livebears 5 gal tank for my desk

[Diesel]

I wonder how many platys and guppies can I keep in the 5 gal tank with AquaClear Mini filter??

which one of them will grow larger? Are they generally hardy?

I heard they can do fine in a tank with out heater, its that true??

How do you tell the difference between a male and female? I want to keep males only.

 

[webmoose]

males have a gonapod (sp?) and are usually more colorful than the females. Usually with livebearers the fish store keep them in separate tanks because the breed like rabbits.

I would personally go with 2 male guppy's in a 5 gal.

Moooooose

 

[Megalofyia]

male guppies have a little white thing under them.. it's hard to describe but you can tell the difference. I don't know about platys. You could keep 4-5 male guppies in that tank and that would be pushing it. I think that platies are biger than guppies.
Guppies are generally hardy fish, as I believe platies are too.
I lived in south Texas when I had guppies so I didn't need a heater.

 

[Diesel]

what about 2 male guppies and 1 male platy in the 5 gal tank? It wont be overstocked right??

Would a 25 watts heater be fine for this tank?

 

[_dan_]

25 watts would be perfect fo that size tank.

 

[platylover]

I agree with Webmoose on the suggestion of the 2 male guppies in a 5 gal tank. As far as platies, both the males and the females are equally colorful. The guppy males will be more colorful than the females tho. The male platies will reach a size of about 1.5 inches, so they will be a little bigger than the male guppies.

You might be alright with 2 guppies and 1 platy. I really don't know much about your filter as far a filtration in gph, but that this would be the absolute max that I would keep in this size of tank.

Another thing to watch out for is that if you do decide to keep only males, the species that you decide to keep more of might have some aggression tendicies in that small tank. I know that both species of fish are supposed to be peaceful community fish, but I would still suggest to provide plenty of hiding places for you fish just in case they do get a little out of hand.