How many can i fit

musho3210

Hmm, i have a tank with 7 zebra danios at the moment. I want to have platies in it, preferably Redtail White Calico Platy. How many platies can i fit?

Here is my tank information

20 gallon high tank
Ph. 7.6-7.8
Double filtration (two 20 gallon filters)
A heater but i dont use because my room temperature works for my fish
Temperature, 72-74
Tons of hiding spots, i have 3 medium ornaments, 2 coconut caves, and a patch of Java Moss with 6 fake plants

Current livers
Hitchhiking snails (i think there malasian trumpet)
4 ghost shrimp
7 zebra danios

flatcam1

i would say that the rule of 1 fish per gallon works, so i would say that you could fit 13 Platy's in the tank according to the general rule.

i think i also read somewhere that some danios fin-nip? dunno if this is true or not.

hope this helps musho! :D

flatcam1

i just had a look and it seems that the giant danios fin-nip. so i would say that it would be fine.

best regards, flatcam1

musho3210

well i already have 7 danios. They only nip at each other when there are groups of 5 or more. They will nip at other fish when there group is less than five. Anyway platies are fast enough to get away from them.

blueblue48

oo no no no dont put 17 platies!!!! NO. heres my reasoning. BABIES. youll need a 1 male to 2 female ratio so id say maybe 3 males 6 females MAX. danios are notorious fin nippers but i think the platies will be big enough to be left alone. my danios leave everything in my 30 gallon alone. also cover up holes. one of my platies jumped out last night and died!

fish_4_all

20 gallon tall, 7 danio already, max of 3-5 platties and that is assuming no babies. The rule of thumb is 1" per gallon and that 1" is their adult size. As for fin nipping, you just never know. if you are going to get the platties, then you will have to wait and see. May happen, may not. If you get all males or all females then babies is not a worry but if you don't have a lot of cover anyway then the platties and the danios will eat the babies and you will only have a couple survive once in a while.

The platties will also need the heater as they prefer to stay between 72 and 82 F. Will also help to kepe the temp steady which will lessen the stress they can be under from fluctuating temps, if that is an issue.

The dual filter setup may help with the bioload and you may get away with a couple more fish but I would not exceed 25 inches of fish because they are both column fish and may fight for territory.

Keep up with weekly 50% water changes and you shouldn't have much problem with 25" of fish. That being said, what kind of filters are they?

musho3210

One penguin bio wheel filter and one top fin power filter.