope you can help me with... i recently bought a 65 litre tank equiped with everything i need (good quality pump, filter and flourescent light), and then, very stupidly, bought 40 platys from a tray in the shop called 'fish feed'... i couldnt help myself, i had to save those poor fish from certain death! i know its the cycle of nature for them to eaten etc. but i bought them anyway.

This is my problem, is my tank large enough to sustain that number of fish? They seem ok so far.. except that one of my platys must have been pregnant when i bought her because i found little fry at the bottom of my tank... and the other platys proceeded to eat them!! Is this normal?

I know i sound like an amateur, but i really do hope to learn more about keeping fish

PS. for the tank i currently have.. which species of compatible tropical fish can live in it comfortably?

Help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[tkos]

Yup, platies like all live bearers will eat their young. And yes, that is way too many fish for that size tank. Right now you can't put any other tropical fish in that tank. You might be able to keep 15 platies in their comfortably but 40 is asking for trouble. You should be doing daily water changes.

The problem I find is that you go into fish stores and their tanks are full but what you generally don't see is the large sump system that is constantly changing the tanks water.

If you want to add extra fish then you have to get rid of most of those platies. And that means taking them back to the store. Platies and guppies are often used as feeder fish and there will always be tons more of them.

If you do make room then I would suggest getting a bottom fish like cory catfish. They are of the same size and live in a different part of the tank so they don't compete.