New Tank Help

[Aquastrategist]

Hi, I've been messing around with ideas for my 55 gallon tank for a while and so far my tank will for sure have platies neons rainbows and angelfish. My planned stock is
· 1 Angelfish(already have in 25)
· 10 neons (already have in 25)
· 8 albino cories
· 3 Turquoise Rainbows( in 25)
·3 Irain or Yellow Rainbows
· 10 Red Platies(8 are fry)
· 1 Brittlenose Pleco
I will be getting rid of my 25 gallon and upgrading to my 55. Is my stock plan ok? I am using driftwood rocks and artificial plants. Please help!

 

[librarygirl]

No, you'd be overstocked. You should add two more Turquoise rainbows as they do best in groups of at least 5. The problem is that the platys are rather messy fish; the fry are going to grow so they are going to take up a lot of your bioload, same with the pleco. Can you sell some of the platys?
You could do:
1 angelfish
10 neon tetra
5 turquoise rainbows
4 albino cory
2 platy
1 bristlenose pleco

The Irian rainbows or yellow rainbows wouldn't fit with the rest of the stock you have now; if you didn't get the pleco or the corys you could probably fit the Yellows but the bottom of the tank may be a bit empty. The Irians also prefer higher temperatures than your other fish.

 

[Aquastrategist]

Well as you may already know, my plate situation is complicated. I have 3 full grown in my 25 which will go to my brother, but I have 15 fry in a 5 gallon. I estimate 10 will get to full size(I probably had 25 fry at the beginning). I really don't want the platies butility it appears I am stuck with them. How could I get rid of the fry?

 

[librarygirl]

You could go to some local fish stores and see if they'll take them (they may or may not pay you for them though). You could also start a thread here in the Classifieds section, maybe someone will take them (but specify whether it's local pickup only or you're willing to ship them). With the stock plan above though I only have 2 platy in there so not having any platy at all wont' matter much, there still wouldn't be room for all of the fish you want (the neon and rainbow schools take up a lot of room too).

 

[Aquastrategist]

How would I ship the fry?