ER9

you have to look at white cloud minows. super friendly fish that love to swim around together. i have three. they are silverish with bright red tails and fins....very pretty fish. very tough as well. they have dealt with my inexperience better than anyother fish in my tank....nothing seems to bother them and they get to 2"ish max size.

valen

Here is an update on my tank situation: The Danio went back to the LFS but they initially did not want to take it back. They said as a rule they don't take fish back. So I said I don't want the money just take it back. So they did but I don't want to think about what may have happened to it.


Anyhow I am not out of the woods yet. Now the larger platy is attacking the same smaller platy that the danio was attacking. I just have 2 male platy's in the tank. Are platy's fin nippers between themselves ? Maybe the LFS messed up and I really have a male and female platy when I requested two males ? I guess you don't tell them appart by color but by the anal fin ? They both seem to have one.

Also, the smaller platy has one or two pieces of its big dorsal fin missing. Do I need medication ? or will it heal by itself ?

I sure am learning alot about fish psycology the hard way. Thanks for an advice you can provide.

angelfish220

Livebearers create a 'pecking order'. When there are only 2 the agression is always on one, your smaller platy. If you go to the lfs and get another male platy the problem will go away almost instantly.

I find the best way to heal torn fins is warm clean water. If you raise the water temp to about 80, then keep very clean ( which you should be doing anyway ) the fin heals relitively quickly. I have never really found a medication that helps it along better than those 2 things.

valen

according to the charts platy's water temp tops out at 76F. Can I safely raise it to 80F ?

angelfish220

Yeah, just not for forever, 2 weeks will work well. ( Dont worry, the cure for ick is 82 degree water and I've had bouts of ick for weeks and kept the water there and it caused no harm to my platies.)

valen

I will go get a third male platy today so that the fighting stops. Does the third one have to be the same color family (orange/red) for them to stop fighting and be more communal (I was thinking a blueish one this time) ?

Would getting a pair of male guppies have the same "calming" effect ? i.e. get one platy to stop harassing the other ? They are both males.

COBettaCouple

It will work out best if the 3rd platy is the same type. A pair of guppies wouldn't be what you'd need - they do better with 3 or more also.