ready for next step! love some advice

[leksie]

Hi all-

I have an Aqua One moulded glass 34 L (9 us gallons) tank that came with an inbuilt light and power head filter. It has been running a little over two months and has four healthy platties.

I didnt know better so don't shoot me ) , I left the tank running for about a week and put the platties in. I haven't had any fry surprisingly.

The tank usually has a number of plants but they chewed through the tall ones I had, so just one little little one in there now.

Anyway I really like to add a few more fish if I have room, something nice looking a bit different maybe, but still hardy easy to care for. Any ideas? thought maybe dwarf honey gourami though don't know how easy these are to care for.Would like something different to platies/mollies etc.

 

[boxman]

I hate to say this (and I've had people say this to me too and I know it's very annoying) but you are pretty much stocked to your limit.

At the 1"/USgal rule and with 4 platys which can get 2" (females larger) that's 8"+ already.

Unfortunately from my experience inbuilt filters / lights sound great but they're not usually that great. If you can up your filter by getting something like an external canister - fluval 104 or something similar, then you could possibly fit another 3-4" of fish in there.

I would suggest an oto or two if you need to clear algae (if you can uprate your filter) or maybe a couple of khuli loaches - you may be able to get away with these as it is (they do prefer sand).

Also, dwarf grouami can get to about 2" (which I can testify too!) Lovely fish though!

Live plants are good, especially if you want fry.

Hope that helps.
Pete

 

[mlee0332]

You would be breaking the 1" rule but if you had the room...

I would go for white clouds. They are only 1.5" long and i feel that they are hardy... I have had 4 for about 5 months now. I have since then added 2 neons and 4 guppies ( all doin' great) I really find that guppies can be very pretty, but watch out, they breed like rats... LOL!!!

Maybe it's time to consider upgrading, I know I am in the near future...