View Full Version : platies
hle_81
12-10-2002, 8:50 AM
how many platies can i keep in a 10 gal?
Pootspete
12-10-2002, 8:53 AM
If they are the "only" fish you are gonna have in a ten gallon I would say 6 - 7 of them.
If I am correct, I believe Platties like brackish water too.
Faramir
12-10-2002, 9:13 AM
They cope with it, but they are found in fresh water in the wild.
Darkangel
12-10-2002, 9:14 AM
A good group of platies in a 10 gallon tank would be 1 male and 3 or 4 females.. This gives you the ability for a few small cories and some space for fry. Platies are not brackish water fish though. While they like water with a high mineral content they do not need that. Nor do they require the addition of salt to their tank. Keep them in plain tap water so long as your water is not extremly soft, although they would likely even adapt to that.
Faramir
12-10-2002, 9:35 AM
There does seem to be an urban fishy myth that livebearers are brackish water fish, though, doesn't there? I can't speak for the non-Poeciliids, but I do have experience of the Poecilia and Xiphophorus genera.
It's certainly true of mollies. Mind you, what is a molly? P. sphenops is a freshwater fish, but P. latipinna and P. velifera are brackish - especially the latter named. Problem is, most aquarium mollies are hybrids - all sailfin types must have some latipinna in them for example. So it's probably best to treat mollies as slightly brackish water fish.
Guppies? They're very adaptable, but, again, I read that their natural environment is freshwater. Nevertheless, I'm told they are often bred commercially in slightly brackish conditions. Evolution being what it is, that probably means that commercially available guppies will do better with low levels of salt than in pure freshwater.
Swordtails and platys seem to be considered as brackish purely by association with other Poeciliids. Their natural environments are purely freshwater, and a search on the web confirms the advice - no salt required.
What these fish do have in common is a preference for hard, slightly alkaline conditions - generally this means waters with high TDS - total dissolved solids. In soft water, therefore, which is low in TDS, livebearers of all types may benefit from the addition of a little salt for reasons of osmotic potential, but they'd benefit far more from a little crushed coral or shells in the filter.
redwing
12-10-2002, 4:46 PM
Darkangel took the words right out of my mouth!
Faramir, thanks for the info.