Platy love grotto
 

I've got one male and two female platy's in a 10 gallon tank and just came back from a week long business trip to discover they've been having some fun and now I have about ten little baby platy's! Also, I noticed a tiny little snail a while back, and now there are many little snails also roaming around my tank (I guess they came off of some live plants I got, I never bought any snails :confused: ). I'm not sure what to do here, how can a 10 gallon tank support so many multiplying critters? There are many live plants and a structure of rocks I made which the baby platy's hide in so I don't think they will get eaten. How many platy's can a 10 gallon tank hold? I also have one algae eater (not that I need it with all these snails). What should I do with all these critters? Do I need to feed them a lot more now? Do pet stores buy fish off people? Anyone in Vancouver want some platy's? :D Also, can I expect most of the babies will survive or is the survival rate pretty low? Thanks for any tips!

You should have at least 3 or 4 females for each male, otherwise the male will harass them to death.

A 10 gallon tank wont' hold many fish. Four adult platies is plenty, so you'll have to keep numbers down.

IF you don't get rid of the snails they will have a population explosion and your tank will be literally covered in them, even though the fish usually will eat some babies.

Yes, fish stores will take your babies as a favour, but don't expect to get paid much for them, if anything at all. If you're lucky, they might give you a small credit. As you see, platies breed non-stop and are readily available!

[QUOTE=LuckyRescue]You should have at least 3 or 4 females for each male, otherwise the male will harass them to death.
[/QUOTE]

The male doesn't seem to bug the females too much, there are many rocks piled up against the side for babies to hide and mommies to escape him (I guess "I have a headache" doesn't fly in fishy world :p ). I did have another male which he chased during feeding and eventually it died (I'm pretty sure it was from not eating ).

How do I get rid of the snails? Just pick them out?

Not many platys will probably suvive. I have platys in my 40 gal, one male and 3 females. One female did have some babies twice in fact but none survived. It's weird but only the one female ever gets preggo, neither of the other two. Unfortunetly I wouldn't keep more than 4 platys in a 10 gal.

As far as the snails they probably came from the live plants. They are really hard to get rid of, and will over run your tank very quickly. Also watch because they can get out through the smallest holes in the lid.

[QUOTE=Jackie467]
As far as the snails they probably came from the live plants. They are really hard to get rid of, and will over run your tank very quickly. Also watch because they can get out through the smallest holes in the lid.[/QUOTE]

Can water snails live out of the water? My tank is right on my kitchen counter, I don't want them getting out :eek:

I'm not real sure if they can live long out of water (never had a snail, they gross me out :yuck: ) but my friend had them and they would periodically crawl out and she would have to put them back in. I don't think they realize that once their out they may not be able to get themselves back in. Kind of like when fish jump out of the water.

you'd be best emptying your whole tank and scrubbing it up good, the same thing happened to my daughters 20 gallon tank, a stray snail....then before you knew it,we had hundreds...and I do mean hundreds. we tried picking them out and dumping them in the creek, but they just kept showing up. we rinsed the stones in boiling water and all the ornaments, filter tubes etc. the plants we gave an overnight salt bath to rid them of any stray eggs. Also check your fish, they could be carrying babies on them.

Where's Catt she's like snail queen :queen:

The best way to get rid of the snails:
Cut a peice of cucumber or zuchinni. Place a saucer in the tank.
Tie or elastic band it to a rock.
Pop in tank on saucer
About 1 hour later you will find most of the snails
have migrated to the peice of veggie, then just remove the veggie
and the saucer full of snails. Repeat till most snails are gone.
Or, Just use your fist and crush em against the glass when you see them.
Unfortunately most snail-acides will also kill your live plants. I dont know
of any you could use that wouldnt completely destroy your plants.
I wouldnt empty your tank and scrub it,
it would have to re-cycle, which would probably kill your platies.
I have 7 adult platies in my 75g community tank,
and supprisingly, despite all the majorly hungry fish in the tank with them,
I can fish out good sized baby platys (bout 2 weeks old)a couple times a
month from the floating plants on the surface of my tank.
What type of algae eater do you have?
If it is a chinese algae eater or a common pleco, they grow much much too big for a 10g tank.
Chinese algae eaters are also very well known for their aggression and refusal to eat algae once they reach the 5 inch mark. They grow to about 8 inches, common plecos grow to about 24 inches.
As for how many adult platies in your tank, I used to keep 15 females and 5 males in my 25g tank, but I found they reproduced too readily.
A Good Idea if you dont want to constantly deal with fry every few weeks, is purchase a small fish that will eat the newborn fry, such as a paradise fish, or dwarf gourami.

[QUOTE=sneakypete79]
What type of algae eater do you have?
If it is a chinese algae eater or a common pleco, they grow much much too big for a 10g tank.
[/QUOTE]

I've got no clue. I remember the pet store guy asking if I wanted one that grew really big and I said no. I'll attach a pic maybe you can tell me! :) One arrow points to the algae eater, the other to a baby platy. It's exactly the same color as my gravel, very well camoflauged! I looked yesterday and I think there are closer to 15-20 of them, there are so many! How big should they be before I move them? I'm giving the fish to my brother at the end of August. he has a huge heated tank full of friendly community fish (according to him), but maybe he's got something in there that will eat the babies :rolleyes: My sister has a bunch of platies who only had one baby in 2 years, so I had no idea they bred so readily! :o

Hi Kayla,
yes it is a chinese algae eater.
They can grow from 8-11 inches at adulthood.
They stop eating algae once they reach the 5 inch size
and tend to be come very aggressive.
My sister had one and she got rid of it after it had latched onto
the side of her Oranda goldfish and was eating the fish alive.
They are well known for their taste for sushi! LOL
A better choice of algae eater for your tank would be a
bristlenose pleco, or some otto catfish.
Heres some info on the chinese algae eater for you, and your baby
platy is so cute!
[url]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/cae.xml[/url]
[url]http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/algeater.htm[/url]