What to pair with my Mollies?

[BlackLavafishy]

I am still establishing a 10gal tank for my son. We currently have two Mollies and two snails. I have read to not keep Mollies in less than 20gal but that is not an option right now and they seem happy with plenty of space for their current small size. We will be adding 3-5 ghost shrimp. Not sure how many is best?? And 1-2 other small dish. I am thinking maybe 2 guppies or a female betta and a guppy or two. I would love recommendations and advice. I will add a picture. We do plan to get a volcano air pump so that will take up the front left corner and moss balls.

 

[NickAu]

It wont work, the Mollies need more room, A Betta may or may not work females can be just as aggressive as males.

Before you think about stocking, Is your tank cycled? What sort of water do you have? Soft or hard? I do not see a heater in the tank, do you have a heater?

 

[Essjay]

In a post two days ago -

......I have only had it set up for 2days. I am ordering a heater today. Any advice ?

I think this answers some of your questions, Nick. The tank is not cycled and it didn't have a heater when the photo was taken though it might by now.

BlackLavaFishy, since your tank is not cycled, you are now doing a fish-in cycle. You will need to test your tank water for ammonia and nitrite at least once a day and do water changes whenever you see either of them above zero. Do not add any more fish or shrimps until the readings for ammonia and nitrite stay at zero for 7 days. More fish will make more ammonia and make fish-in cycling a lot harder.
It would be a lot easier if you took the mollies back to the shop and did a fishless cycle http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

I really would not keep mollies in a tank this size, and certainly not if you don't have hard water. Mollies are large fish that must have hard water. You should be able to find out the hardness of your tap water somewhere on your water company's website. Tell us the number and also the unit as they could use one of about half a dozen different units. If you do have soft or even moderately hard water, your mollies won't thrive and become sick.
They will also become sick if you do not test the water and do water changes.


If you don't do the water changes, or keep mollies in soft water and a tank that is too small, you will lose these fish. You say this tank is for your son - he will be upset if his fish die. Teaching him to research how to set up a tank properly (cycling), the needs of a species of fish and choosing fish to suit both the tank size and water type will be a good learning experience for him.

 

[Byron]

In addition to what has been said, with which I completely concur, mollies should attain 3 inches for males, with females 5 to 6 inches. Obviously a 10g is way too small for such fish to develop; even a 20g is not sufficient space.

Mollies also do not tolerate high ammonia at all, and as this tank is not cycled this is inevitable.

 

[BlackLavafishy]

It wont work, the Mollies need more room, A Betta may or may not work females can be just as aggressive as males.

Before you think about stocking, Is your tank cycled? What sort of water do you have? Soft or hard? I do not see a heater in the tank, do you have a heater?

I do plan to get a bigger tank if I can get this one going, so right now I believe they great and quite happy. My heater just came in today. I have hard water and am testing the water today. I have a scraping from a well cycled and healthy aquarium I am getting also.

 

[BlackLavafishy]

I do


I do highly appreciate the advice. I got the heater in today and checked the water. There was no ammonia to my surprise and everything tested nearly perfect. Yay! I will just have to keep testing and changing as necessary. I did get two male guppies and 5 shrimp. We originally had 4 mollies. Two died almost immediately even with good water and the lady said (bc one had a bloated belly) it was likely already sick, not pregnant like I'd thought.

 

[BlackLavafishy]

Also, my son undrstands quite well that death is natural and was okay with it. Ideally we don't want to lose ANY life. I am sad if a plant dies for goodness sake but that is another part of the "cycle". Getting a chunk of some healthy, cycled (bacteria) from my sister's tank tomorrow.