Friends for breeding Platy's?

[sabhain]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the help I've gotten here in the past. My tank has recovered from a catastrophe late last year, and I'm in some stable territory the past few months.

After we had a genocide, we did severe water changes to get rid of the meds that didn't help my earlier problem, revised the filtration method, and managed to keep the cycle going.

I restocked with 4 Mickey Platy's (3 ladies, one male .. all but one of the females are orange mickey's .. the remainder is white mickey).

The chemistry in the tank has been really good. I check it twice a week, and consistently get 0 0 0 for the levels. In the groove of 20% WC's every 10-14 days. I do NOT actively alter the PH levels. They appear to remain steady at 8.0 (using high range test kit).

The fish have grown well and seem well adapted. The white one was probably pregnant when I got them in early Feb. I believe all three of the females have dropped fry at least once. It's really hard to tell when they're going to do it .. so I wasn't always able to save many fry. However, I caught the white one in the act, and was able to transfer her to a breeder in time to get 20 fry saved.

In a small 10g tank, the fry are thriving .. there's up to 28 or 30 in there now (randomly was able to extract 2 or 3 from the big tank). I'm planning to give most away to LFS or Craigslist .. only keeping one or 2 to move back into the tank.

My question is whether or not there's a small schooling fish that can be safely added to the mix here. It's not a huge tank, only 20g (high) .. and I don't want to upset the platy's too much. Thus far I think it's pretty cool to see them breeding .. and my 5 year old gets a kick out of the cycle of life thing .. but it seems like the tank can handle a little more color and life.

I was thinking about a few Neon/Cardinal Tetras .. but in reading the info from the links at left, it seems they prefer PH levels below 7.5.

Anyone have direct experience with these fish in slightly higher PH environs? Are they a good match with platy's?

Any other small schooling fish that are remotely a good fit for my situation?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[rich311k]

6-8 neons or cardinals would be fine. You could consider any of the smaller tetras: glolights, rummys, embers etc. You have the space, dont start worrying about PH, stable is best and any of the above fish will adapt.

If you decide to up the bioload you really might want to consider upping the water changes to weekly.

[sabhain]

Cool, thanks for your suggestions.

I'm comfortable doing the changes weekly .. they just don't seem to be necessary with this small a group of fish. Worth keeping an eye on for certain.