How Many Fish?

[Not Really Funny]

Hi! I have a 10 gal tank (the fish inside it are listed in my sig), and I was wondering... Can I put in a few more fish without overcrowding? I have a platie and a molly that I think could use some feminine company, knowing the ratios they like, but I don't want to stuff my tank.

If anyone wants me to post a photo of the tank to get an idea of how much space I have left, ask and ye shall recieve.

Thank you so much for any advice you might have!!

 

[modernhamlet]

Forget about adding fish for a minute. I don't want to alarm you, but you do have several big problems right off the bat.

1. You have a goldfish. He really doesn't belong with tropical fish OR in a 10g tank. He is a coldwater fish and produces large amounts of waste. I would strongly urge you to find him his own home or return him to where you got him. Do you have a heater on your tank currently?

2. What kind of plec do you have? There aren't many plec species that will fit in a 10g.

3. (Most important) Is your tank cycled?

Let's start there.

HTH!

 

[Not Really Funny]

Forget about adding fish for a minute. I don't want to alarm you, but you do have several big problems right off the bat.

1. You have a goldfish. He really doesn't belong with tropical fish OR in a 10g tank. He is a coldwater fish and produces large amounts of waste. I would strongly urge you to find him his own home or return him to where you got him. Do you have a heater on your tank currently?

2. What kind of plec do you have? There aren't many plec species that will fit in a 10g.

3. (Most important) Is your tank cycled?

Let's start there.

HTH!

1. Yeah, I know. I like Mayonnaise a whole lot, but I'm going to be giving her away to my friend when she gets her tank (hopefully very soon).

2. My pleco... I think it's a siamese algae eater? I'm not really sure, but he hasn't been growing for a looong time, so I'm fairly certain he's done.

3. Yes!

 

[modernhamlet]

Does it look like this?

 

[Not Really Funny]

Yep, that looks a lot like him!

 

[modernhamlet]

Good deal. That's much better than it being a plec. SAEs are in the cyprinid family and are cousins to barbs and rasboras. Go to this page and make sure you have a Siamese Algae Eater and not one of his more nefarious bretheren: Algae Eating Cyprinids

If it's an SAE... then you'll probably be ok for the time being. A 10g isn't ideal for them (they reach 4"), but they are a small 4" and should be ok. SAEs like lots of live plants too. If you can provide them, do so...

If it's not an SAE, but instead a Chinese algae eater or similar... take it back to the store. It will get too big and too aggressive and you don't want it in your community tank.

So basically:
Don't add anything until you move the goldfish and make sure you keep up on water changes. Keep the temp in the low 70s F.
Once Mayo has a new home, you should add 3-4 more tetras to keep Zom and Bie company. Other than that, you're pretty much stocked.
Your platy and mollie will be fine without girls. If you are keenly interested in breeding them though, I'd suggest replacing your 10g with a 20g long if you can. It's still relatively small, but gives you a lot more options to do what you seem to want to do.

In a 20L, you could have:
1M:2F platy
1M:2F mollie
6 tetra
1 SAE
4 dwarf corys

That would be pretty much a textbook peaceful community tank.

Hope all this helped. Good luck with everything!

 

[Not Really Funny]

Ahh, thank you so much! I'm probably going to ask for a bigger tank around Christmas time, either a 20 or a 30 gallon (whatever I can fit on my desk!). Thanks again, I was worried my molly/platie would become stressed without the females.