Am I Overstocked?

[the_faze]

Hi, I am just curious as to what people think about my current situation.

First a little background:

I am new to the fishkeeping hobby.
I am a student that rents a small room in a house and therefore only have enough room for a 10gal tank.

Now to my question what are your views on my current tank situations am I over stocked or at the limit?

Here is what I have, a 10gal tank with 1 betta, 5 red wag platties and 1 apple snail.

Many thanks for your help.

 

[Bloo]

Oh dear - you have enough space the betta and apple snail and possibly 2 platties - but as things stand at the moment you are overstocked I'm afraid.

Also keep in mind that you will have fry if you have any female platties.

And on another note: Betta's prefer to be solitary (if male) or in a tank of 5 or more when female.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hm i'd say reduce the number of platys by 1 and get the betta its own tank if its a male as although a male betta will pose no threat to the platys, they are not very sociable fish and prefer tanks of their own- anything above a 1gallon tank would be good for him(3gal would be perfect) as long as it gets regular water changes.
what is your male to female ratio with the platys i.e how many males and females do you have?

 

[the_faze]

That is what I was afraid of, now... I don't know what to do.

I don't have the room for another tank, since it is a small room and I need room for my computer.

I was worried that betta (male) would attack the platties but he doesn't seem to care. Actaully the platties sometimes swim along side him. He used to attack the apples snail when first introduced but he stopped that after a week.

About the fry I think I have all females and none of them look pregnant so I am hoping for the best.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Heres a link that can help you tell the genders apart and which ones are pregnant in your platys just to make sure;

http/fish.orbust.net/livebearers.html

 

[the_faze]

Now that I take a look at the website it seems that I have four females and one male.

As well after taking a closer look one is kinda pregnant.

You know this is going from bad to worse, I have no place to keep fry either.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I suggest you rehome the male, fry will most likely get eaten by the parent fish in the tank but this is not cartain although you can euthanise the fry in the time being- platys can store sperm in them for up to 7 pregnancys so it may be some time before they dry out and stop producing fry.

 

[the_faze]

Okay, so I don't need to worry about fry.

Let me get this straight you are saying that the best thing for me to do is find a place for the male platty and a new home for the betta and I should be okay with my current setup?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yep, just rehome the male platy and buy the betta a 1 or 2gallon tank and you'll be fine

 

[the_faze]

I will try and do that.

Thanks for the advice.

Just one more question how long do you think I have to make the changes since I don't think it will be easy for me to find a home for the male platy. As well it may take some persuading the landlord to allow me to keep a tank outside my room (new betta home).

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

You can just take the platy back to the lfs(local fish store) you bought him from and they'll take him off your hands for free if they are any good, or your could just try an rehome him at another lfs.
You situation isn't dire so you can hang on for a bit, i have some other questions though;

a. Do you know about ammonia, nitrate and nitrites and dechlorinator?
b. Does the tank have a filter and heater and what temp is it set at?
c. If the tank is new, do you know about cycling tanks and how to go about tank maintanence?

Im just asking these questions as these are all things you need to know or have and maintaining the tank correctly will help ensure your fish don't die or get desease from water quality stress in the future.

 

[the_faze]

Thanks for the tip, I will call the store I bought the fish from and see what they say.

I know about the cycling process, it's just I don't own a test kit so I don't have the ability to tell you what the values are.

The tank has a power filter and a heater. The tank teperature is kept at 77 degrees constanly. Just to note the lights are on a timer and are on for a total of 5 hours a day.

Also the tank has been running with the just the betta and the snail for about 8 months and it's been a month since I added the five platties.

About tank maintenance, I clean the gravel with a gravel cleaner when doing a 20% water change every friday. When adding the new water I add the recomended dose of aqua plus (decholrinator).

I have attached a picture of the aquarium I don't know if that will help any...

 

[Bloo]

lovely looking tank you have there. It seems nice and clean and well looked after. How long have you had the platties now ? It's definitely best if you can rehome the male and just keep the females. That should be fine

 

[the_faze]

Thanks for he positive review of my tank.

I have had the tank for 9 months and the platties have been in there for 1 month now.

 

[sylvia]

Lovely tank, personaly I think your betta would be fine if you just took out the male platy so you don't run the risk of being over-stocked. Platies only get to 1.5" and male bettas are usualy fine with tank-mates as long as they are not nippy, not similar-looking and not territorial.

If you do decide to get the extra tank for the betta, you can keep the male platy. You won't be over-stocked and any fry will get eaten in the 10 gallon anyway. For them to survive, you'd need a pretty heavily planted tank, which you don't have.

Also, if you do get the betta another tank, I'd get one that's 2.5 gallons or more. I know a lot of people keep them in 1-2 gallon tanks but, realy, a little extra room to swim is natural and much nicer for the fish.