weird stocking question

[hurgerburger]

My friend has a fish tank that I'll be taking care of next year. It's a ten gallon planted tank, and currently it houses two plecos, one loach, one balloon molly, and a goldfish. Today she asked if I wanted to go to the fish store on Tuesday, since she wanted to get another molly or two, and she wants me to pick out a fish or two myself, which I'm pretty excited about. Only restriction is that it can't be small, since the goldfish nearly choked on one of its tankmates a couple weeks ago, and that fish that got half eaten died. I don't think he's particularly aggressive; just not very smart. Here are my qualms: 1: idk if that 10 gallon can hold more fish 2: if I can get another fish, are there any fish you would recommend? I was thinking maybe a dwarf gourami, but I haven't done too much research and I don't know how it would get along with the other fish. I'll include pictures of the tank and tankmates below. Bonus points if the fish goes with the tank's color scheme.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Acorno]

Don’t add anything else until you remove the fish that obviously need a bigger tank. A ten gallon tank is much to small for a goldfish, yo-yo loach, or a common pleco.

 

[hurgerburger]

Don’t add anything else until you remove the fish that obviously need a bigger tank. A ten gallon tank is much to small for a goldfish, yo-yo loach, or a common pleco.

yeah, that was what I was thinking... just wanted to make sure. It's my friend's, so can't really do anything about it.

 

[Acorno]

At least try to educate them so they know what they’re doing.

 

[sharkweek178]

None of those fish should be in a ten gallon.

 

[Colin_T]

There's no room in the tank for more fish. Goldfish can reach 8-12 inches long and that is not including the tail.

Botia lohachata (dwarf Pakistani loach) needs to be kept in groups of 6 or more and they grow to 4-5 inches, sometimes more.

Balloon mollies are man made mutants that have shorter bodies and suffer from major internal problems because their guts have all been squished up.
NOBODY SHOULD BUY BALLOON FISHES OF ANY KIND.

Dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) and all their colour forms regularly carry the Gourami Iridovirus and or Fish Tuberculosis (TB). Neither disease can be cured and once they are in the tank, they are there until you disinfect everything in it, and that includes the fish.

 

[GaryE]

Let me guess.
April 1.

 

[hurgerburger]

Let me guess.
April 1.

sorry no— just a kinda bad situation with a friend . I think she's kinda in the phase where she knows enough about fish to buy cool looking ones but not enough to know how to care for them...

 

[sharkweek178]

There's no room in the tank for more fish. Goldfish can reach 8-12 inches long and that is not including the tail.

Botia lohachata (dwarf Pakistani loach) needs to be kept in groups of 6 or more and they grow to 4-5 inches, sometimes more.

Balloon mollies are man made mutants that have shorter bodies and suffer from major internal problems because their guts have all been squished up.
NOBODY SHOULD BUY BALLOON FISHES OF ANY KIND.

Dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalius) and all their colour forms regularly carry the Gourami Iridovirus and or Fish Tuberculosis (TB). Neither disease can be cured and once they are in the tank, they are there until you disinfect everything in it, and that includes the fish.

And that's not even counting the common plecos, which grow to 15 to 22 inches.

 

[sharkweek178]

sorry no— just a kinda bad situation with a friend . I think she's kinda in the phase where she knows enough about fish to buy cool looking ones but not enough to know how to care for them...

I'll be real with you. This is a bad situation for those fish. It's going to get to the point where they won't physically fit in a ten gallon tank. Here are the options your friend has.

• Get a much bigger tank (the molly needs a 20 gallon, the goldfish needs at least a 50 gallon. And two common plecos will grow big enough to need a 300 gallon tank or a pond. And I haven't even gotten into the compatible water parameters for these fish).
• Rehome them.
• Euthanize them.

Not knowing your friend, she may think there's another option. But under no circumstances should they be released into the wild. They could suffer a slow death or even worse, they could become an invasive species.

 

[Byron]

Tell your friend that keeping this 10g with the current fish is inhumane. The fish cannot be healthy or "happy" in such conditions. Their needs are programmed into their genetic code and must be understood and provided for.