Friends for my platys

[OrchidNow]

Hi,
So now I have 4 platys. What else can I add in the tank they they will get along with and not eat the babies (if they have any)? I have a 10 gallon tank but I'm used to having lots of goldfish in it before. 
Laura

[Jeff1192]

I used to have a fairly large number of platies. I always found the smaller tetras (eg: neons) were good tankmates if you don't want to risk losing your fry. I also found having a densly planted area of the tank provided good hiding for the fry, allowing more to survive in a community tank.

Jeff

[rmicroys]

If hungry, your platys will eat their young if there are no hiding places.  Java Moss or Wisteria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrophila_difformis) provide a lot of cover for the little guys.  Got them in my 120 gal.  The little guys survive the Angels and other bigger fish well enough... they don't all live to grow up, but then I don't need 200 fish either.

[OrchidNow]

I have to have plants now??? Drat!

This new hobby is ending up been a lot of work and money and I haven't even got all my fish yet!

[sdivell]

I have 5 platies in my 21G and for tank mates i have some Julii Corys and some Roberti Tetras and they all get along fine.. the tetras dont go after my Fry... just the platies go after their own...
I have a large grouping of westeria next to my rock cave and i have had 2 fry hiding in it for awhile now.. 1 of the fry is large enough now to venture into the tank to eat algae off the other plants and the platies ignore it.. the other fry is still really small and remains in the westeria... i have another platy that looked to be giving birth this morning... i cant wait to get home to check to see if those fry have made it into the plants to hide.

good luck with your platies....get a school of small tetras.. or even a pair of small corys to clean up the bottom of your tank...but remember you can only have about 10" of fish in your 10G tank.

[Laura]

Assuming it's a room temperature tank, how about:

4 - 6 white clouds or 4 danios (they get bigger than white clouds) and a half dozen or so ghost shrimp for clean-up.  Both of these fish are quite cheap, and occassionally are offerered on the classifieds and ghost shrimp cost about $1.

There is no need for plants if you don't want them.  Many people like them in a tank, and they provide the fry with hiding places.  They can be quite cheap if you get them on the classifieds here, or at the mini-auctions.

[OrchidNow]

Thanks for everyone input. Can the fry hide in fake plants just as well as real ones? And I'm assuming that there will be babies. Maybe there won't be and all these would be a moot point. But I think it must be kinda exciting to see babies. 

Also, I'm gonna ask a stupid question. If one can see the babies, can one not put them in another bowl or something till they get bigger? I can see not been able to do too much in protecting them if they were eggs but babies would be different, no?

[RoxyDog]

if you're pretty sure mom's about to give birth, you can put her in a breeding trap and then when she's done, leave the babies in there.  for instance:  http://www.fishfurfeather.com/images/hagen/2waybreedingtrap.jpg
mom goes back into the main tank.  *poof* all done.  and yes, fake plants are fine.

[sas]

And I'm assuming that there will be babies. Maybe there won't be and all these would be a moot point. But I think it must be kinda exciting to see babies. 

Also, I'm gonna ask a stupid question. If one can see the babies, can one not put them in another bowl or something till they get bigger? I can see not been able to do too much in protecting them if they were eggs but babies would be different, no?

Babies are lots of fun, not only for us fishy people but if you've got children......they love to search for new fry, and see how many everyone can come up with! It's like a live game of "Where's Waldo", I  think that was the book? Makes for great family time, especially for those children that just don't seem to sit still.
    As far as asking stupid questions........there's no such thing. Believe you me other people are learning from all the questions asked on this site. .