Chasing Sanity Posted November 26, 2011 Report Share Posted November 26, 2011 I've got a 4 foot tank with a very healthy population of Platies, but I'm looking for some others just to add a bit of variety. I had a Pearl Gourami and a Kissing Gourami, but they just weren't rough and tough enough to compete for food with the Platies. I've been looking at Angel fish, or Electric Yellow Cichlids. I'm after something that will help keep the Platy population down (heavily planted tank so will always have some babies) and keep the snail population down but I know that no fish lives on snails alone. I'm after some colour really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted November 26, 2011 Report Share Posted November 26, 2011 Electric yellows are African rift lake cichlids - while they would be tough enough to compete with the platies - they need completely different water conditions to thrive... Try a nice looking American cichlid instead - some baby jaguars or similar - firemouths if you want something smaller and less aggressive - you could even try some mouthbrooding wild type Bettas such as patoti (they'll definitely hunt down baby platies).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted November 26, 2011 Report Share Posted November 26, 2011 I thought electric yelow would be good, platies need hard alkeline water don't they? I used to keep them as dither fish for my rift lake tank. Never saw any fry though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted November 26, 2011 Report Share Posted November 26, 2011 generally, the electric yellow prefers hard water at about pH8.0 + ..... they also prefer temps over 26o C..... Platies prefer softer water at a ph6.0 up to high 7's.... they also prefer colder water up to about 26o C.... Both can handle a small amount of salt (more so the platies).... Given that a well stocked tank of platies also drops a lot of wastes into a tank and if it is kept at a pH8.0 to suit both species there is a higher chance of having ammonia problems due to the wastes and high pH.... a bit of a balancing act although the platies will slowly adapt to the more extreme requirements of the electric yellows, the natural aggression of the mbuna won't give the platies a peaceful tank to live in.... whatever is chosen the fish have no say in it I guess :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chasing Sanity Posted November 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2011 I don't want to distrupt the peaceful tank really, or force fish to live in conditions they don't like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chasing Sanity Posted December 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 I have taken the Platies out of my 4 foot tank and put my Axolotls in there instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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