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 Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:55 pm
My sister bought 2 red platys last month, and one is now HUGE and about to have babies.
We have her in a breeding net right now, but since my sister has such a small tank, I said I would take on some of the babies.
I'll be setting up the tank this weekend, but I'm trying to decide the best setup. (I already know how to do the whole filtering thing with new fry, ect)
I'm just wondering what is better to have in a tank for platys. Sand, gravel, or pebbles? I will probably just have bare bottom at first until the fry are a larger, but it's always a good thing to know. mrgreen
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:31 pm
I've kept my livebearers in the past on both gravel and sand... but my mollies liked to eat off the bottom, so gravel was better.
If you're doing a planted tank, you may want do do a layer of fine gravel or sand on the bottom to let them root.
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:39 pm
I like gravel, but also recommend lots of plants, either real or good quality fake. That gives the fry more places to hide and also reduces stress on the adults.
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Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:01 pm
I have mine on gravel and they've been doing fine. They really love having places to hide, though. =]
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:35 am
i think i would go for a tank with a wide open spaece in the center and plants at eather end or both, that way they can swim and have privet time
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:18 pm
Platy babies are tiny... I had gravel in a platy tank and i never SAW the babies.... they died hiding in the gravel.... i dunno
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 9:29 am
Currently for my platies I'm using a sand bottom with a lots of anchored java moss. 3nodding
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 9:16 am
I'd use gravel, but that's just my choice. Sand will do too if there are no other adult fish in the tank. Fry love plants and if you go to a pet shop, you can ask about a plant which the Fry love to eat.
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:26 pm
I've never really had platys before. I have had guppies for over a year now I believe, and I find gravel is doing well for them.
I haven't used sand, because I heard it is difficult to clean. (Don't know how true that is, as I haven't looked into it too much.)
However, if you were to have a heavily planted tank you'd generally want to use a layer of sand over whatever other substrate/other good stuff you were planning on using. (That's beyond me though--I don't have a lot of knowlege about that. gonk )
Anyhow, the gravel I use is not painted or coated in anything. My guppies love to pick at it and look for leftover food, so I would be worried about them eating the paint off of the gravel or something. sweatdrop
In my opinion, uncoated gravel seems as if it would be better for beneficial bacteria to colonize in as well.
I would avoid using large pebbles, because I have had issues with fry hiding under them and in gaps and somehow becoming trapped. If I hadn't found them they would have probably starved and died down there. ): (Has anyone else ever had this problem or one similar?? XD)
If you're not interested in salvaging all of the fry though (which is alright, it gets to the point where sometimes you just can't keep track of them all), large pebbles would be alright. Some people find them pretty managable during tank maintenance, but gravel works best for me. ^_^v
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