platy fish or female betta with mystery snail, will it work?

cutie_monster

cutie_monster

big cutie monster
Sep 14, 2006
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tazewell, TN
Real Name
brandy
just wondering, because i've been fishless for a while, but i got 3 mystery snails i absolutely adore. been thinking about platy fish ever since my sis-in-law got some the other day. i have also been thinking maybe female betta, but i dont want anything that'll hurt my guys. the last fish i had (male betta) attacked his "friend" so thats how i wound up with a snail-only tank. if neither are compatible, i'm happy to stick with the snails only. thank you for any suggestions.
 
my tank is a 5.5 gallon.
my sister in law got a new 5 gallon a week ago & got 3 platy fish. they're really cool. my mamaw had a 10 gallon a few years back, she had platys and swordtail fish (i think). anyhow, they bred like crazy & she wound up with like 50 of them. she sold the tank, fish and all. so i would only want 2 or 3 female platys, max. either that, or try a female betta this time...but not female betta *and* platys, only one or the other.
 
i personally would go with a betta, but that's just me ;)

females can be just as dominant as males, but it is not as likely. i have kept both female and male bettas with mystery snails (briggs) and have never had an issue with either gender betta. that's four different male bettas and two different females in with the snails in various size tanks ranging from 10 gallon to 55 gallon over the past 4 years.

i have also kept a single platy and a single swordtail (female) with apple snails and they did fine too.

with a 5.5 gallon tank, the betta would be a better choice. i find platies and other livebearers to want to use a lot of tank space for swimming, and can be a bit 'frantic' at times. bettas tend to be prone to stick more to one area of the tank, even though they do take advantage of swimming space when it is given to them.

edited to add - buying female livebearers from a store is almost guaranteed that you will get pregnant females.
 
Agree with the above tank size best suits a betta over platy, and female livebearers are almost always pregnant. Currently have a male plakat housed with snails and shrimp with no issues, previous male I had would kill both.
 
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