Guppies, Platies, ?

[fishwatcher]

I have 2 male guppies, 2 guppy fry, and 2 fm platies already. I am about to move them all into a 20-gal tank. I am thinking I'll get a group of kuhli loaches, but unsure about what else. Thinking maybe mollies or swordtails, maybe a trio of honey gouramis...
any ideas?

 

[theotheragentm]

Unless it's a 20 long, I would pass on the Swordtails, as they may want more room to swim than what you can provide for them.

 

[Betta91]

You have some of the same fish I have in my community. Go with about two or three honey gouramis, they'd look pretty cool with the other colorful fish you have. Just don't release the fry with them until they are bigger than the gourami's mouths!

 

[fishwatcher]

Do you think a couple of fm mollies would work there too?

 

[theotheragentm]

Female Mollies would work, but because of the way they are bred, you are going to have to keep the water "overly" clean. I put that in quotes, because there really is no such thing as water that is too clean when it comes to bioload levels. The reason they need such clean water is that they actually are naturally brackish fish and can adapt to freshwater, but generally suffer from disease if not kept in superb water conditions.

 

[fishwatcher]

So maybe a no-go on the mollies then. I'll get it set-up and then see how things shake out in the next month or so. I am not actually setting up a new tank, just transferring everything from a 10-gal to the 20-gal, filter media/sand/etc included.
I am hoping there will be no mini-cycle, but I'll be keeping an eye on it just in case.
Thanks!

 

[theotheragentm]

If you transfer everything and add nothing, there won't be a cycle. You are correct in that you may see a mini cycle if you add a load of fish all at once. Just keep up with water changes and you should be fine.

 

[fishwatcher]

If I add anything it will be just 2-3 small fish, but either way I'm going to watch it close. You just never know.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If i were you i'd get another 3male guppys (or 4-6females) and another female platy (or another female and 1 male, or just more females in general); guppys and platys are very sociable fish and keeping them in pairs is not enough. I wouldn't keep them in anything less than a group of 3 each, but with all-male groups its better to have at least 5 to keep spread out any posible agression between them.

 

[fishboy619]

if the kuhliis are going in, provide sand substrate for the to dig. i would leave the stocking and let your livebearers stock the tank for you.

 

[theotheragentm]

if the kuhliis are going in, provide sand substrate for the to dig. i would leave the stocking and let your livebearers stock the tank for you.

Yeah, that's a good point that I totally missed. If you want sand substrate, get pool filter sand. It's available at any of the pool supply stores and it's a lot cheaper than buying sand for an aquarium. Just make sure you don't get any chemical replacements as there are some that end up being too light. Just ask for pool filter sand.

 

[fishwatcher]

I've got the sand already from some other tanks I have, so that's covered. I was thinking maybe of this final stocking:
3-4 male guppies
3 fm platies
4 kuhli loaches
2 curviceps
Would this be ok if I keep up on the water changes and all, of course?

 

[theotheragentm]

I took a look at full grown sizes of the fish. The loaches and the cichlids are going to grow too large. I'd pass on those Perhaps some smaller, schooling fish would look good.