Platy, Moving To Warmer Waters.

[dougie]

Hi All.
My son has a few platies he & my missus bought from P@H. They told him they were suitable for a cold water tank. I had my doubts & went down to the shop & sure enough they were selling them as cold water fish. The tank averages between 18 - 21 degrees c (about 69 deg f), depending on weather, and although they seem happy enough, I'm still not convinced. I have a spare 30g running with just a bristlenose & 6 gold barbs. To be honest the tank is just kept ticking over in case I need to seperate fish from my main tank. It's temp at 25 degrees. Do you think the platies would be happier in here?
Any input appreciated.
Cheers.

 

[phurn]

I kept platys in with goldfish for ages, even through the winter with no problems on an unheated windowsill. Theyll be fine.

 

[fish48]

do well at 68f - 74f will be happier at 74f

 

[allan078]

I have 3 of those platys from P@H. Initially i had them in an unheated tank, but decided to go tropical. I put a heater in and slowly over a period of about a week increased the temp from 64-72 degrees F and they've been breeding ever since. They never did any breeding in the room temp tank, but were quite happy.

 

[dougie]

I have 3 of those platys from P@H. Initially i had them in an unheated tank, but decided to go tropical. I put a heater in and slowly over a period of about a week increased the temp from 64-72 degrees F and they've been breeding ever since. They never did any breeding in the room temp tank, but were quite happy.

Thanks for all the replies, the fact they were not breeding made me think they were not 100% comfortable with the temperature - not that it's important for them to be breeding. I think I'll move them to the warmer tank. Thanks for the help.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

That's interesting... I've been thinking of getting platies from Pets at Home... haven't gone down to see what they have yet as I am planning to get them in September.

I hope you don't mind me tossing in a question too! If my local Pets at Home keeps their platies in cold water too.... is it alright for me to buy them and float them in the bag for acclimation as usual (in a tropical tank)... or would it need to be much more gradual than that?

 

[dougie]

That's interesting... I've been thinking of getting platies from Pets at Home... haven't gone down to see what they have yet as I am planning to get them in September.

I hope you don't mind me tossing in a question too! If my local Pets at Home keeps their platies in cold water too.... is it alright for me to buy them and float them in the bag for acclimation as usual (in a tropical tank)... or would it need to be much more gradual than that?

I think they'll be selling platies from both warmer & cold water tanks, the P@H by us do. It's a good question in my case though.
I intended just to do the normal "float them in a bag" process, but perhaps drag it out a bit longer than normal, but you've got me thinking now if even this is too quick???