Will swordtails shoal with mollies or platies?

[Ianvaldius]

I currently have a 55 gallon tank with a bumblebee platy, 4 mollies (2 white LT, 1 black LT, 1 gold dust), some danios, a rainbow shark, 2 juvie clown loaches (will be moved to a larger tank in a couple months likely), a gourami, 2 panda corys, and 2 peppered corys. I recently went to my LFS to get more buddies for my male bumblebee and came back with two more platys, a tangerine LT molly, and a koi swordtail because she was gorgeous. I had read that there is often difficulty defining what constitutes a platy and what constitutes a swordtail, so I figured they might be okay shoaling together. Does this check out? Does anyone have any experience with this or do I need to get the swordtail some buddies for her to feel more comfortable?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I see a couple of problems right off the bat. Clown loaches need very large tanks, as they get very big. They also need to be in groups of 6 or more.

Also, Cory’s Need to be in groups of 6 or more.

Mollies/platys really don’t “shoal” to begin with. Are you mainly asking if they will get along?

 

[Crispii]

Keep in mind that Corydoras is a soft water fish while livebearers such as platies and mollies are hard water fish.

 

[Retired Viking]

Platy , mollies and swordtail will live together with out a problem but as @Crispii and @PheonixKingZ pointed out you are mixing soft and hard water fish. What type of water do you have? Fish in the wrong type of water will not live as long.

 

[Retired Viking]

By the way, Hello and welcome to the forum

 

[Ianvaldius]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I see a couple of problems right off the bat. Clown loaches need very large tanks, as they get very big. They also need to be in groups of 6 or more.

Also, Cory’s Need to be in groups of 6 or more.

Mollies/platys really don’t “shoal” to begin with. Are you mainly asking if they will get along?

I assume they will likely get along. I know they don’t specifically shoal all the time, but I’ve read that they are social fish and want to make sure that aspect is being covered sufficiently. My clown loaches are less than 2 inches currently (I know they usually grow to approx. 5 in. within 2 years and continue growing after that); the plan is to move them into a larger tank as they get bigger and I am able to accommodate for a larger tank. I’m moving from an apartment to a house in a couple months. The number of corys will also be addressed at that time because they’re some of my favorite fish in the tank. Will I need 6 of each type of Cory?

Right now the hardness is somewhere between 75 and 150 ppm. I wasn’t aware corys were soft water fish. Which fish in my tank are hard water and which are soft? I know corys and mollies are pretty adaptable, so (I assume) they should be fine until I get my 75 gallon running in a month or two. I know clown loaches need 125+ gallons, but I figured I could address that in 6 months or so as they seem quite happy right now, loosely shoaling with each other and the panda corys.

 

[Retired Viking]

Live bearers like mollies are hard water, egg layers like cory are soft water. They can live in the water but it is the stress and health issues and the shorten lives that is the issue. I use RO water to soften my water so I can have tetras, the LSF sells them even though I live in an area where the water is moderately hard.

 

[Crispii]

Not only that, but any Corydoras species prefer to be kept in a group with six being the minimum. Larger size group is better if you have the tank space to comfortably fit a large number. Of course, try to keep the same species of Corydoras in a decent group. For example, if you want to keep panda Corydoras, then you need at least six as the minimum.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Yes, I suggest getting 6 of each kind.

 

[Ianvaldius]

Live bearers like mollies are hard water, egg layers like cory are soft water. They can live in the water but it is the stress and health issues and the shorten lives that is the issue. I use RO water to soften my water so I can have tetras, the LSF sells them even though I live in an area where the water is moderately hard.

Will paradise fish/gouramis and rainbow sharks be okay in hard water? I’m trying to figure out how to “reorganize” my tanks when I finally set up the 75 gallon. I currently have a 20 gallon set up with some guppies, neon tetras, black neon tetras, and Kuhli loaches. So my stock would be those + the paradise gourami, rainbow shark, clown loaches, platies, mollies, swordtail, danios, peppered/panda corys, and a pleco. Between tanks of sizes 55 gallon, 75 gallon, and 20 gallon, and ignoring size restrictions for the clowns (until such a time that I can find a used 125+ gallon tank online within my price range), how would I best reorganize them to fit their water requirements and cross-compatibility (like how gouramis might eat neons when they get bigger)?

 

[Retired Viking]

Shoaling fish like cory need to be in groups of 6, they feel safer and there is less stress and health issues. I have several shoaling fish and I try to keep them in groups of 10 or more.

 

[Retired Viking]

Wow! you really do have a lot of different fish to deal with. I currently have a tetra tank (55 gallon) with several types of tetra, they are all soft water fish. Cory work well with them. I stay with small fish the last couple of years.

 

[Crispii]

Paradise gourami and rainbow sharks will do fine in hard water.

Paradise gourami: 90-357 ppm
Rainbow shark: 36-268 ppm

 

[Ianvaldius]

Wow! you really do have a lot of different fish to deal with. I currently have a tetra tank (55 gallon) with several types of tetra, they are all soft water fish. Cory work well with them. I stay with small fish the last couple of years.

yeah we started out with a 20 gallon a couple weeks ago, transitioning from a 10 gallon. I used to be moderately invested in the hobby and stopped a number of years back. I got my girlfriend the 55 because she fell in love with a rainbow shark and was very sad she couldn’t keep it in our 20 gallon. She seems to like a variety of fish, while I would say I care more about the same-species interactions, so I’m kind of doing “damage control” if you will to ensure the fish we have lead happy lives (it’s totally not because I need something to invest my time and energy in during the quarantine ). Thanks for the advice!

 

[Retired Viking]

I totally understand, many years ago when I first started keeping fish I had all sorts of fish without knowing any better, I saw something I liked I bought it. Had 6 tanks going and a turtle tank too. Made a lot of mistakes and had my share of dead fish. There was very little info back then and only the LFS to go by. Forums like this really help us learn from each other. I now research on line and here before buying anything, I still make mistakes but they are far less costly in money and fish lives.