10 gallon overstocked?

[ultratonic1]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the aquarium hobby and decided to start simple with a 10 gallon tank. I know a larger one would be better but my living space does not allow for it. Anway, the tank was purchased and filled 3 weeks ago. During this time I have added 1 male guppy, (his comrade passed away in the 1st 2 days) 2 male platies and 2 male silver lyre tail mollies. Things seem okay so far but the mollies worry me. The clerk at the pet store said that the mollies won't get very big and should be fine for the tank. Now I'm reading that these guys can grow up to 4 inches and others saying 2-3. Any thoughts on this little set up getting too crowed too quick? I really hope not as it will be difficult to get these mollies into a new and bigger home. Hopefully everything will be fine and I won't have to. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

 

[Zagz]

Welcome to AA! It should be fine with your tankmates. Are you familiar with cycling? You should have a master test kit and keep an eye on your parameters. While cycling your fish can easily become poisioned by ammonia and nitrites. You will need to test for these and do water changes fairly often to keep your fish alive. Good luck and looking forward to hear posts from you.

 

[ultratonic1]

thanks for the reply. I do indeed have a test kit for Ammonia, PH and nitrates. The last test done today give me an ammonia reading of 0 which is good. I also have some live plants and I hear that it's a good thing to have when cycling the tank. I also put some of the Cycle aquarium suppliment from nutri fin into the water. I hear that these things don't always work but they don't hurt much either.

 

[Zagz]

True they don't hurt but are no help in cycling a tank. You will just have to bear with the cycle and be diligent in the pwc's.

 

[Zagz]

Do you have a nitrite test? It can be poisionous to the fish as much as ammonia is.

 

[ultratonic1]

sure do, it's an all in one kit called fresh lab. Hope they are accurate in the results.

 

[Zagz]

They should be unless the kit is over a year old.

 

[ultratonic1]

what is the ball park for safe nitrite readings?

 

[greenmaji]

NO2 should be zero and stay zero in a cycled tank..
I wouldnt tollerate 1ppm in a uncycled tank with fish.. some hardy fish can survive great amounts of NO2.. your fish are not extreamly hardy nor are they extreamly sensitve to NO2.. less then 1ppm would be my goal.. just do more and or larger % water changes to get it lower..

 

[ultratonic1]

latest reading came in at 0 (sigh of releif). How often should testing be done while cycling?

 

[Zagz]

At a min every 2 days. If the readings remain high, every day.