Tankerblade

Well its been awhile since i really got into the plant/aquarium aspect. Unforseen circumstances has brought me back into this beautiful world. Now story time, so please bear with me.

I have a main 29gallon tank with a couple fish (only 3 now) and a rock formation inside. A couple years ago i got into the whole aquarium deal. but it has died down over time. Now since a guy at my mother's work place breeds fish, some red platy's i think, he got baby fish and she took it upon herself to bring some home. now i have 14 baby platy's in a small 10g back up tank. unfortunately i didnt get enough time to set the tank up the right way, so i put about 2 gallons of water from my main tank and let it cycle for the bacteria. So 3hrs after i got everything done and filter running, fish are home and are aclimating. The next day, my mom thought it would be nice to put a plant in it. She got two large (for a 10g) stalk, broad leaf type plants. I know for a fact the way i have things they wont survive, because i've tried it before years ago.

My question is, what can i do to keep the plants and fish in healthy conditions? I know that these conditions are not the best, but the best i can do for now without too much stress on everything.

So what should i do?
Thanks!

Philosophos

Any chance on posting a picture or identifying that plant? It'll go a long ways in figuring out what you need on that end of things.

As for the fish, I cycled my first tank years ago with platys. The fry will probably be a bit more sensitive, so weekly water changes will help. On a 10 gallon, that shouldn't be too hard. You can always try seeding filter media from your 29 gal and/or using a commercial bacteria culture if the plant density isn't high enough to prevent ammonia increases.

-Philosophos