Just starting

[Juggernaut22988]

I am going to buy...

A 10 gallon tank
A 50w heater
and 3 platies (1 male and 2 female)
Breeding net too


My questions

Do I really need a filter?

What kind of filter is best? (fully underwater or heaters that are hanged)

How do I tell a male from a female?

Should I buy pregnant fish from the store (how do I tell?)

 

[Aqua_Princess64]

Ok, first of all, when you get your tank, ONLY GET THE TANK, FILTER, HEATER, GRAVEL, AND DECOR!! NO FISH!! You will need to cycle your tank for about a week and monitor the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, and probably KH(I don't have a Kh tester and my fish do fine). Your tank needs to be cycled so that the filter media can be established and a few other reasons. After your tank has been cycled, you may get fish.

You DO need a filter. I consider a tank without a filter a fish bowl which are inhumane, IMO. I hope you will get one.

Some people have different opinions on filters. I use a whisper for a 10 gallon tank. I would not suggest getting an undergravel filter though. I don't know why, but I don't really like undergravels. They aren't bad or anything, I just don't like them.

For LIVEBEARERS ONLY (platys, guppies, mollies, swordtails) the way you tell a male and a female apart is that a male has a pointed long anal fin called the gonopodium and the female has a rounded shorter one. Also, females are generally plumper than the males.

Usually, if livebearers (especially guppies) have been kept in a tank at a store with both males and females in it they are probably already pregnant. When livebearers are pregnant they get a gravid spot, or a dark spot above the anal fin where the babies are showing through the skin. The darker the gravid spot the closer she is to releasing her babies. I would not recomend getting an already pregnant female(s) for your tank. It will be hard to tell when she will release because you do not know when she concieved. Look for fairly skinny females without a gravid spot. Also, most livebearers reproduce like mad, so be careful. Some petstores will take the fish once they have grown so don't break down if you don't have anything to do with them.

I think that's all. Hope this helps!!

 

[Liz05]

First of all, I'm glad you found the forum. It's quite helpful! It's great that you came to ask questions before diving into the fish hobby.
My problem with Undergravel Filters is that when fish food breaks down, it produces ammonia. The UGF does not remove any of this ammonia or filter anything from the water, it just keeps it from LOOKING gross. Aqua is exactly right - you must cycle your tank before adding fish, or you'll be almost sure to kill them. I also use a whisper filter, I think theyre nice. I use one slightly larger than what is recommended for my tank size. Good luck!

 

[juliethegr8t]

Seems like people have pretty much answered your questions already, I'll only add to their comments. You do need to make sure you don't get fish for awhile after buying your tank. There is a great post by Alien Anna that is pinned at the top in the Beginners Forum - I highly advise you to read it and take the advice to heart. As for cycling, you really can't do it in a week - all that will do is make sure your filters/heaters/etc are working (which is also important). You really need to do some research on cycling and I suggest doing a fishless cycle to make the water safe for fish before adding them. Otherwise you may end up with dead fish, and if not, they'll probably have their life span shortened by living through a cycle - ammonia produced during it damages their gills.

As said before, yes you need a filter - they're very important to keeping water clean and aerated. I suggest getting a hang on back kind - that's just personal preference, but I've found they are good for aeration and keep my water very clean. I have a Penguin Mini Filter on my own 10 gallon. Don't get an undergravel filter - they're not very good for many reasons, but the main one I'll tell you is that if you plan to breed your platies, the fry can easily become stuck in the UGF.

The difference between male and female platies is pretty obvious - just check out that anal fin (last one on the bottom before the tail) - if it's fan shaped, you've got a girl, and if it's long and thin, it's male.

A pregnant platy will be pretty obvious - they just look plain fat! The ribs will look expanded even, and some preg. females look ready to burst. Pros and cons of bringing one home? Well, there's a very high risk of abortion when you put a pregnant fish through the stress of transport. However, some people who do want to breed like to get pregnant females, just because this shows that they are not barren and can reproduce. Most likely any females that are in a tank with males will be pregnant, so I'd suggest you just go with your gut. I fell in love with a particular platy female and she just happened to be pregnant. A few days after I brought her home she had babies and I saved 3. Good luck, have fun!

 

[Juggernaut22988]

I know about the basic water chemistry because I have goldfish

I would like to know whether I can use my goldfish water to speed up the cycling


Should I put in an airpump? (will it affect breeding)


Finally, I would like to sell my extra frys
what do petstores usually buy them for?

I sold my goldfish fry for $1 each (they were 3 months old)
I got $40 from that (cha ching!)

 

[Dreaded]

I was wondering the same thing, about the fry. What do you DO with them?? I have 10 and I hope they make it to three months. Should I just call my LFS and ask if they'd like to buy them?

 

[juliethegr8t]

As for using goldfish water - I'd say test it first. Goldfish tend to produce very high amounts of ammonia, but if the water tests come back with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and low nitrates - you're safe. If so, this is a good idea - though more than water is best. Add some filter media to the new tank, and also some gravel if possible. These things can dramatically speed up cycling.

The basic reasons for an airpump are to increase surface agitation, and for looks. It doesn't actually oxygenate the water. It won't affect the actual breeding of your fish, but if you plan on leaving the fry in the same tank, it may affect them. They're teeny lil guys - I doubt they could swim aganist such a strong current - just a filter is often too much for them, mine got sucked up it.

Pet stores will sometimes buy fry, give store credit, nothing, or even sometimes don't take them. It totally depends on the store. Around here I actually don't know of any stores that will even take them. If the store took your goldfish though, they probably take other species. I wouldn't imagine you'd get near as much money for them, but just call them to ask (good idea Dreaded). That's pretty much the only way to find out for sure!

 

[Alien Anna]

You will need to cycle your tank for about a week and monitor the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, and probably KH(I don't have a Kh tester and my fish do fine). Your tank needs to be cycled so that the filter media can be established and a few other reasons. After your tank has been cycled, you may get fish.

Not to belabour the point but since this is a common misunderstanding, I thought I'd emphasise that you cannot cycle a tank in a week - Unless you "seed" the tank from another tank i.e. transplant half of the gravel and a matured filter from another, already cycled tank. Cycling means the beneficial bacteria have colonised your filter and gravel and they have to work at a particular rate. Whatever you do, they can't grow like the Andromeda Strain!

As I mention in my article (follow the link in my sig), leaving a tank running for a week doesn't cycle it, it simply checks for leaks and equipment failure.

 

[Sinuhe]

About telling male and female platies apart from each other: You can't with young fish, who all look like females! The male gonopodium only develops with age. I'm not sure at which age, but I have 3 young platies, of which one is about an inch in total size, and he's starting to have a recognizable gonopodium. The other 2 are smaller, and it's too early to tell (as it was with most of the platies in the store, who all looked like females with their fan shaped anal fins), I just keep hoping they turn out to be female! .

 

[platypus]

There's a really good article here about how to sex platies, it has pics to make it nice and easy.

 

[Juggernaut22988]

How do you tell a healthy platy from an unhealthy one?

I went to my local LFS and saw a tank with tons of platies but they all looked the same to me!

Unlike my goldfish where you can tell the sick ones from the healthy ones easily

Tips?

 

[lizard]

How do you tell a healthy platy from an unhealthy one?

Healthy platys should be swimming around a lot (not sitting on the bottom). They shouldn't have white spots (ich) on them or fuzzy (white?) spots.

That's all I can think of right now...for some reason I'm drawing a blank

Pamela
aka Lizard