Newbie With 2 Tanks!

So I’m starting this as my newbie progress thread!

We currently have a Rose Petal male betta named Ojo* in a 10 gallon tank





Then we also have a 29 gal set up that we are just starting to cycle!





I’m so excited to keep learning and growing my stock! Eventually we’d like to get another tank in our living room but I want to have both of these up and running smoothly for a few weeks first (after the 29 is cycled and stocked)

What do you guys think? Not the most high tech equipment yet but we plan to upgrade piece by piece as funds allow

 

Welcome!!!!
Everything sounds good here IMO! What is your stock list for the 29?

 

Welcome!!!!
Everything sounds good here IMO! What is your stock list for the 29?

We haven’t discussed anything solid yet but my husband wants Molly’s and I’d like to have Cory’s, that’s about all we’ve come up with thus far so I’m 100% open to any guidance or suggestions on that aspect!

 

We haven’t discussed anything solid yet but my husband wants Molly’s and I’d like to have Cory’s, that’s about all we’ve come up with thus far so I’m 100% open to any guidance or suggestions on that aspect!

I personally looove my mollies. And my snail

 

We haven’t discussed anything solid yet but my husband wants Molly’s and I’d like to have Cory’s, that’s about all we’ve come up with thus far so I’m 100% open to any guidance or suggestions on that aspect!

You could do both! And some other fish to! Maybe guppies, discus, or endlers livebearer

 

I personally looove my mollies. And my snail

My husband had Molly’s before and loved them! We had planned on putting them in the 10 but realized when I came here for advice that it wouldn’t be fair to do that so I got my little Ojo* for the 10 and we bought the 29 used just so we could have them haha

 

Oops! The discus cannot live with the other fish bc of temperature! Sorry!

 

great setups! its better to start off small and then slowly upgrade everything and add more to the tanks. rather then buying it all at once unless you know what your doing and want.

 

So you could do:

Option 1

• x6 mollies
• x6 bronze or aldolfo cories
• x6 endlers

Option 2

• x6 mollies
• x6 bronze corydoras
• x5 guppies

 

So you could do:

Option 1

• x6 mollies
• x6 bronze or aldolfo cories
• x6 endlers

Option 2

• x6 mollies
• x6 bronze corydoras
• x5 guppies

I was looking at Pygmy Cory’s or panda Cory’s, would those be okay?

Whenever I type Ojo* without the asterisks it pops up with this face Ojo haha how weird

 

My husband had Molly’s before and loved them! We had planned on putting them in the 10 but realized when I came here for advice that it wouldn’t be fair to do that so I got my little Ojo* for the 10 and we bought the 29 used just so we could have them haha

I have 2 in my 20 gallon. They have other tank mates right now but I'm planning a 55 gallon and then my 20 will be all mollies

 

Mollies are a lot of fun but please be aware of the genders you're getting.

If you don't want to figure out what to do with the fry, make sure your tank is all one gender, preferably female because they're less aggressive than the males.

If you do a mixed gender tank, have at least 3 females for every 1 male to cut down on fights. Also figure out if you're actually going to try to raise the fry or leave them in the tank to be eaten by the parents.

Please believe everyone in this forum about how easily mollies breed.

I've only had my tank fully stabilized for about 3 weeks and I have 2 fry in my tank I am trying not to get attached to because I don't currently have room for another tank or the time to raise fry and my mollies will probably produce many more litters over the next several years.

On the plus side for a mixed tank or male mollies, Gaston, my male, is fun to watch
He likes to flare up his fins and strut around the tank. He especially flares around my baby betta and it's funny to see because she's not impressed at all.

The mollies are, also, fearless when it comes to food. They will eat from your fingers without training. All you have to do is keep ahold of part of the food and dip it in the water and they will come up and take it.

Hope you enjoy your tanks as much as I enjoy mine.

 

I would consider a some schooling fish. I love corys, mollies are cool but bright schooling fish are the best IMO.

You could do:

5 mollies

10-12 harlequin rasporas

6-7 corys, more if they’re Pygmys. But I prefer peppers based on behavior.

A mystery snail and a nerite snail would round out the stocking although a BN pleco would help with algae.

Glow light tetras, neon or cardinals could replace the rasporas but I’m partial to them.

 

If you want a school, you can really only do one. Pygmy cories are mid-dwellers so if you went with them, you can't really have another mid-dwelling school. For this reason, I'd recommend:

10x pygmy Cory
1x dwarf gourami
10x kuhlI loach

OR:

10x panda Cory
10x zebra danio OR 10x neon tetra
1x dwarf gourami

OR:

10x panda Cory
10x pygmy Cory
1x dwarf gourami

 

I would consider a some schooling fish. I love corys, mollies are cool but bright schooling fish are the best IMO.

You could do:

5 mollies

10-12 harlequin rasporas

6-7 corys, more if they’re Pygmys. But I prefer peppers based on behavior.

