Mollies

[Zafirah]

Currently my tank has;

8 guppies
4 albino bronze corycats
3 phantom tetras


the question is
can i add something like mollies or platys or swords and how many

thanks,
zaffy

 

[chibi]

I reccomend platies. Swords get pretty big, as do mollies. Platies are peaceful, small and cute. 3-4 platies would be good; if you want mollies, I'd get maybe 2-3. If you still want swordtails, I'd only get 1 or 2.

 

[thegnu]

i agree with chibi, swords are very fast swimmers and need a 3' tank really and a 20 long is close to being stocked. have you thought what you are going to do with the fry. lemon tetras or danios are nice

 

[Zafirah]

I was reading and a website said that a 20 gallon long tank can have 30" fish

 

[chibi]

20 gallon long tank can have 30" fish? I don't think so... what website did you find it?

 

[Zafirah]

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/tanks-us.htm

 

[kniesh]

It is being touted around now that you can have 2" of fish per gallon as stated in a PFK article recently. However it is with fully matured tanks and I think if you're doing this you should think of space of swimming for the fish. Obviously filtration is important too. But fish don't want to be bumping into other fish every time they turn around. You may just get away with it with very good filtration however you need to make plans for fry unless all ur guppies and mollies are the same sex.

 

[Zafirah]

Oh, fry situation is under control and my tank is fully mature. Does that mean that i can have 40" of fish?

 

[chibi]

40"? Maybe if you do a LOT of water changes (once or twice a week). It may look crowded though and they'd be bumping into each other D:

 

[Zafirah]

Right now, i do 20-30% water changes every 2 days

 

[Zafirah]

Can i add 3-4 more mollies than

if 4 more can i add
1 male/3 females

if 3 more can i add
1m.2f

or ould i add
1mm/2fm

and 1 mp/2fp

mm refering to mollie males, fm refering to female mollie

mp refering to platy male and fp refering to platy female

 

[theotheragentm]

I personally subscribe to a 1" per gallon rule, but that varies depending on the shape of the tank. I do weekly water changes of about 30%. If you're willing to keep up with the water changes, 1.5" per gallon might be feasible, but after that you are not just talking about the levels of bioload. You're taking up the space the fish want to swim and possibly hide. I would not go with more fish.

 

[t.ropical_m.istx3]

dont want to hijack but...

at my LFS they had "dwarf platys" was that just a bad lable or are their actually dwarf platys?

 

[theotheragentm]

They are dwarf. They stay small.

 

[Zafirah]

Can i add 3 more mollies or plats