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Since it has alot of plants I would say it is possible to overstock it and you might want to over filtrate it to. I would say 2 male guppies, 2 female platies, 1 male swordtail and 2 females, I male dalmation mollie and 2 females. That should work just fine. Post pics of the tank please!
 
Ten gallons is not much, even if it is heavily planted. I would skip on Mollies and Swordtails as they get larger. Dwarf Platies might be a good choice along with Guppies. Three females Dwarf Platies and one male, a couple male Guppies, and maybe some Ottos for bottom dwellers.
 
I agree with theotheragentm that this is not really a swordtail or a molly tank. I would go for 4 female platies/dwarf platies, leaving out the extra action that a male adds, and then maybe a few otos or some shrimps. Or a somewhat larger school of male guppies (again with shrimps). Or if I was doing mixed sexes, I would go with either endlers or heterandria formosa.

To kribensis' suggestion, I would point out that no over-filtration in the world will add an inch of extra swimming space, and that swordtails in particular can get nasty if short of manouevring room.
 
I'd agree with two previous posters, a 10 gallon tank, however it is maintained, is too small for swordtails and mollies. I think the idea of getting dwarf livebearers, like Endlers or Heterandria formosa, is an excellent idea. I'd also add to the list of small species the utterly gorgeous brackish water poecilid Micropoecilia picta and the freshwater poecilid Phallichthys tico. You can also get away with Dermogenys spp. halfbeaks in a 10 gallon tank, provided there is a good flow of water (they don't swim around much, but do like a current to swim into).

A very small aquarium like yours is much more fun as a single-species breeding tank, in my opinion. Adding plants helps keep the baby fish safe, and if you choose a semi-unusual species, then you have the challenge of breeding them and the fun of learning about a different type of livebearer. Selling "rare" livebearer fry is usually easier and more profitable because you are providing the aquarium shop with something they don't get so easily or cheaply elsewhere.

Cheers, Neale
 
I think Neal's suggestions for rarer livebearers sound great.

I just wanted to say that if you do go for the commoner platies or guppies, I wouldn't have both male and female - speaking as someone who is slightly over-run with baby guppies and young platies!

I'd go for either female platies or male guppies (like dwarfgourami suggested). You'd need at least five male guppies because they will display at each other and chase around a bit - which can be stressful if there's only two or three of them but it does make them interesting to watch.

I can also recommend little tiger shrimp with guppies. I have some in an 8 gal tank.
 
Over filtration will keep the water cleaner and keep a live bateria culture to help with nitrites, I take back the swords, I got a new female yesterdya and she is 5 inches!!!!!!!!!
 
Over filtration does not give you any more space for fish to swim. Over filtration may provide you with better bioload management, but it's not just the flow that matters. You need to have a larger surface area in the filter, something like a canister or a sump would provide this. This would be wasted on a 10-gallon tank though. With what little bioload management you could get on a larger filter would be wasted though. Larger fish make the larger waste, and then we already concluded that the space isn't there to swim. Also if the tank is heavily planted, going big on the filter is going to rob the plants of nutrients.
 
By baby control I mean I have something to feed them to. I have dwarf neon rainbows that just love new guppy babies, though like I said earlier, I'd rather not have to worry with that part of it at all. Plus, I don't think it'd be healthy for them to have them all the time, the way guppies make babies!
I am thinking I could do 3 male guppies and 3 either all-fm or all-m platies. Would that work ok you think?
Thx!
 
I thought so... Rather amused me this, given your signature file advertises an anti-abortion web site. Disposing of unwanted baby guppies in the gullets of predatory fish doesn't strike you as rather mean? Reminds me of that excellent satire by Jonathon Swift knows as A Modest Proposal -- essentially that the poor could sell their unwanted babies as food for the upper classes. :sly:

Cheers, Neale

fishwatcher said:
By baby control I mean I have something to feed them to. I have dwarf neon rainbows that just love new guppy babies, though like I said earlier, I'd rather not have to worry with that part of it at all. Plus, I don't think it'd be healthy for them to have them all the time, the way guppies make babies!
Click to expand...
 
Well, yes, it is a little mean to me, but also, in my mind, animals and humans are not on the same field, hence the fact that I can eat a steak or a pork chop without guilt. While I do think that in nature animals eat the weak and the young, I don't want to have to do that. That's why I'd rather not have ones that will make babies for me to have to deal with.

Now, do you think 3 platies (say, all female) and 3 guppies (all male) would work out ok?
 
That should work out fine, but bear in mind that most female Platies from stores have a high chance of already being pregnant. You might want to see if someone will give you some fry instead that have distinguishable sex traits, but have not mated.
 
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