do they mix well? Neons.zebradanios.mollies.dwarfgourami

[Ponch]

Hi - would like to know if this list of community fish works in this tank size (26 gallon bowfront - pic below). Any thoughts? Good idea / bad idea? THANKS!!!

• 6 neon tetras
• 6 zebra danios
• 4 mollies (1M,3F)
• 2 dwarf gouramis

 

[absolutangel04]

Personally, I think zebra danios do better in a longer tank than you have, so I would suggest scratching that idea. In smaller tanks, they tend to just get really hyper and annoy the heck out of other slower moving residents. 4 mollies will have a pretty decent bioload and a ton of babies, so I suggest cuttting that number down a bit. Neons will be fine. Dg can be territorial, and whether or not any given 2 will get along depends on the individual temperament of the fish. If you want to try that, I suggest plating the tank to break up the lines of sight.
I suggest 8 neons, 2-3 mollies and 1 dg.
Would you be open to suggestions of different species, or do you really have your heart set on these?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I agree^^^
I just have to add I tried the two male DG in a heavily planted 70g tank and one still terrorized the other until he died.

 

[Hoagie777]

I have zebras, tetras, and 2 gouramis in my 55g and they get along just fine. Personality wise I would say yes, but I don't about your tank size. Im new and still learning myself.

 

[Ponch]

Personally, I think zebra danios do better in a longer tank than you have, so I would suggest scratching that idea. In smaller tanks, they tend to just get really hyper and annoy the heck out of other slower moving residents. 4 mollies will have a pretty decent bioload and a ton of babies, so I suggest cuttting that number down a bit. Neons will be fine. Dg can be territorial, and whether or not any given 2 will get along depends on the individual temperament of the fish. If you want to try that, I suggest plating the tank to break up the lines of sight.
I suggest 8 neons, 2-3 mollies and 1 dg.
Would you be open to suggestions of different species, or do you really have your heart set on these?

Thx! Yeah the tank is not as long as i would have liked but all i could negotiate with the mrs zebras are so pretty so a bit bummed on that front. Re: the dwarf gouramis am totally open to just 1...was thinking 2 for companionship but if 1 will be happier alone so be it. That said I'm definitely open to species suggestions as I do want to maximize fish by intelligently using the top mid and bottom layers of the water. Thanks again!

 

[Ponch]

I agree^^^
I just have to add I tried the two male DG in a heavily planted 70g tank and one still terrorized the other until he died.

Im a noob and Not looking to get into planted tanks yet so thinking will go with just 1 dg - thx for the thoughts!

 

[Ponch]

I have zebras, tetras, and 2 gouramis in my 55g and they get along just fine. Personality wise I would say yes, but I don't about your tank size. Im new and still learning myself.

Well good to know these are all compatible for the future. Maybe next Christmas I can go from 26 to 55 (or
more!). The thing I'm most excited about is the mollies - they're so personable also looking forward to watching them turn out fry! Thx for the thoughts.

 

[absolutangel04]

Yeah, I personally LOVE mollies. I know they are pretty common, but I totally agree that they are really personable.
If you want to fill the tank levels, I would go with about 4 julii corys on the bottom, 6 neons, 2 mollies, the dg, and a couple of nerite snails.
There are other little schoolers too if you wanted something instead of neons like penguin tetras, emeber tetras, and harlequin rasboras. You could get a bigger schooling fish instead of the neons like black neons, cardinals, kerri blues, lemon tetras, or Pristella tetras. I suggested the smaller ones first because they have less bioload so you can get a slightly bigger school of them or else ou can keep a small school and maybe be able to fit in one more molly.

 

[Ponch]

Yeah, I personally LOVE mollies. I know they are pretty common, but I totally agree that they are really personable.
If you want to fill the tank levels, I would go with about 4 julii corys on the bottom, 6 neons, 2 mollies, the dg, and a couple of nerite snails.
There are other little schoolers too if you wanted something instead of neons like penguin tetras, emeber tetras, and harlequin rasboras. You could get a bigger schooling fish instead of the neons like black neons, cardinals, kerri blues, lemon tetras, or Pristella tetras. I suggested the smaller ones first because they have less bioload so you can get a slightly bigger school of them or else ou can keep a small school and maybe be able to fit in one more molly.

Excellent - thanks so much. I will research some of the other schooling fish. I'd really like to have 3 mollies so will do a bit of planning around them. Do you think possible to have two sets of schooling fish along with the 3 mollies? Would I need to ditch the dwarf gourami and corys to make that happen? Merry Christmas!!!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Hi,

I don't know exactly how three mollies would go in a 26 G since they have huge bioloads.What's your filtration on the tank?

What schoolers did you want?

I think you can keep the cories, but you'd have to get rid of one school.

Merry Christmas to you too!

 

[blackmolly]

something along these lines maybe?
1 DG
6 neons
6 cories
3 mollies
just do all female on the mollies. when you get them they'll more then likely pregnant anyways, so you'll get PLENTY of fry between the three adding 6 cories also makes the cories happier, because it puts them in a propper school.

 

[Ponch]

something along these lines maybe?
1 DG
6 neons
6 cories
3 mollies
just do all female on the mollies. when you get them they'll more then likely pregnant anyways, so you'll get PLENTY of fry between the three adding 6 cories also makes the cories happier, because it puts them in a propper school.

So cories could be a fun bottom (?) schooling fish ... Are the julii's the best option or are there others to consider?

So in this mix assume Cory's for bottom, neons for middle, dwarf G for top and mollies for all over?

Thanks

 

[blackmolly]

yes, bottom. they also do an excellent job at cleanup. julii's are very popular, i'm partial to pandas though. there are lots of other options too... google image cories and see what you like.

 

[Ponch]

yes, bottom. they also do an excellent job at cleanup. julii's are very popular, i'm partial to pandas though. there are lots of other options too... google image cories and see what you like.

Cool - cories look pretty interesting... Especially the pandas thanks a lot for the advice!

 

[blackmolly]

i think you'll like them. they're little bundles of energy... great additions to liven up the bottom of a tank. no problem!

 

[absolutangel04]

I suggest sticking a more like 4 corys to cut down on the bioload for the tank. Mollies are so messy that having a few in a tank does cut down on the other fish you can have a bit.
Just a note, the neons school mostly toward the bottom level. They stray up to "mid-level" some, but in general they school lower in the tank than some other fish. Thats not a problem, I am just telling you what to expect. They are cute little guys. I love their bright colors.

 

[Ponch]

I suggest sticking a more like 4 corys to cut down on the bioload for the tank. Mollies are so messy that having a few in a tank does cut down on the other fish you can have a bit.
Just a note, the neons school mostly toward the bottom level. They stray up to "mid-level" some, but in general they school lower in the tank than some other fish. Thats not a problem, I am just telling you what to expect. They are cute little guys. I love their bright colors.

Great - so what I am thinking now is...

• 6 neons
• 4-5 cories
• 3 mollies (2F/1M)

Depending on how that I goes (1-2 months in tank time) I may or may not add a dwarf gourami. Any holes in this plan?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Looks good IMO.

 

[blackmolly]

yup! sounds good.

 

[absolutangel04]

I agree. I think that sounds fine. You will have to be pretty diligent on water changes because of the bioload on the mollies, but IMO its quite do-able.
Do you have a plan for fry?