3 small platies in a 3 gallon planted tank.

[Hybridfish7]

Lol trust me there will be babies.

OK update:
i pulled the fry, and put them in my old 1.5 gallon.
they are now 2 months old and doing fine, wondering what i should do as to rehoming them.
turns out only 3 fry of that batch survived...
the female gave birth again, but i can't see any fry. i mean she's empty, the gravid spot is orange and i can't see any eyes or anything inside. so far i can't find any fry, but then again it took me 2 weeks to find the previous batch.
turns out i have a reverse trio.
I thought i got 2 females and a male...
the larger 'female' would always be skittish and hide, and turns out it's a male, and the other male is just defending 'his' female, and chasing him off. turns out the larger female is just a really fat male with a weird shaped gonopodium.
what should i do with the other male? i mean the larger one that i thought was female.
he's a cute chubby little guy and i'd hate to give him away, but then again it would be for his and the female's own good, him not having to hide or get attacked all the time, and the female not being the only one getting harassed all the time.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Lol trust me there will be babies.

OK update:
i pulled the fry, and put an old 1.5 gallon i had.
they are now 2 months old and doing fine, wondering what i should do as to rehoming them.
turns out only 3 fry of that batch survived...
the female gave birth again, but i can't see any fry. i mean she's empty, the gravid spot is orange and i can't see any eyes or anything inside. so far i can't find any fry, but then again it took me 2 weeks to find the previous batch.
turns out i have a reverse trio.
I thought i got 2 females and a male...
the larger 'female' would always be skittish and hide, and turns out it's a male, and the other male is just defending 'his' female, and chasing him off. turns out the larger female is just a really fat male with a weird shaped gonopodium.
what should i do with the other male? i mean the larger one that i thought was female.
he's a cute chubby little guy and i'd hate to give him away, but then again it would be for his and the female's own good, him not having to hide or get attacked all the time, and the female not being the only one getting harassed all the time.
should I take him back to my lfs and get another female? i think i might do that...

 

[Coryloach]

anyway back to the question... is it 'overstocked' in there?

These were some of my female platies, at around 4 years of age when the picture was taken...raised in a 100G tank...People thought they're molies, lol... Platies can grow relatively big, they're poop machines also. 3G is way too small long term, no matter what you do. They could get stunted though and not grow as big...

 

[Coryloach]

the female gave birth again, but i can't see any fry.

Baby platies are very good at hiding. Watch out very close to the substrate for movement. They're born translucent yellow and can blend with the substrate. They'll hide all the time until they get some size.

You can exchange the raised offspring for store credit. Ask your local fish shops.

Male platies can harrass each other to death, so if you've got two males, definitely rehome one as the dominant one will harass the other to death. Generally speaking, you need one male to a harem of females for balance, or keep just females, which is way more pleasurable. Females can also get stressed from the constant breeding attempts, especially when you have a ratio of 1 or 2 males to 1 female.

 

[tlindsey]

Baby platies are very good at hiding. Watch out very close to the substrate for movement. They're born translucent yellow and can blend with the substrate. They'll hide all the time until they get some size.

You can exchange the raised offspring for store credit. Ask your local fish shops.

Male platies can harrass each other to death, so if you've got two males, definitely rehome one as the dominant one will harass the other to death. Generally speaking, you need one male to a harem of females for balance, or keep just females, which is way more pleasurable. Females can also get stressed from the constant breeding attempts, especially when you have a ratio of 1 or 2 males to 1 female.

^
This

 

[Hybridfish7]

Not denying what you said about stunting, but they're all growing, eating, and have a lot of space in my 3 gallon. I'm gonna do some calculations to see if it's even a 3 gallon... seems pretty big for one. also it's heavily planted, so I guess the plants help with the nitrates and all, right? i've had them for about 3 months now.
I will definitely try to rehome or take back my less dominant male for a female. (take him back to the lfs that is)

 

[Hybridfish7]

Here's the tank.



I'm going to get the dimensions.

 

[Hybridfish7]

yep it's a 3 gallon, (3.7 gallon)
13" x 7" x 9.5"
(L x W x H)

 

[AncientFishArk]

It's a tough thing to follow the recommended rules when it comes to aquariams.

Years ago the recommended gallon to fish ratio was for 1 inch you needed 1 gallon for tropical, for gold fish 1inch to 2 gallons. Now it's changed, for 1 inch of tropical fish you should have 2 gallons of water. For goldfish you should have 5 gallons due to ammonia. This is depending on the aquarist or store associates you speak to.

I still generally speaking follow the original way of thinking, a 1 to 1 ratio.

With that in mind you always want to account for the possibile full grown size. Even though you can put a 1 inch Oscar in a 20 gallon tank, eventually it will grow to a whopping 24 inches which will require at least a 40 gallon alone to itself.

Room for swimming is important however also think about filteration. I read that you are doing water changes and the plants will help out. Eventually the Ballance will get off and that's when your fish can start having issues growing and that's when you'll see issues.

Ick is usually the main issue I have seen because the fish get stressed allowing it to set in. Not always the case. I would recommend just being prepared to move them eventually into a bigger tank. As the platties grow. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure platties can grow up to about 2.5 to 3inch. Depending in species.

Sorry for the lengthy respond. Hope it helps.

 

[Coryloach]

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure platties can grow up to about 2.5 to 3inch. Depending in species.

I measured mine at 3.5 inches at around 4 years of age. They won't last that many years in a 3 gallon tank. Platies grow all the time, till the day they die....They get very wide girth wise as well...What the OP has in their 3 gallon tank is the size of 3-4 months old baby platies...