# platies in mini-bow 5



## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

i am getting a mini-bow 5 tank for christmas and was wondering if platies could live in it. if so, how much and what kind of salt should i add? how many platies can live in a mini-bow 5? r platies crazy breeders like guppies or steady breeders? what should i be aware of so they WILL NOT breed until i'm ready? i once read in a hobbyist magazine that platies will breed in as small as 5 gallons so i am guessing they can live fine in a 5 gal. can there be any other species in the tank? a female betta?


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## roc-aquarium (Aug 26, 2008)

You can keep Platys in the 5 gallon. I wouldn't keep more than 3 (1 male, 2 female). They will breed steadily if given a good diet. Typically every month or so. When I keep the fry with the parents they get eaten, so I wouldn't worry about over crowding.

Of course, if you want to have babies, you can move the pregnant females to another tank, or give lots of hiding places such as fine leaved plants. If you do keep babies you will need more tank space than the 5 gallon provides.


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

if well fed, the parents shouldn't eat the babies, and add in a few more hiding spots......
a betta (female) would be fine, and would eat the babies if the parents dont. if you want babies, just remove the betta and voila!


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

so if i have 1 female betta, how many platies can i have? I reread the article in the magazine and it said "add a teaspoon of sea salt or coarse salt for every 2 gallons of water", meaning i need 2 1/2 teaspoons. what kind of salt is best to be used? can a betta live with the salt requirements?


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## roc-aquarium (Aug 26, 2008)

The use of aquarium salt is debated. I personally don't use it for typical freshwater fish, but others swear by it. I don't believe it is necessary for platys.


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

no salt for platies. they don't need it like mollies...


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

ok no salt. so i can have 1 male p., 2 female p. and 1 fm. betta? o, and how do i sex platies?


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

males have a gonopodium (pointy bottom fin, like a pencil) and a female has a triangle shaped anal fin. just like a guppy, molly or swordtail.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

so i can still use the list in my last post here?


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

One thing, if you do keep a female betta in there, don't put salt in the tank. I lost all of mine...6 when I put salt in my tanks.

You could probably keep a female betta and two to three platies in there together. If you want to prevent breeding, just keep all females or all males. Be careful if you get all males. In a smaller tank, they may get territorial.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

when my mom checked out the tank 2 make sure it was'nt broken, she told me that there was a huge crack in it. after i handed over 40$ from my secret piggy bank that no one else can see, she promised me a 29 gal!!!! now my list is corrupted!! now, along with platies and a female betta, what would be the best combination to impress all my friends?


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

I'd go with swordtails and mollies, or tetras and calm barbs. Maybe opaline or gold mollies. They all have nice colors, etc. 

For barbs, stick with cherry or ruby. Don't get tiger barbs if it will be a community tank.

FOr tetras, the larger black widows and serpaes.
the smaller, neons, gold, and glowlight are good too. This depends on what colors you are looking for. If you let us know we can narrow down your options. Size of fish would be good too.

You have so many options to choose from!


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

veil angels are beautiful! (if your interested, I've had three spawns, but wasn't ready. I'm preparing a 20 gallon for one pair, a marble, and the nicest silver that i've ever seen.)


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

i plan on having 2 bubble(corner) filters and 1 105 fluval canister as filtration. the fish that grab my attention r opaline gouramis, gold gouramis, cardinal, neon, flame, columbian(blue flame) and silvertip tets, assorted african, kribensis and ram cichlids, gardneri killies, fancy guppies, black ruby barbs, glofish danios, and harquilin rasboras.


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

opaline and gold are good.

columbian tets are amazing. I got 3 at petsmart. They weren't going to sell them anymore, and they were$.75 each so they could get rid of them. I got them back in June and none have even gotten sick!

never had flames, neons good, cards little expensive. silvertips are amazing.

except for the rams, you can't keep cichlids in a community tank. Rams are good if you can find them.
guppies could overpopulate the tank.
never had the barbs, glofish are a little expensive, rasboras are good. I've only had golden killies so I can't help you there.

Hopefully this will help. If you need, I can let you know about how many of each if you decide on these.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

thanks brett. your a great help. but i always thought that kribs CAN be kept in a community. i still would like to keep platies, so i will stick with 3 of those. for guppies i can keep all males. im not sure about the others. can someone give me a list of the proper amounts of fish, including all these 4 a 29 gal?


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

I'm not positive with kribs myself. Its possible, I've never had them. I just know rams can for sure.

3 platies- 3-6in colors vary 
guppies- 1 in each colors vary

My opinion for you...
2 gold gouramis-4-6in gold
2 opaline gouramis-4-6in blue/gray
3 columbian tets- 6in blue, silver, red
4 rasboras-4in red
this would be a minimum you could get. total-29in
Personally I don't follow this rule. If you keep the tank clean you can keep many more.
I would probably get 2-3cories and at least one oto -7in
And you would probably max if you got a pair of kribs(8in) or rams(6in). It sounds like kribs can be kept in a community but I'm not positive.
You might not be able to keep all of the above fish, if you would get cichlids. You might want to drop about 6in of fish if you got kribs or 4in for rams.If you were to only get two gouramis, not four, you would be just fine.

With kribs-6in= 38in
With rams-4in= 36in

you can get a minimum of two cories however. (these serve as a natural tank cleaner.) You don't have to get cories, but they will eat all left over food. This way, you would be able to keep all the gouramis.


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

kribs eat guppies! pick between guppies and kribs, but in your setup, i say kribs. only problem with the rams is that they are VERY fragile. I've never kept one alive for more than a month. blue and gold gouramis are the same species and become very aggresive, so watch out. african cichlids are very worthwile to keep, (i have a 120 gal. full of them) but can only be kept with certain fish, and even some other africans dont fit that quote! about the tetras, their good with just about anything in your list......


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

i'll skip rams and guppies and go with kribs. i'll also just have 2 female gouramis, 1 of each color. i'll otherwise follow the list. but would it be possible 2 keep 2 balloon mollies with the newly reduced list? o and do i have 2 keep kribs in a pair?


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

yes, you can keep the mollies with what you have, but i reccomend the regular mollies because they can escape any aggresion that may result from the kribs and gouramis. balloons arent fast enough.....

I recomend keeping the kribs in a pair because they will usually be destracted with each other to leave most of the other fish alone. then again, that's just my experience...


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

Balloon mollies are great. They are just like minature mollies.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

there has been a reduction. i got a 20 gal instead. who should get kicked off the list?


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

I would either drop one or both gouramis just because they are a little more expensive and I haven't had much luck with them.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

OK. three-spot gouramis can get 2 b 6 inches, which would probably make them a little big 4 the tank. thats it? i could keep everything else(including balloon mollies)?


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

I would think so...


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

actually i went 2 petco 4 decor today and it turns out that i was looking at the columbians in dim lighting, but today they had them in bright lighting, and they really did'nt impress me. but the golden zebrafish(not glofish) in the tank above did.


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

Golden Zebra fish...Are they gold zebra danios? those are great fish!


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

yes there zebra danios. i'll get 6 of those in stead of colombians. hows that?


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

thats good...


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

o and does filtration matter? instead of getting the filtration mentioned before, i got a whisper 20 power filter, but maybe i could still get a corner filter...and i would like 2 maybe keep a pair of peacock gobies if i just got 3 rasboras...


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

anyone?


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

i guess eagle went on his trip 2 des moines...i'm switching this to a new thread...


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