# Will platies eat/damage plants?



## killerpony (Oct 3, 2006)

Hi everyone;

I have just added the first few fish to my 15gal planted tank. The tank was planted last sunday with dwarf hairgrass, a dwarf lilly, a cardinal plant, and some crypt. wendtii. The plants seem to be doing well and each one is sending out runners, rhizomes, new leaves, etc. 

I went with my wife to the LFS to get some starter fish. We decided on 4 juvenile panda cories. They are now in the tank. While we were there, my wife laid her eyes on a particular variant of platy they had. The lfs guy said that platies will occasionally munch the more delicate plants. Is this true? I would like to get some, but not if they will damage the plants. 

Also, if I have my 4 cories, an ottocinclus, 6 cardinal tetras, and 3 platies, will the tank be overstocked? I ask because this is my first planted tank...it would seem like that is too much for a non-planted tank. Also, I would add them over time to allow the tank/plants time to adapt.

Thanks!


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## killerpony (Oct 3, 2006)

Does anyone have any input?


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## Joetee (Mar 28, 2006)

I started out with just 2 platies and they had about 50 ro 60 fry. The fry are now almost as big as the father which are smaller than the females. They don't seem to bother my plants at all.
I'm not sure on the size of your fish at maturity but a good rule of thumb is "1 inch of fish per gallon of water", but this does not always apply. It depends on how often you change your water, your filter, how large the fish are (not the length). My 10 gal is kind of over stocked but the fish seem to be doing fine. I have been trying to give some of my platies away. Some have been eaten by my African Brown Knife, but they are to big now.
I hope this helps.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

My platies only munch on plants when I neglect to feed them that day...and they only munch on bits of riccia and anacharis...not much to do enough damage.

I think they'll be fine with your plants.


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

They don't eat plants, but usually munch on little critters that live on them. This is why you see these fish looking like they are eating plants.


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## triple red (May 27, 2005)

crazie.eddie said:


> They don't eat plants, but usually munch on little critters that live on them. This is why you see these fish looking like they are eating plants.


little know fact is that they also eat algae....they look like they are "kissing" the plants....when i had them they would eat it off the plants and the black glass when i let the alage grow on it....


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## Canoe2Can (Oct 31, 2004)

I could see platys munching on something like moss if they were hungry, but usually they're pretty good algae eaters. That's mostly the reason I bought them. That and I like livebearers in my 120 since it also houses a "population control" pirahna. 

Along those lines, unless you have a place for the offspring to go, I would recommend against them for something that small without any predators. If you wanted them for this tank, consider a dwarf cichlid instead of cardinals.

And finally, I would say that your fish plan is not overstocking. One inch per gallon is a basic guideline, but it does depend on the size of the fish too. A two inch fish produces about 8 times the waste of a 1 inch fish, for example. The bigger the fish, the less inches per gallon you can have. Since none of the fish you mention are much over an inch, I'd say no problem. Except for the plethora of platy fry that would soon occur, of course.


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## killerpony (Oct 3, 2006)

Thanks for the input. I was thinking of either getting a trio of females or a male and 2 females. I do have some hungry cichlids that may appreciate some platy fry as a snack, so I'm not too worried about the population explosion. I will probably pick them up tomorrow.

Gino


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