Any Ideas?

[GSD]

Well, after a year of buying not a single new fish and leaving my tanks alone ive got very bored and decided to redo and restock them.
But im slightly stumped as to do with my 16gal community which currently houses nothing but 5 platys Im planning to plant it eventually, and am aware its quite small and dont want to overstock it.

Any ideas what to do with it thats a little more interesting than the usual platys/guppys/mollies/cories but that will still be peaceful, the platys must stay so im looking for something that will go happily with them. I was thinking maybe a small shoal of something or a nice small centerpiece fish but what?! Or do you think it should be left with just the platys?

 

[Diz1979]

Well, after a year of buying not a single new fish and leaving my tanks alone ive got very bored and decided to redo and restock them.
But im slightly stumped as to do with my 16gal community which currently houses nothing but 5 platys Im planning to plant it eventually, and am aware its quite small and dont want to overstock it.

Any ideas what to do with it thats a little more interesting than the usual platys/guppys/mollies/cories but that will still be peaceful, the platys must stay so im looking for something that will go happily with them. I was thinking maybe a small shoal of something or a nice small centerpiece fish but what?! Or do you think it should be left with just the platys?

How about 8-10 zebra danios? Hardy and peaceful fish that would look good in a tank with platys. Pretty small tank so you couldn'y put a lot more than that in there

 

[GSD]

Well, after a year of buying not a single new fish and leaving my tanks alone ive got very bored and decided to redo and restock them.
But im slightly stumped as to do with my 16gal community which currently houses nothing but 5 platys Im planning to plant it eventually, and am aware its quite small and dont want to overstock it.

Any ideas what to do with it thats a little more interesting than the usual platys/guppys/mollies/cories but that will still be peaceful, the platys must stay so im looking for something that will go happily with them. I was thinking maybe a small shoal of something or a nice small centerpiece fish but what?! Or do you think it should be left with just the platys?

How about 8-10 zebra danios? Hardy and peaceful fish that would look good in a tank with platys. Pretty small tank so you couldn'y put a lot more than that in there

Hi, i will certainly look into them thanks for the suggestion, has anyone else owned these, how have you found them?

Im really insterested in looking at getting some tetras and heavily planting my tank, how feasable is this option do you think? Or do all tetras a bigger tank than a 16gal, ive never really kept tetras so i dont know alot about them.

thanks again for your suggestions

 

[Athena]

I wouldn't recommend that amount of zebra danios in that size tank - they grow to 2inches each (so 8 x 2inches = 16inches, plus the 5 platys at about 2inches each = 10inches - total of 26inches of fish. Recommended guide of 1inch per gallon (yes, I know it's an old guide and can be increased slightly what with new, powerful filters/aeration etc) but I find it's still a good starting point when working out stock levels.

So in this case - 16 gallons = 16inches of fish - how much you increase that is entirely up to you based on your tank maintenance regime, type of filter, actual volume of water in tank (some tanks full of large rocks will have a significant lesser amount of water volume than a tank without rocks/ornaments).

Anyway, back to the question for ideas - how about a lovely pair of German Blue Rams?

They are very eye-catching, peaceful (can get territorial during spawning), interesting to watch - and they don't grow very big, being dwarf cichlids.

Regards - Athena


ps - just read your 2nd post re the tetras - yes you should be able to keep a small shoal (say, 6) of tetras in there. Or what about harlequin rasboras (I have these in a tank with platys and a female betta and they are fine). The harlequins are quite striking fish and stay at about 1" - 2"!

 

[GSD]

I wouldn't recommend that amount of zebra danios in that size tank - they grow to 2inches each (so 8 x 2inches = 16inches, plus the 5 platys at about 2inches each = 10inches - total of 26inches of fish. Recommended guide of 1inch per gallon (yes, I know it's an old guide and can be increased slightly what with new, powerful filters/aeration etc) but I find it's still a good starting point when working out stock levels.

So in this case - 16 gallons = 16inches of fish - how much you increase that is entirely up to you based on your tank maintenance regime, type of filter, actual volume of water in tank (some tanks full of large rocks will have a significant lesser amount of water volume than a tank without rocks/ornaments).

Anyway, back to the question for ideas - how about a lovely pair of German Blue Rams?

They are very eye-catching, peaceful (can get territorial during spawning), interesting to watch - and they don't grow very big, being dwarf cichlids.

Regards - Athena


ps - just read your 2nd post re the tetras - yes you should be able to keep a small shoal (say, 6) of tetras in there. Or what about harlequin rasboras (I have these in a tank with platys and a female betta and they are fine). The harlequins are quite striking fish and stay at about 1" - 2"!

Hi Athena
I was looking at harlequin rasboras actually but wasnt sure if they would go with the platys.
The tank is quite established now, about 3 years old and has good filtration but has been slightly neglected over the past year hence the 5 platys which i had in to keep it 'ticking over'.
I love the look of planted tanks with alot of small fish hence leaning towards a shoaling variety.

How do you find the rasboras are they quite hardy? Are they ever agressive towards others as i know some smaller fish ive had have been terrible fin nippers.

thanks
Laura

 

[Honeythorn]

If you want something small and really eye catching you could go for Galaxy Rasboros if you can get hold of some ( you may have to order through your LFS ) . Very small fish and you could easily acccomodate a shoal of around 10 in there, perhaps even a few more depending on how your maintenece is.

 

[Athena]

Hi Laura

The harlequins I have in my tank (with several platys and a female betta) are absolutely fine and have never shown any aggression whatsoever. Yes, I have found them quite hardy little fish. They do like very clean water, so weekly 15-20% water changes are recommended.

They will look lovely in a planted tank - with their colouring they will really stand out and be quite eye-catching.

But there are lots of varieties of small fish you could choose - do some Googling and research before you make up your mind just in case you settle for something and then discover other fish that you'd much rather have. Check adult sizes and whether they are peaceful community fish or not.

Good luck and I hope it all turns out well - Athena