3 small platies in a 3 gallon planted tank.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
AncientFishArk said:
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.
Click to expand...
Oscars need at least 125 gallons as adults
 
Hi,
A couple of platys in a 3 gallon not the end of the world, but not the best either tbh. I have a planted 4 gallon with a few galaxy rasboras, and I wouldn't put fish any larger than them in there (and they are tiny).
I would definitely re-home the others and keep just the male and female if you don't want to re-home them all and get more appropriate fish. Looks like a nice little 3 gallon. Would be better off with some guppys or some mini rasboras like I have.
And nothing will eat the poop. Just gotta suction it out.
 
I have a few problems and questions.
Main questions first:
So what you're saying is I can't have a 2 females to one male ratio in there?
If I just have a pair will the one female get harassed to death?
I'm getting myself one or two small HRP's this weekend, and since they come from the same place (in the wild) can I put them together? (I'm growing out the HRP's in a 10 gallon, will eventually upgrade to 20)
problems:
my female platy has been pregnant for a month and a half now. I see the little clear babies with their eyes inside her, but it's been that way for well over the normal gestation period. Is something wrong?
one of the baby platies seems to be hiding a lot, and it's smaller than its 2 siblings. It's smaller, its back is a bit crooked, and it doesn't seem to be growing at the same rate as the other two.
 
Cool little setup for sure, but I wouldn't call that heavily planted at all, nor is that volume and footprint ideal for platys.
 
Hybridfish7 said:
I have a few problems and questions.
Main questions first:
So what you're saying is I can't have a 2 females to one male ratio in there?
If I just have a pair will the one female get harassed to death?
I'm getting myself one or two small HRP's this weekend, and since they come from the same place (in the wild) can I put them together? (I'm growing out the HRP's in a 10 gallon, will eventually upgrade to 20)
problems:
my female platy has been pregnant for a month and a half now. I see the little clear babies with their eyes inside her, but it's been that way for well over the normal gestation period. Is something wrong?
one of the baby platies seems to be hiding a lot, and it's smaller than its 2 siblings. It's smaller, its back is a bit crooked, and it doesn't seem to be growing at the same rate as the other two.
Click to expand...

well, you really shouldn't have any platys in there. Too small. But If you must, I would only do the pair.
As far as the HRP's, I would definitely not put the hrps in the 3 gallon. Even for a little bit.
If you mean that you would put the platys in the 10 with the HRP's, it might work for a little bit, but the HRP's might just maim/kill them in such a small tank. How big are the HRP's? Why start in a 10? seems like a lot of effort to me, to do a growout tank when their final tank will only be a 20.
About the gestation period, livebearers can hold onto their fry and not release them until they feel it is the right time. That might be an indication that the female knows the tank is too small, or some other factor is stressing her. The gestation period is usually only a month or so but they can take longer sometimes.
 
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Of course I wouldn't put hrps in a 3 gallon. I wanted to start with a 10 because I had a ten gallon on hand.
I ended up getting marbled convicts, very bad indeed. I got 4 at about 2-3 inches, (they all came together for free) they said there's one pair in that group. I'll pair them off, sellt he other 2 and set up a 20 for them.
It should only be a short amount of time, hopefully they won't kill eachother before I upgrade.
 
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