The Platy fish are great fish for ANY fish owner, they're also amazing for beginners in handling fish because of how easy they are to take care of, in-fact my first fish were Platy fish! Platy fish are very colorful and small, let's look into the specifications for taking care of these little guys.
The Care Of Platy Fish:
Although Platy fish are small, this doesn't make the space they use any less, Platy's much prefer to be in small colonies, i would suggest at least 5 of these little guys in your tank but when first buying them you can just start with 3 and work your way up depending on how big the tank you're using is.
For tank sizes, I would say 14L would hold 2-3 Platy's. My first tank was a 28L and I kept 6 Platy's in there, they were super cute and loved to swim around in all the space i had to offer, they also like hiding as they're pretty small so make sure you have some cool decorations and plants in your tank for them to enjoy.
For the water conditions, these are cold/fresh water fish, so do make sure that when you get these guys your tank water is 7-8.5pH and 20-26 degrees Celsius.
Platy fish tend to grow to a maximum of 6cm so if you've got a lot of these guys and a small thank think about getting a future upgrade, If you're worried about how much space you'll need think about how big they will be when they're FULLY grown, and not how big they are right now.
Feeding Your Platy Fish:
Feeding is fairly easy, although they can be picky eaters. The recommended food is:
- High quality flakes (make sure they're flakes that do NOT sink) Make sure that they do not contain too many additives like rice as fillers.
- Bloodworms (Only occasionally)
- Shrimp
- Most other live foods
- If you can't provide live food, frozen food is nearly as convenient, you can use foods like Shrimp, Bloodworms and Blackworms that are as said before, frozen.
Breeding Platy Fish:
Now if you're new to holding fish, you need to be careful when owning platys if you want mixed male and female fish. I would recommend just getting a single gender of Platy's if you're a new owner as when kept in a good male:female ratio they will produce fry (baby fish) rapidly. If kept in a ratio of 3 Females: 1 Male you're almost promised fry.
If they do breed, make sure that when the fry are born they're separated from the other fish into a separate tank until they're big enough to go back because when small they're likely to be eaten by others. Do NOT overcrowd the tanks, if you have too many fish and you don't want to buy another tank after having fry then most fish shops or fish owners will except these guys into their family. Once a female platy has become impregnating, it’s easy to identify. Her belly will quickly swell to massive proportions.
The Nature Of Platy Fish:
Platy fish have a very nice temperament, they're very peaceful and do not cause harm to most fish. As they're so small however, they can become bait to other fish so try to keep them with fish their size or other peaceful aquatics so you don't have any of your fishy family becoming a mid-day snack! If you're not sure about getting a fish to join your Platy's or a Platy to join your fish, ask your local pet store first.
If you have any other questions about Platy fish, just go to our contact page and ask away!
-Aquatic Antics Team