# Air gulping



## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

Is occasional (maybe every few hours) grabbing air from the surface normal, or does it always indicate lack of oxygen in the water?

I notice my Platys taking air from the surface now and again, but they seem healthy as anything.

There's no airstone in the tanks, just the hang on filters.


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## Ownager2004 (Apr 4, 2005)

I dont know platies to have any mechanisms to breathe atmoshperic oxygen... Some fish can absorb it in their intestines... Others have lungs. I would bet they are just grabbing some gunk off the surface to eat. HOBs should provide plenty of aeration unless your way overstocked and then I dont think oxygen would be the first problem you noticed.


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## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

I notice lots of bubbles coming out when they get food off the surface sometimes, so maybe that's just it, going for invisible food.

I'm very lightly stocked right now, only 1 female platy in one tank and one male platy and one male guppy in the other. The platy keeps chasing hte guppy which is a worry (a problem caused by only two fish, I guess). I'm going to move him into the to be fry tank to keep the sponge filter going until the female delivers.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Oxygen exchange is created by surface water movement. Air stones only help a little with that. Your hob filter probably does a good job with circulating the water and creating ageatation at the surface. 

One thing you may want to check is your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. If these get high your fish may be looking for some way to get the oxygen that these things take out of the water. Also check your temp as the water temp increases these things become more toxic to the fish.


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## Guest (May 27, 2006)

What size tanks are they in? I'm asuming the reason the male platy is chasing the guppy is because either the tank is to small or because you need 1 female and two more males to have the proper ratio and he should spread his aggression between the other two males instead of all on the guppy.


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## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

25L. They're now separate, and can stay that way until I can (hopefully) rear my platy fry.


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