A mystery snail and a nerite snail would round out the stocking although a BN pleco would help with algae.

Glow light tetras, neon or cardinals could replace the rasporas but I’m partial to them.

This sounds just about perfect! Pretty much exactly what I envisioned in my mind! Would it be overstocked though? Seems like a lot when it’s written out ha

 

This sounds just about perfect! Pretty much exactly what I envisioned in my mind! Would it be overstocked though? Seems like a lot when it’s written out ha

It's not actually overstocked, just overcrowded in the middle.

 

This sounds just about perfect! Pretty much exactly what I envisioned in my mind! Would it be overstocked though? Seems like a lot when it’s written out ha

My 29 has

10 glow light tetras

6 harlequin rasporas

7 bronze corys

2 albino corys

1 bristle nose pleco

1 pearl gourami

1 Mystery snail.

The tank is heavily planted and has 3 rock bridges for cover.

This tank requires 1 50% water change to keep nitrates between 20-40ppm.

There is crowding with the rasporas and tetras since they use the same area, mid/top. That’s why I recommended one school for the mid/top.

 

Husband and I cannot decide what to do with this 29. He can’t make up his mind between mollies, guppies, or platys and I want a nice peaceful community tank but he’s making it so hard
Can anyone throw out some more stocking suggestions? Tank temp is steady at 77 so suitable to that temp and a higher pH

 

Mollies are a lot of fun but please be aware of the genders you're getting.

If you don't want to figure out what to do with the fry, make sure your tank is all one gender, preferably female because they're less aggressive than the males.

If you do a mixed gender tank, have at least 3 females for every 1 male to cut down on fights. Also figure out if you're actually going to try to raise the fry or leave them in the tank to be eaten by the parents.

Please believe everyone in this forum about how easily mollies breed.

I've only had my tank fully stabilized for about 3 weeks and I have 2 fry in my tank I am trying not to get attached to because I don't currently have room for another tank or the time to raise fry and my mollies will probably produce many more litters over the next several years.

On the plus side for a mixed tank or male mollies, Gaston, my male, is fun to watch
He likes to flare up his fins and strut around the tank. He especially flares around my baby betta and it's funny to see because she's not impressed at all.

The mollies are, also, fearless when it comes to food. They will eat from your fingers without training. All you have to do is keep ahold of part of the food and dip it in the water and they will come up and take it.

Hope you enjoy your tanks as much as I enjoy mine.

Smiled when I read this. I thought I was being smart getting only female mollies are they are less aggressive than male and won’t have babies without males. 2 turned pregnant and had babies after 3 weeks. One bullied the others so much, one of them died. Now I have fries and one adult to rehome.

 

Ideally what I would like is a bottom dweller (maybe kuhlI loaches) a mid/top school of as many as I can, and 1-2 centerpiece fish (honey gourami?), snails and shrimp as able.

My husband on the other hand only knows that he wants 1 of those 3 options lol.

As far as the 10 gallon, Ojo* seems to be doing awesome. He’s eating and seems to be relaxed. I’m still extremely new to this tank cycling (day 3 with fish in tank) so I hope I’m doing this right! I’d hate to see anything happen to him

 

Smiled when I read this. I thought I was being smart getting only female mollies are they are less aggressive than male and won’t have babies without males. 2 turned pregnant and had babies after 3 weeks. One bullied the others so much, one of them died. Now I have fries and one adult to rehome.

Sorry to hear what happened with your mollies. Fish personalities do come into it and I've been lucky with my fish so far that I don't have an overly aggressive one. My 2 silver mollies have had one fight and no other issues.

Though I'll have to watch my betta as she grows up. Right now she's backing down when my male mollies struts around too close to her but she's less than 1/2 his size and a baby so I'll have to keep an eye on her as she grows up.

I'm hoping there won't be problems but, if there are, I'll be forced to make find room for another tank somehow.

 

What do you guys think of this stocking:
8 platys
2 honey gourami
6 kuhlI loaches
2 snails

 

Test regularly and do a water change if nitrites/ammonia together are over 1ppm.

I have honeys and love them. But in a 29 I recommend a pearl gourami as a centerpiece fish.

If you do honeys, do 3-6, 1 male.

I have a pearl in a 29 and a 36. Pretty fish and peaceful. In my 36 I had the honeys for 7 months. The only aggression I saw in either tank was the pearl towards the honeys. They were hiding so I moved them. They seem so happy, in love again.

Once I moved the honeys, the pearl tolerates everything else.

What do you guys think of this stocking:
8 platys
2 honey gourami
6 kuhlI loaches
2 snails

I think it would be fine.

I would prefer:

9-10 harlequin rasporas

6-8 corys. Prefer peppers or bronze for this tank.

1 pearl gourami

1 Mystery snail

1 BN pleco

And a nerite snail as a maybe.