10 Gallons And 3 Platies...

[Etrigan]

As the title says I have a 10 gallon tank with 3 platies.
Would like to get a couple more fish. Any suggestions?

I know I can't add too many but do want a little more variety in there.

I have tried ghost shrimp but that hasn't turned out well...

 

[OldMan47]

How about 3 or 4 pygmy cories? They pose very little biological load and are entertaining in their own right.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

some sort of bottom feeder/scavenger would be nice, like oldman said. corycats tend to be very hardy, and they don't grow to big. they are also very active.

 

[Etrigan]

I have thought about these fish but I have a gravel substrate. I've read that's not good for their whiskers. or am I thinking of another fish type?

 

[arobinson1984]

Cories 'prefer' sand as it is kinder on their barbels and bellies although they are fine with most gravels providing its not really sharp, jagged gravel.

Many people keep cories in tanks with gravel with no problems, they just tend to act a little more natural with sand as they like to dig.

You would need to make sure you get the 'dwarf' cories known as pygmy cories becuase standard cories would be too big for the tank


Andy

 

[VaegaVic]

I'd also like to point out that a lot of dwarf corys, actually spend a bit of time in the middle regions of the tank, so gravel shouldn't be a problem at all.

 

[Etrigan]

I had thought about these but was worried about the gravel. Thanks for the info! Now I'll just have to find a LFS with them in stock and hopefully not too costly.

Do these guys need any special diet or would fallen food be enough?

 

[VaegaVic]

That area comes up for a bit of debate.
When I had mine, they would only eat the food that fell to the bottom of the tank and nothing else.
I've heard of others eating algae wafers and what not, but mine would not touch them, all 13 of them.

 

[OldMan47]

I intentionally feed my cories. The pygmy varieties available are the hastatus

habrosus

and pygmaeus, shown following a Heterandria formosa

As you can see, I have lots of mine on what you might call large sand or small gravel. They are all thriving.