Hello im new and have some livebearer questions

[Bretybo1100]

hello everyone my name is brett. Me and my wife are new to the whole aquarium thing. We are upgrading from a 10 gallon tank to a 20 gallon today. We currently share 3 molly (1 black and 2 gold dust mollies). But now that we are getting a bigger tank i want to get some swordtails because the twin bar solar flare swordtail is my all time favorite fish, they look incredible! And my wife wants a female betta. Now my question is can these 3 species live together in a 20 gallon or any gallon tank for that matter? If so how many swordtails can i get? And should we only get 1 female betta or should we get 2? Or if it wont work, whats a good fish instead of the betta? I absolutely want the swordtails and we already have the mollies so how can i put this all together.

 

[ClownLurch]

Welcome.
Im junior level around here so won’t be recommending anything apart from popping over to seriouslyfish.com to research your fish of choice. Apparently it’s the best scientifically backed aquatic related site around ( nothing to do with me btw).
All the stuff you need to know about your fish will be on there apart from who you can possibly get away with mixing them with, that’ll come from one of the brainy fish keepers on here, one will be along in a while. Not me btw.
Forewarned is forearmed so I’d also find out your water hardness and ph figures from your water providers website ASAP cos they’re gonna ask you anyway. They’ll look after you and your fish on here to the extent that there’s actually fish tanks on this planet where the occupants view certain posters on here as super heroes (not me btw).
Have fun.

 

[Bretybo1100]

K

hello everyone my name is brett. Me and my wife are new to the whole aquarium thing. We are upgrading from a 10 gallon tank to a 20 gallon today. We currently share 3 molly (1 black and 2 gold dust mollies). But now that we are getting a bigger tank i want to get some swordtails because the twin bar solar flare swordtail is my all time favorite fish, they look incredible! And my wife wants a female betta. Now my question is can these 3 species live together in a 20 gallon or any gallon tank for that matter? If so how many swordtails can i get? And should we only get 1 female betta or should we get 2? Or if it wont work, whats a good fish instead of the betta? I absolutely want the swordtails and we already have the mollies so how can i put this all together.

Also should i keep the 10 gallon tank for any babies that will probably appear in my 20 gallon lol? And how long untill the babies could be sold or given away or whatever we end up doing with them?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I would personally not keep bettas, either male or female, in with guppies. Guppies have long flowing tails, which mimics a bettas long tails.

Also bettas are softish water fish, and guppies are hard water fish.

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K

Also should i keep the 10 gallon tank for any babies that will probably appear in my 20 gallon lol? And how long untill the babies could be sold or given away or whatever we end up doing with them?

You could keep them in the 10g for now, until they get older. If there are adults and babies, the adults will most likely eat the babies, so keep them separate.

 

[Bretybo1100]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I would personally not keep bettas, either male or female, in with guppies. Guppies have long flowing tails, which mimics a bettas long tails.

Also bettas are softish water fish, and guppies are hard water fish.

—-


You could keep them in the 10g for now, until they get older. If there are adults and babies, the adults will most likely eat the babies, so keep them separate.

Yeah we arent planning on having any guppies just swordtails and molly with 1 female betta! Will that work

 

[Bretybo1100]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I would personally not keep bettas, either male or female, in with guppies. Guppies have long flowing tails, which mimics a bettas long tails.

Also bettas are softish water fish, and guppies are hard water fish.

—-


You could keep them in the 10g for now, until they get older. If there are adults and babies, the adults will most likely eat the babies, so keep them separate

Ill keep the adults in the 20 gallon. And when i notice any babies in the 20 gallon i was planning on taking them out and putting them in the 10 gallon untill i figure out what to do with them. Ill try to sell some... Probably give a bunch away for free and will pet stores like petco/ petsmart take some when needed?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Yeah we arent planning on having any guppies just swordtails and molly with 1 female betta! Will that work

No, I wouldn’t recommend that. If you wish to keep a Betta, then get a 5g-10g tank and make that a betta-only tank.

Ill keep the adults in the 20 gallon. And when i notice any babies in the 20 gallon i was planning on taking them out and putting them in the 10 gallon untill i figure out what to do with them. Ill try to sell some... Probably give a bunch away for free and will pet stores like petco/ petsmart take some when needed?

PetCo and PetSmart will most likely not take any, as they are a big box store. I would look into selling them to your LFS (local fish store). LFS’s are small stores usually with great fish and people. They will usually take some, but every store is different.

 

[Bretybo1100]

No, I wouldn’t recommend that. If you wish to keep a Betta, then get a 5g-10g tank and make that a betta-only tank.



PetCo and PetSmart will most likely not take any, as they are a big box store. I would look into selling them to your LFS (local fish store). LFS’s are small stores usually with great fish and people. They will usually take some, but every store is different.

Thank you! Ill look into that

 

[emeraldking]

Mollies, swordtails and a betta in one tank shouldn't be a problem. But the 20g would be better to use innstead of the 10g in this case. specifically, the swordtails need more space to move around. Bettas in general will seek for a spot of their own in the tank. And that will be their domain.