New To Hobby...

I'm just looking for a bit of advice. I have a small 6 gallon tank which cycled for three weeks with both an air stone and a small filter before I added two Platies - I know they're supposed to be in small groups, but I wanted to introduce slowly. I'm currently struggling a little with ammonia, but have it under control with daily water changes, and I'm hoping the tank will settle. My question is will I be able to add more platies given that the tank is quite small? I currently have one blue female and one sunset male, and they seem to be getting along quite well together.
Any advice would be great, I am brand new to this hobby and I don't want to mess up, I'm already quite attached to them both!

 

Hi,
I'd say you are at the limit.... A platy's minimum tank size is 10 gallons.
How good is your filtration, and do you just have mechanical filtration (sponges) or biological aswell (little ceramic or plastic rings)? If you have good filtration and keep up with regular maintenance the two already in there should be ok, hopefully.

If they start looking unwell or unhappy I'd upgrade or re-home them.

I'd also get a second opinion on here, just incase I got any info wrong.

Ethan

 

A 6 gallon is too small for platies. They are big fish eventually. Guppies or endlers however would work. I would rehome the platies, finish your cycle, then get some endlers or guppies.

Can you tell us how you cycled? What is your filter?

 

I was worried it might be a little small. Pet shops don't care, do they??? They recommended four, three females and a male, but I didn't think the tank was big enough.

The filter has a sponge and also some kind of small stones inside, and the air stone works really well. They both seem okay at the moment, but if they start looking lethargic I will upgrade the tank to something like 15 gallons if I can.

Thanks for the reply!

 

Exactly , most just want to make as much money as they want. I'd upgrade if you can, but it's up to you... The stones would be biological filtration. For you biological filtration. The sponges are to remove phisical stuff in the water such as food. That should be rinced in old tank water as it also harbours alot of biological (beneficial) bacteria.

Ethan

 

Hello and Welcome,

Platies are livebearers, as you have a male and a female you are soon going to have more fish. Might want to think about a bigger single sex tank.

Glad you found us.

 

Thanks for the advice. I might get a bigger tank instead of rehoming, not many fish seem happy in such a small space, though a pet shop won't tell you that before you drop money on it!

When you say 'how I cycled', not entirely sure what you mean - after setting up the tank I let the filter (a smallworld carbon and sponge filter ) run for about two weeks, and added Pure Aquarium to encourage bacteria to grow (I think. I did some reading but a lot of it was way over my head and came across as overcomplicated) then added fish a couple of weeks later.

 

Honestly, I would scrap the 6 unless you wanted a betta, and get a 10 and above. Smaller tanks than 10 gallons honestly shouldn't be the first tank a beginner should own as the parameters are harder to maintain. A 10 gallon could house things like a few platies, or a few guppies, or a single paradise fish, etc. MOre options, more fun!

 

I just want to add a welcome. Sorry you are starting off with some confusion and/ or poor advice from the pet store, but people here are glad to help.

 

QUick thing about live bearers; if you keep more than one, you need to have a 1:2 male to female ratio. Lowers aggression

 

You probably aren't cycled. You should have dosed ammonia while dosing the bottled bacteria. Basically, you get a test kit for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrites. API Master test kit is good. Don't get the strips. Get some pure ammonia. You can generally find this at a hardware store. If you shake it and it bubbles and stay bubbly its bad, it has surfectants. You want no surfectants. Once you get your test kit and ammonia, you can get some bottled bacteria like you got. Dose ammonia to 1 ppm, and pour in your bottled bacteria. You probably will be cycled in about a week with bottled bacteria, but it can take longer.

24 hours after you dosed check your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. If ammonia and nitrite are 0, and you have nitrates your cycled. However, what will probably happen is ammonia will be around 0.5 ppm and nitrites around 1-2 ppm. Just dose ammonia up to 1 ppm again, and leave it 24 hours, check, repeat until ammonia, nitrite are 0 and you have nitrates. Sounds complicated but it really isn't.

A 20 long or 29 gallon are great starter sizes! I'd suggest against a 10 if you have the space for a 20 long or 29... thing is you have pretty limited stocking in a 10, only guppies, endlers, and some dwarf tetras. In a 20 long or 29 there's huge stocking options, plus it'll be just a bit more expensive to set up a 20 or 29 over a 10.