[fish keeper 2013]

I am newbie to the forum and fishkeeping, this is my first post. I have a freshwater 10 gallon tropical (half way cycled at the moment) with a filter, air pump with air stone, and heater. I am planning on getting 1 black molly (3 inches max) 5 guppies (1.5 inches max) and 3 amano shrimp (2 inches). I read somewhere that shrimp don't contribute to the bioload, so I have 10.5 inches worth of fish. I have 1 plant and two decorations. My water level is lowered 2 inches lower than possible, but I can raise that if neccessary. Will this by overstocked? I will perform 25% weekly water changes, do I need to do more?

 

[Byron]

Welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping.:wave:

You are intending livebearers and shrimp, so I am assuming your source water (tap) is basic (the pH above 7) and moderately hard or harder (the GH or general hardness). This may seem irrelevant to stocking, but it is actually very important, as inappropriate water parameters stress fish and that makes things much worse so fewer fish are possible.

Guppy is OK, but make sure you have all males. One female will mean hundreds of fry in no time, and that will be problematic.

I would not add a molly to a 10g, there is to sufficient space in terms of water quality as well as physical space. Common Molly is not that hardy to begin with. More info on this in the profile.

We have fish profiles, second heading from the left in the blue bar across the top of the page. IF the name is used in a post identical to what appears in the profile, it shades to form a link you can click for that profile, as it did above.

Are there live plants? These help a lot with water quality. And I would increase your weekly water change to about half the tank volume.

Byron.

 

[jentralala]

I'd add more plants, they really do help regulate water quality and if you have enough fast growing plants they make the cycle irrelevant. Plants like anacharis, wisteria, dwarf hygrophilia, and especially floating plants like watersprite and dwarf water lettuce.

Can I ask why you have the water level low? It doesn't hurt to have it all the way to the black trim or a bit higher.

The inch of fish rule isn't exactly the best, but in this case it can work. I agree with Byron on the molly, I would just stick to male guppies.

What is the PH, GH, and KH of your source water?
Do you have a liquid testing kit?

 

[fish keeper 2013]

Thanks for the welcome:-D

Yeah I have one narrow leaf java fern, and it has little brown "bumps" on its leaves (actually this is the first time I saw the bumps, last time it was black dots). I did a little research on the bumps and it turns out that is a way java ferns reproduce, they are essentially spores. A dying leaf gets consumed by daughter plants and gets destroyed and then I will have new java ferns

 

[fish keeper 2013]

Hmmm didn't see your last post when I started writing the above one, my water level is low because when I first got the tank I was planning to get a betta and cory catfish, one of them needed two inches of space between the water level and hood (the betta jumps and the corys are labrynth breathers, or the other way around). I can raise it if needed. I have a liquid test kit that tests PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. My PH was pretty high last time I tested, around 8-8.2 (I think it was because I just added extra gravel). I read that around 8 PH is good for Nitrifying bacteria growth so I don't plan on manually making it go down. I don't know what GH and KH are but I assume they are hardness and salinity or conductivity?

 

[Byron]

Hmmm didn't see your last post when I started writing the above one, my water level is low because when I first got the tank I was planning to get a betta and cory catfish, one of them needed two inches of space between the water level and hood (the betta jumps and the corys are labrynth breathers, or the other way around). I can raise it if needed. I have a liquid test kit that tests PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. My PH was pretty high last time I tested, around 8-8.2 (I think it was because I just added extra gravel). I read that around 8 PH is good for Nitrifying bacteria growth so I don't plan on manually making it go down. I don't know what GH and KH are but I assume they are hardness and salinity or conductivity?

This article will explain GH, KH and pH:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-articles/water-hardness-ph-freshwater-aquarium-73276/
With the pH around 8, I would assume your GH is sufficient, so not to worry there.

Byron.

 

[fish keeper 2013]

Thanks for the article. Also, regarding the black molly, petsmart lists them as 10 gallons minimun and they only grow to three inches, so I figured they would be okay in my 10 gal
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[nicolaas]

3.5 inches(8.5cm)
There to big for a 10gal, I think there minimum tank size is 20gallons.

You could have a all guppy tank,with some apple snails.




Nicolaas.

 

[Byron]

Thanks for the article. Also, regarding the black molly, petsmart lists them as 10 gallons minimun and they only grow to three inches, so I figured they would be okay in my 10 gal
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Advice from stores is often inaccurate. There are good fish stores around, and there are knowledgeable stafff in some chain stores. But unfortunately the advice/suggestions/recommendations from store staff is not always reliable.

Check our profiles; the data for each species was compiled from all recognized knowledgeable ichthyologists, biologists and reliable sources.

Byron.

 

[jentralala]

It's not just overall size that matters, fish tank size recommendations here are also based on fish activity. Mollies like their swimming space

 

[fish keeper 2013]

hmmmm... thats strange... I just thought to check aqadvisor and it said that mollies were suitable for 10 gallons. I thought for sure they would say its not suitable. It even showed that 1 black molly puts in less of a load on the stocking level than guppies.

 

[Byron]

hmmmm... thats strange... I just thought to check aqadvisor and it said that mollies were suitable for 10 gallons. I thought for sure they would say its not suitable. It even showed that 1 black molly puts in less of a load on the stocking level than guppies.

I certainly do not agree with that recommendation. The common black molly can attain 3 inches for a male, and 5 and even 6 inches for a female. A 10g is just not sufficient space for one of these.

The fact that people's fish may not attain these sizes is more likely because they are in too small a space or inappropriate water parameters/conditions, and they fail to develop properly and die early.

Byron.