Livebearers, Catfish, Shrimp Questions!

KristineNote · Oct 22, 2011

Hi. I have 3 female balloon mollies and 1 male balloon molly. I have 3 male guppies and 9 cory catfish (albino). I have 30 US gallon tank. I've had the cory catfish for over 3 months and the guppies for 2 and 1/2 months and my tank is about 4 months old (1 month of cycling). I also have a 29 gallon and a 2.5 gallon.

So far (3 days since I added the balloon mollies) they have gotten along. Can I add some more balloon mollies? If so, should I add 2 females and 1 male? I know larger mollies tend to attack guppies so I don't want them. Or should I get 6 female guppies?

Or can I add some platy fish to my tank and keep my current stock? If so, to what male to female ratio and how many?

All compatibility charts say Mollies and Guppies get along but a lot of people say they don't - but the balloon ones can get along if there's enough females to a single male according to forums and msg boards.

Extra question: my shrimp population in my live plant tank (2.5 gallons) has sky rocketed. If I add a betta would that cut down the population? I also have an African Dwarf Frog with the shrimp and he snacks on them occasionally.

Caprichoso · Oct 23, 2011

To answer your shrimp question: Rather than adding a betta to a 2.5 gallon, which IMO is too small a tank for any fish, you should net some of the shrimp and put them in your 30g. To me this makes the most sense. Or give them or sell them to your lfs or someone on the forum.

KristineNote · Oct 23, 2011

Caprichoso said:
To answer your shrimp question: Rather than adding a betta to a 2.5 gallon, which IMO is too small a tank for any fish, you should net some of the shrimp and put them in your 30g. To me this makes the most sense. Or give them or sell them to your lfs or someone on the forum.

I was able to scoop up a lot using a large net (my small net failed miserably) and now the population is down! Yay. Thank you