LovelyChaos
New Member
Hello! My name is Charly, I've been keeping fish for a few years, mostly starting off with Bettas. I'm not new to fish, per se, just new to the knowledge of proper fish keeping. I'm still learning. I hope to expand my knowledge here. I first ventured off from Bettas in high school when we were required to build an Eco-column using 2 liter bottles, stacked 3 tiers tall. We had to research and purchase a fish for the bottom that could thrive on its own, (though I doubted they'd thrive in 2 liters of water). But for the sake of my grade, I chose to use a platy, while the rest of the class chose Bettas and comet goldfish. Well after 4 weeks, my platy was one of only 5 fish to survive out of 12. I hated seeing these fish die because people didn't do their research, so I started learning. Here I am now!
Currently I have an outdoor 125 gallon goldfish tank with 5 beautiful inhabitants, a 29 gallon goldfish tank with three very small special needs goldfish (short bodied, missing gill plate, dropsy prone), a 10 gallon tank with a betta and 2 variatus platies.
I've found myself here because of my tropicals. It seems like there is a lot of conflicting info, and I am extremely confused. My platies have had babies. Both are female. I've already read some info, and have realized this is because they store sperm? I can't tell if both are pregnant, they have matte black coloring and I can't see the spot. Only one appears to be fat. I'll be leaving them be to have the rest of their fry. I can't really intervene anymore. I've found 3 babies. One was from a month ago, the other two were from yesterday.
What I'm confused about, is the appropriate stocking levels for platies. I've heard 2 can live in 5 gallons, that they shouldn't be in less than 15 gallons, that they are not suitable in 10 gallons. At this point, id rather ask. I'll have 5 platies, how should I stock them? They'll be separated by gender, and my betta will live with whichever tank has fewer fish. He's already lived with these two platies for 2 months and I don't doubt he'd coexist peacefully. What would you recommend for my stocking?
Also, I never knew how destructive platies were! They constantly uproot my lucky bamboo (not fully submerged) and kill my plants. I thought I was getting a break from plant destroying goldfish (x
Thanks for reading! I look forward to browsing the forum.
Currently I have an outdoor 125 gallon goldfish tank with 5 beautiful inhabitants, a 29 gallon goldfish tank with three very small special needs goldfish (short bodied, missing gill plate, dropsy prone), a 10 gallon tank with a betta and 2 variatus platies.
I've found myself here because of my tropicals. It seems like there is a lot of conflicting info, and I am extremely confused. My platies have had babies. Both are female. I've already read some info, and have realized this is because they store sperm? I can't tell if both are pregnant, they have matte black coloring and I can't see the spot. Only one appears to be fat. I'll be leaving them be to have the rest of their fry. I can't really intervene anymore. I've found 3 babies. One was from a month ago, the other two were from yesterday.
What I'm confused about, is the appropriate stocking levels for platies. I've heard 2 can live in 5 gallons, that they shouldn't be in less than 15 gallons, that they are not suitable in 10 gallons. At this point, id rather ask. I'll have 5 platies, how should I stock them? They'll be separated by gender, and my betta will live with whichever tank has fewer fish. He's already lived with these two platies for 2 months and I don't doubt he'd coexist peacefully. What would you recommend for my stocking?
Also, I never knew how destructive platies were! They constantly uproot my lucky bamboo (not fully submerged) and kill my plants. I thought I was getting a break from plant destroying goldfish (x
Thanks for reading! I look forward to browsing the forum.
I appreciate the welcome! 
