Just Wondering?

[Nick Bramley]

im getting a 75l tank in about a month, i want a couple of Mollies, glass fish, swordtail, platies, cories and one plec.

are those fish compatible with a Betta? will it be happy in a tank with so many different types of fish?

will appreciate any help

Nick

 

[Richie Hell]

I have a Betta with Cories and Glassfish in the same size tank as yours and they're fine. Tried Mollies and an hour later we had them back in a bag and returned to the fish store for everyones safety.

 

[Glod]

I've heard many people say Bettas and livebearer's don't mix, the bright colours can upset the betta and he *might* attack them.

 

[DarkEntity]

im getting a 75l tank in about a month, i want a couple of Mollies, glass fish, swordtail, platies, cories and one plec.

are those fish compatible with a Betta? will it be happy in a tank with so many different types of fish?

will appreciate any help

Nick

Ok before you buy a couple of these and a couple of those you should do some research into which fish are communal shoal fish and which are single species fish.

Glass Cats (if thats what you meant) are excellent in 5+ groups as are Cories, you will by far get the most from the fish in these numbers as will the fish get a better life.

 

[starrynightxxi]

not to mention that mollies do best with salt (marine, not aquarium) in the water whereas the cories and plec will not appreciate it at all. niether will a betta for that matter, but i don't know about the other livebearers or the glassfish.

 

[sylvia]

Livebearers, to add to the list, need to be kept in groups with at least 2 females per male or, in the case of swordtails, only one male per small tank as well as the standard sex ratio rule of 2-3:1.

They also breed like crazy so keeping only one sex is adviseable - even then, females may produce fry as they can store sperm up to 4 months after contact with males! Females also grow larger than males (considerably so in swordtails and mollies) whereas males can be aggressive towards each other. You need to decide how you're going to get round all these issues within the confines of your barely-over-18 gallon tank.

Also, obviously, plecs, depending on species, can grow huge (eg 18" for commons/sailfin) and all do produce very, very large amounts of waste - even the smaller species.

I agree with the caution against mollies as well but haven't had problems with most livebearers and bettas (except guppies).

 

[Nick Bramley]

Thanks everyone

i already have a tank with Mollies, Cories and a Plec in, with Aquarium salt in the water.

just wanted to know if these fish mixed well, i only wanted the odd swordtail and platy, maybe three of each along with the four Mollies i have and all of these are female so no babies and i doubt many would survive anyway.

always wanted a Betta but havnt decided quite yet, would maybe like to get another 30l tank and just let it have it to itself

 

[starrynightxxi]

aquarium salt won't do much of anything for mollies, they are actually brackish water fish and need marine salt in their water rather than aquarium salt.

As a side note, livebearers can hold onto sperm for a goodly time. depending on how long you've had them, you may yet see babies, but you don't have to make any effort to help them survive. most will probably get eaten or just die off but you may get the odd survivor.

A betta will do fine on it's own. You could probably at least keep the cories with it without a problem, but I would still keep an eye on them for a while.

 

[DarkEntity]

Thanks everyone

i already have a tank with Mollies, Cories and a Plec in, with Aquarium salt in the water.

just wanted to know if these fish mixed well, i only wanted the odd swordtail and platy, maybe three of each along with the four Mollies i have and all of these are female so no babies and i doubt many would survive anyway.

always wanted a Betta but havnt decided quite yet, would maybe like to get another 30l tank and just let it have it to itself

30 Litre for a Betta is a great tank size as long as its a wide and not tall tank. Once you have the tank and Betta you can get Otos or depending on the Betta some shrimp as cleaners