Stocking a new 10gal

Mollies and other livebearers will be fine in the water from the garage pump. GH of 300ppm is not a problem.

That brings us to the softer water. It seems as if there is a softener involved, and that can be dangerous for soft water fish if it uses sodium salt to replace the hard mineral salts.

Mollies might like the water, but given how large mollies can get, and how they're strong swimmers and active fish, I wouldn't recommend them for a ten gallon. My 8 plus year old mollies got huge, and used every inch of the 57g they were in. For a ten gallon, I'd stick to guppies/Endlers, and go male only since you'd soon run out of space with fry if you have females too.

Byron said:

Mollies and other livebearers will be fine in the water from the garage pump. GH of 300ppm is not a problem.

That brings us to the softer water. It seems as if there is a softener involved, and that can be dangerous for soft water fish if it uses sodium salt to replace the hard mineral salts.

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Okay. So what to do about the soft water?

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Mollies might like the water, but given how large mollies can get, and how they're strong swimmers and active fish, I wouldn't recommend them for a ten gallon. My 8 plus year old mollies got huge, and used every inch of the 57g they were in. For a ten gallon, I'd stick to guppies/Endlers, and go male only since you'd soon run out of space with fry if you have females too.

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What about 1 male 2 females? I am not planning on keeping fry, I will sell them to my lfs.

I missed the tank size, concentrating on the water parameter history. My mistake. I fully agree, you cannot keep mollies in a 10g. Guppies and Endlers, fine. Males only or you will be overrun with fry. Swordtails and platies also need more space.

Mollies if healthy will attain 3 inches for males, five inches for females with some sources reporting 6 inches for females. This is the common black molly, Poecilia sphenops. In small spaces this fish is highly stressed.

BleuTheBetta said:

Okay. So what to do about the soft water?

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How does the softener work?

Byron said:

Guppies and Endlers

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AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

guppies/Endlers

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Guess I’m getting guppies!

Byron said:

How does the softener work?

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Hang on, I’ll ask. I have no idea.

BleuTheBetta said:

Guess I’m getting guppies!

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Or you could pass on the 10g and look for a 30g, and get the fish you really like!
Mollies are one of my favourites, I only warn about their size and swimming ability because I've seen for myself how big they can get (and how active they are) when given the space and time to grow.

These were a trio, two females and a male, produced hundreds of offspring in their time ang got really large. For size comparison to the three black/silver dappled older fish, the other mollies, platies and guppies are adult sized, slightly older than the size you see in store, while the black/silver dappled were closer to 7-8 years in the photos.


Bear in mind pespective here too. The yellow mollies, orange platy, santa and blue platies, and adult bronze cory are all closer to the camera, but still dwarfed by the large molly.




Again, size perspective, this is 57g tank, and the size of the large mollies compared to all the other fish!

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Or you could pass on the 10g and look for a 30g, and get the fish you really like!

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I wanted guppies or Mollies, doesn’t make me sad! Plus, they are both livebearers. I wanted a live bearer, haha.

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

For size comparison to the three black/silver dappled older fish, the other mollies, platies and guppies are adult sized, slightly older than the size you see in store, while the black/silver dappled were closer to 7-8 years in the photos

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That is crazy! Thank you for telling me!

BleuTheBetta said:

I figured out there was a piece of limestone hiding behind a plant, and I got it taken out and did a water change. No PH change yet!
What do you think?

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If I may jump in on this. I’m currently going through something similar. My pH levels had risen in my tank due to a rock. my Tank was reading a pH of 7.4 but my tap water is a pH is 6.8 / 7.0

I had taken the rock out, done a water change and the pH did drop slightly to about 7.0 / 7.2.

Then a week later, the pH levels had risen again. Its assumed that the calcium could of ‘soaked’ into something else in the tank and then slowly being released back into the water. I’m doing water changes daily for this week to see if it makes a difference. So I maybe suggest that you also do the same ?

I would also take out some substrate and put that in a bucket of fresh water and test it straight away and then a test it again a week later, to see if your substrate could be partly the reason

sam_mitchell98 said:

If I may jump in on this. I’m currently going through something similar. My pH levels had risen in my tank due to a rock. my Tank was reading a pH of 7.4 but my tap water is a pH is 6.8 / 7.0

I had taken the rock out, done a water change and the pH did drop slightly to about 7.0 / 7.2.

Then a week later, the pH levels had risen again. Its assumed that the calcium could of ‘soaked’ into something else in the tank and then slowly being released back into the water. I’m doing water changes daily for this week to see if it makes a difference. So I maybe suggest that you also do the same ?

I would also take out some substrate and put that in a bucket of fresh water and test it straight away and then a test it again a week later, to see if your substrate could be partly the reason

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You should do the 24-hour test. Run a glass of tap water and let it sit for 24 hours, then test pH.

sam_mitchell98 said:

If I may jump in on this. I’m currently going through something similar. My pH levels had risen in my tank due to a rock. my Tank was reading a pH of 7.4 but my tap water is a pH is 6.8 / 7.0

I had taken the rock out, done a water change and the pH did drop slightly to about 7.0 / 7.2.

Then a week later, the pH levels had risen again. Its assumed that the calcium could of ‘soaked’ into something else in the tank and then slowly being released back into the water. I’m doing water changes daily for this week to see if it makes a difference. So I maybe suggest that you also do the same ?

I would also take out some substrate and put that in a bucket of fresh water and test it straight away and then a test it again a week later, to see if your substrate could be partly the reason

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I did! Don’t worry, everything was normal yesterday when I tested the water.