Been some years since I kept tropical fish but now the kids are a bit older (and less likely to disrupt my tank!), I have started a 64 L tank to get me back in the swing of things.

The tanks been running for a couple of months now. Started with 4 platys to get the tank established with the intention of moving them to my 6 ft tank when I get it out of storage and setup. Lost a platy a couple of weeks later, never figured out why (I'd been testing regularly and keeping a very close eye on the tank as it was a new setup). The store replaced her with another platy. No further incidents so maybe the platy just died of natural causes.

Then I added six neon tetra to get the amazon biotope kickstarted. A week later I notice one of the platies has given birth (to my sons joy). A few weeks later I realize I appear to be missing 2 of the neons. When cleaning I find what is left of one of them (looks like the platies had been eating the corpse). Never did find a trace of the other one. I was a little concerned about the loss of the neons but haven't had any more losses since so just hoping it was a fluke.

The neons seem quite happy at the moment and are shoaling with the baby platies (who are fast approaching the size of the neons). Not sure about the exact count on the platies but think I have around 15 babies, which should give me a good start on the 6 ft tank when I get that started.

Planning on adding some more neons at the end of the month to get their numbers to a nice little group where they will be more happy.

Looking into adding corydoras in the future, but I am looking at changing my substrate from gravel to sand first. Don't think my gravel would be an issue with them as it is smooth and quite small, but want the sand because I believe they would be happier with sand. If anyone has any ideas of the best way to do this it would be greatly appreciated. Also the sand seems really overpriced from the aquatic store, heard that childrens play sand can be used and is very cheap. Looking into this.

When I finally have my substrate sorted I will be planting the tank with maybe some cabomba and some amazon sword. Still researching this because I have never ventured into planted tanks before, but I'm really excited to getting into this part of the hobby.