16 gallon tank

[Karah's_Mommy]

My friend has a 16 gallon tank and asked advice on how to stock it. He's wanting to put several different kinds of fish in it. He's thinking a pair of dwarf gouramis, a pair of platies and maybe a pair of balloon mollies. None of this is for certain yet, we're still working on picking out the fish while he fishless cycles the tank. My concern is the male/female ratio. He doesn't want to be over run with babies, so I was thinking of telling him to get all males or all females. Will there be aggression issues or problems with them all being the same sex? Should he just look for something that doesn't breed so prolifically? Any advice or suggestions of what to have and what not to have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Annastasia]

All male Platies will most likely be fine. I'd probably skip the Mollies, and get a bigger group of the Platies, because this can cut down on aggression. Of course, there may be one who is just a bully, so I'd have a place to put a Platy, if needed.

So maybe the pair of Dwarf Gouramis, 5-6 Platies, and perhaps a few Cories? Because all the other fish are top/middle level fish, and the bottom might look a little empty!