Platies in 10 gallon and diet

I have a 10 gallon heated and filtered tank that is currently empty and I want to get 3 platies. I have done some research and I am in love with platies! I really don't want to mess anything up! I have read that they do better with a "varied diet." I thought maybe I could feed them Top Fin tropical flakes as the main food, Omega One Veggie Flakes, and Top Fin Freeze Dried Bloodworms as a treat. Is this alright? How often should the tank water be changed? Is 3 platies over-stocking the tank? Should I get all males or all females? Obviously I could use all the help I can get. Any informtion is much appreciated!
Thanks,
countrychic

 

What are the dimensions on the tank? I'm asking because they do like to swim around a lot, so having a longer tank rather than a taller one is better. At that small a volume I would definitely only keep males. I think three might be pushing it though, what kind of filtration do you have on there?

Platies will eat, in my experience, pretty much anything you put in front of them. Mine get NLS flakes, NLS pellets, shrimp wafers and the occasional frozen treat. They devour all of it to the extent that I worry everything else in the tank will starve. The only thing they were not the least bit interested in that I tried was zucchini.

 

Welcome to fishlore,

As long as your tank is cycled, 3 Platies is fine for a 10 gallon, I just wouldn't have a mix gender tank because they breed fast. I personally like the look of female platies but that is just my opinion, however sometimes female platies come pregnant...just something you should think about.

You want to do weekly water changes, 20-30 percent.

 

Length- 20" Hieght- 12" Width- 10"

Thanks for the answers! I have an aqeon filter. There are so many diet options!! It's a little overwhelming!

 

Yeah, you should be good with three. Filtration might be your only issue, they do make quite a mess.

In general, what they mean by varied diet isn't more than one kind of flakes. For the most part, flakes are junk food. I feed them only to keep my platies busy at the top for a few minutes so everyone else can eat something. If I was keeping only platies I probably wouldn't even bother with flakes.

 

Haha they sound like little piggies!

 

I agree with getting more filtration, whatever came with the tank is probably like a topfin 10 or something which really isn't good enough for a ten gallon tank. I like aqua clear hob filters. At least throw a sponge filter in there with it and you should'nt have to worry to much. good luck to you. I like my platties a lot too.

 

Thanks! I'll go get a higher quality filter. Thank you guys soo much! You've helped a lot! I'm SO excited to bring home my platies!!

 

3 platies will be fine in a ten gallon tank.

Unless you have a larger tank with fish that will handle offspring, I'll echo the suggestion to keep males only. Aside from the odd overly aggressive male, aggression usually results in males fighting over females when they don't have at least 2-3 females to themselves. So no females to fight over means the aggression is cut way down. Females have a high chance of coming home pregnant, so all females has little benefit. Stick with the males IMO.