A Few Questions About Mollies/platies

[TARDIS]

So first, what kind of easy to find, hardy live plants work well with platies and mollies? I have a moss ball, amazon sword, and moneywort, but I think a few more live plants wouldn't hurt. I'm still a bit new with the whole live plants thing but my fish seem to love them. I really like how full the moneywort looks, and it seems like it's a good hiding spot, but I don't want to have only moneywort in my tank.
Second, what kind of bottomfeeders would work out well? I'm kind of concerned about getting a bottomfeeder because I don't want it to eat all the fry, but I do like having them. Would cories work or should I go with a pleco of some sort? 

 

[attibones]

While I've never bred platies or mollies, I do keep them. Platies are my favorite smaller species of fish, actually. I keep mine with about twenty ghost shrimp and a small group of Cory cats. They do really well together. The fish don't mind the catfish at all, but sometimes one of my large female shrimp will try to fight the food away from the platy. He always drops it and backs off though. My Draco is a bit of a coward. Try Cory cats if you're breeding. I know they are omnivores, but I don't believe they actively seek fry. If you get albinos they may not even be able to see them. I think their vision is terrible. Mine seem to be practically blind anyway.

I don't know much about plants though. I'm just getting into live plants myself.

 

[TARDIS]

Are shrimp hard to keep? I've never had them before and honestly I don't know anything about them. I was considering cories, I had a few albinos when I tried keeping tetras(huge fail) and they were adorable!

 

[clare0116]

I live near the large city of Leicester, UK and about a year ago, I saw a pair of platies with what I can only describe as perfectly marked 'French Flag' bands of red, white and blue! They were quite healthy, cheap and I wish now that I had bought them but my small tank was already overcrowded. I keep looking in hopes of seeing fish like this again, with no luck. Has anyone else seen fish like these?

 

[Mamashack]

So first, what kind of easy to find, hardy live plants work well with platies and mollies? I have a moss ball, amazon sword, and moneywort, but I think a few more live plants wouldn't hurt. I'm still a bit new with the whole live plants thing but my fish seem to love them. I really like how full the moneywort looks, and it seems like it's a good hiding spot, but I don't want to have only moneywort in my tank.
Second, what kind of bottomfeeders would work out well? I'm kind of concerned about getting a bottomfeeder because I don't want it to eat all the fry, but I do like having them. Would cories work or should I go with a pleco of some sort? 

 
Hi there Java Fern on stone or wood, cabomba caroliniana is nice too, egeria densa, anubia on bogwood  - I have all of these in my tank of platies. They look nice and give the inevitable fry somewhere to hide, also they help mop up nitrates and ammonia tho don't be tempted to drop the partial-water-changes! lol
I only have experience of platy fry and they are experts in hiding (I didn't know my platy had had any fry until I spotted the first one at about 3 weeks old!) and swimming fast. A few will get eaten if they are slow too adventurous too soon, but the faster ones will escape and the sensible ones will stick near their hiding places til they are too big to be eaten.
Don't be tempted by some of the ones the aquatic shops sell as I was a few weeks back - I was sold the Cordyline red-edge special (listed in the article below) in a popular pets outlet. Some of them are meant to be rooted in water, but grow up into the air as in terrariums and paludariums etc, but will eventually rot if fully submerged in aquaria and contribute to bad water quality in the process.
Here is a link for a good article on 21 plants to avoid in an aquarium I found it in Practical Fish-keeping (sorry TFF! lol)
http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=4741

 

[the_lock_man]

I live near the large city of Leicester, UK and about a year ago, I saw a pair of platies with what I can only describe as perfectly marked 'French Flag' bands of red, white and blue! They were quite healthy, cheap and I wish now that I had bought them but my small tank was already overcrowded. I keep looking in hopes of seeing fish like this again, with no luck. Has anyone else seen fish like these?

 
No, I've never seen that. If you ever do see it again, make sure they've not been dyed.