Should I Get More?

[K.J.]

So the deal is, I have a ten gallon tank with two platies and 4 peppered cories. Since the peppers get so large, I'm afraid I'm overstocked. But I read that platies like females outnumbering males. I have one of each. I'm not concerned about fry, as I'd just leave them in the tank with the "survival of the fittest" method. The male doesn't seem to bother the girl, but who knows what happens at night? Should I get another girl, just to even out the numbers, or am I overstocked? The ammonia is 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 10, so the levels seem decent enough. I could return them and get another fish... or I could set up a plain tank for the cories, just with some sand and some simple plants, since the water tempature should be lower for them, and do something else with the main tank?

Also, at the petshop, there are platies with bright orange heads and then whitish lower bodies, are they dyed? Thanks added: I think they're called "cream" somethin.

 

[PufferFishRule]

cream? hmm plats are usually bright colerd to begin with i dunno about cream though

 

[K.J.]

cream? hmm plats are usually bright colerd to begin with i dunno about cream though

Yeah, it's got a bright red head, and then it fades to pure white.. I'm not sure how they could dye it white, though, so I wasn't sure

 

[theotheragentm]

Creamsicle I believe is another name they are called, named after the coloration of the orange popsicles with the white cream-like filling. Unless you have plans to upgrade, you are going to be overstocked as it is, because all the fry will not be eaten. Then you have to deal with what do with the fry. Unless you have plans to upgrade or a LFS store to donate the babies to, I would remove the male actually.

At lights out, your fish are probably sleeping. If you know the male isn't constantly following the female around during the day, it's okay with the 1:1 ratio, but most likely the male will constantly try to mate with the female.

 

[K.J.]

Creamsicle I believe is another name they are called, named after the coloration of the orange popsicles with the white cream-like filling. Unless you have plans to upgrade, you are going to be overstocked as it is, because all the fry will not be eaten. Then you have to deal with what do with the fry. Unless you have plans to upgrade or a LFS store to donate the babies to, I would remove the male actually.

At lights out, your fish are probably sleeping. If you know the male isn't constantly following the female around during the day, it's okay with the 1:1 ratio, but most likely the male will constantly try to mate with the female.

I imagine the LFS will take the platies, I don't see why not - they'd be free. I don't know about upgrading, but I do have a spare ten gallon incase I really need it. But I only have a few electrical outlets... so. Otherwise I'd gladly have it.

 

[theotheragentm]

You should ask with your LFS as they will not take them a lot of times until they reach a certain size, and to curb illness, some won't take outside fish at all.