Ok, I am going to take everybody's advise and eliminate the mollies from the tank and add more of the others. How many more of each fish can a really get away with though? Without the mollies this is what I am at...
It also says that my filtration capacity is only at 89% with this current setup. The calculator isn't factoring in the Cory Cats ability to clean contaminants or the plants extracting organic waste, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate.
Will this make a noticeable enough difference in the filtration of my aquarium or should I upgrade my filtration regardless, to be on the safer side of things?
Thank you, everybody for all of your help so far.
My opinion differs a little with regards to stocking.
I'm going by just what you have written there, not assuming you''ll up your filtration later. The short version: I'd add the tetras first, with the centerpiece fish, add a guppy or two to your list, and add the corys last after your get your plants settled in.
I'm not very familiar with the program. I have no idea how they calculate their filtration rating....I keep my tanks at about a 100% filtration rating according to them, and do a small PWC bi-weekly and my parameters are staying good at about a month in. I also keep live plants in all my tanks, so that may also help with oxygenation and water quality.
I don't keep bottom-feeders myself, because I have very small tanks (currently renting my home, want to move soon). From my understanding, they don't do much to improve contaminant levels; they actually need their own food source (sinking pellets) to maintain their health. The info on how much they do to 'clean' the tank is mixed....also, they will root around and nibble plants, so...they may eat those plants if you add them before the plants establish. Some zucchini in the tank may distract them. In any case, they add interest to the bottom of the tank and corys are very active, entertaining little fish.
I'm not at all familiar with Apistogramma agassizii...but I break out in the cold sweats anytime someone mentions putting cichlids in with tropical community
I looked it up on just one site, and they claim it's peaceful and will tolerate a ph of 7, so I guess it's ok.
I'd add a guppy or two because, with guppies, color is usually what you're going for in a community tank; a good food and some company will make them shine...you can get two or three in any color combination and they'll be happy.
Although you might up the guppy count at the expense of even bigger schools, I think the amounts of schooling fish you have there are adequate to keep the fish satisfied. If your goal is variety and not perfect schooling behavior, I think you'll be fine.
