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I have a 20gal tank that is fully cycled and I am working on stocking it. here is what i have:

3 Mickey Mouse Platies (2f/1M)
1 Dwarf Gourami (M)
6 panda corys

I will be adding 8 tetras, not sure of which variety, but ones under 1.5 inches.

However, I am not sure I am going to keep the platies, as I do not want all the fry they are producing and my female platy is chasing after my gourami.

So what would be a good replacement for the platies that wouldn't be livebearers?

(And I know I am a little overstocked, or will be, but I am doing my water changes, and monitoring very closely)

TIA!

There are so many options: basically any schooling tetra or rasbora would do well. If it was me, I'd probably do a school of harlequin rasboras. They're small, attractive, good schoolers, and will eave your gourami alone. But it really depends on what you want to do.

I was also going to suggest some small rasboras...my lfs has some marked as exlamation point rasboras that get 1.5" or so...not sure if that's their real name this is one of the stores that likes to make up names for fish .

If you're going to trade the platies in, maybe increase the corys a bit (one can never really have too many corys ) and go for a nice school of rasboras....and add some plants ....

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

Last edited by Babelfish at 05-Oct-2004 10:52

Hmm...never thought of Rasbora's. Do they have to be in a school? If I was to get rid of the platies, I would only have room for 6 inches of fish (or so). So I could get about 3 Rasbora's, but is that okay for them?

Babel - I was thinkin more pandas, but I could only find them at one pet store, and I don't really like the look of their tanks, so I am going to stay away from them. If I can find other pandas, I might increase the number. (Bringing back a dead panda today, to replace with a new one,he was only 2 days old in my tank, and I am nervous about even getting one more... )

Hmmm...I am going to get one school of tetras, but could I get another one? Would they be okay with a school of 6 rather than 8?

Thanks ONCE again for everyone's help. I love all the input.

Rasboras definitely need to be kept in groups of six or more and the more the merrier. The nice thing about platies is that they're not a traditional schooling fish, so the smaller numbers are OK. But it's not worth the trouble if they're not getting along well with the other fish. You could go with a small school of tetras and a small school of rasboras, but you might want to consider upping the cories (as was suggested) and have one larger school of tetras OR rasboras and then the dwarf gourami as a nice centrepiece. A larger school would make the fish more secure and show them at their best. The cost, of course, is a bit of variety in the tank.

I can understand not wanting to purchase from well...shoddy LFS's there's a few like that I just don't go to (One I swear had ich in each and every tank ).
Inch per gallon and all that jazz is just starting points....I also have a 20 gallon which I'm forced into overstocking just to keep the nitrAtes up with the plants....each tank will be different.

What I'd suggest is spend some time @a good LFS and compair rasboras and tetras....I've kept tetras and was never really impressed with their behavior (they just sit and hover all day ) rasboras ...while I've never kept them are in the same family as danios, barbs and goldfish.....all of which I have and love for their personality. Active, fun, and responsive. And yes ..when it comes to schools the more the more amusing and the happier they are...rememeber though you dont' have to add everyone all @once....start with one smaller sized school, see how you're doing on nitrAtes and behavior then increase it a bit....and go from there

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

.my lfs has some marked as exlamation point rasboras that get 1.5" or so...not sure if that's their real name

I have exclamation points, Boraras urophthalmoides, they're also called least rasboras and grow to 1". Pretty little fish, and active although not tight schoolers like harlequins.

Cherry barbs are nice too and don't require a school, keeping a pair is fine.

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