26gal (tall) w/ B.Mollies - Companions?

[Vircomore]

Hey All,

I've got a fairly new tank set up and I'm still battling with water parameters (so I'll preface this by saying that I won't be purchasing any additional fish until the tank is stable) - but:

It's current occupants are 1 Adult Female and 16-18 Juvenile Black Mollies. What I'd like opinions on are "non-livebearer" companions for this tank. (i.e. I'd like something away from the molly/platy/swordtail/guppy route.)

Here are my water parameters:

Ammo: #ppm (currently battling a finicky cycle, hence the disclaimer)
Nitri: 0ppm
Nitra: <10ppm

PH: 7.6-8.0

GH: 14-18
KH: 12-14

Current Tank temp: held at 81*F
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Here's what I've been considering, and my misgivings about each:

Cory Cats
Pro: Small, adorable, and friendly.
Cons: My water is harder than I've seen recommended for them, my gravel is a bit on the rough side, and my mollies (through the feeding of algae crisps) would have no problem butting in on a bottom-feeder.

A Pleco
Pro: Singular fish (definitely going for a small breed) - fun to watch.
Con: There would be some stiff competition for the Algae Wafers at feeding time.

Dwarf Gourami
Pro: would add some color to my aquarium, I've read some of the dwarf versions are quite peaceful.
Con: I think 26gal is a bit too small for a brood of rambunctious mollies and a territorial fish to co-exist.

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Soo... any and all suggestions welcome. My tank is full freshwater, although I've been toying with the idea of Brackish.

Bonus Points for the following:

-- A fish that can get along great with adult mollies, but may make a snack of the youngest fry. (All the juveniles I have now are large enough to make do, and I'd actually appreciate a "natural birth control" as opposed to having to "evict" all the males).

-- An all-black or mostly-black candidate. I think something like that would really be neat in my already "black-tie-only" tank.

 

[Lowryder]

How about an angelfish?

They come in black, they will eat the babies and leave the adults alone. They are also from SA like the mollies.

 

[Vircomore]

Angelfish was another consideration of mine - however I don't plan on getting a tank bigger than 26gal in the next 1-2 years, and I've heard that FW angels get pretty big.

Edit: Also, the fishstore sites I've looked at list FW angels as soft, lower-ph fish, whereas my tank is close to 7.8ph and GH over 16.

 

[Lowryder]

One thing about those sites is that they list natural environment. Most FW fish are commercially bread. They will adapt to most conditions. I think a single angel will be fine in a 26g.

 

[mommytron]

yeah i've heard from people you could do a single angel in a tank that size. a black veil angel would look awesome with your black mollies.

if you are going brackish (which i've read is better for mollies) you could get bumblebee gobies (SO cute) or a dragon goby would be cool. i don't know too much about BW though.

also, if your gravel is rough you should stay away form cories because of their delicate barbels. however, if you were to switch substrates to something like PFS, there are several cories that could go with your black-tie theme. although they are not fully black, panda cories, skunk cories, peppered cories, and julii cories are all different variations of black and white.

i think that an albino bristlenose pleco would be a very cool contrast to all black fish as well.

 

[Lowryder]

yeah i've heard from people you could do a single angel in a tank that size. a black veil angel would look awesome with your black mollies.

if you are going brackish (which i've read is better for mollies) you could get bumblebee gobies (SO cute) or a dragon goby would be cool. i don't know too much about BW though.

also, if your gravel is rough you should stay away form cories because of their delicate barbels. however, if you were to switch substrates to something like PFS, there are several cories that could go with your black-tie theme. although they are not fully black, panda cories, skunk cories, peppered cories, and julii cories are all different variations of black and white.

i think that an albino bristlenose pleco would be a very cool contrast to all black fish as well.

+1

I like the skunk corie idea.

Your idea of an all black fish tank is cool, love to see pictures. Skunks are cool! They are mostly white with black stripes, like a skunk. They are fun and full of personality. Small glimmers of white might be really cool in an all black-fish tank. Pandas are simillar but they are white with black spots.

I have 4 cories; 2 are panda and 2 are green. My tank has a GH of around 374ppm. Havent had a problem with them. They are fun to watch sift through the sand. Like Mommy said, just watch the barbels if you dont change to softer substrate. Once the cories barbels are injured they are prone to infections. A mess easliy avoided.

 

[Vircomore]

Thanks for the suggestions. I may look into filter sand, but I have a feeling it will be a bit of a project to change to that as a substrate. If I were to change to PFS, would that be something that would require the fish to be de-tanked until the sand could settle? Or can it be set in while they're in there?

Also, some pictures for you:

1. I just dropped in some brine shrimp not 10 minutes before, and so the little guys were playing "follow the leader" as they tread against the slow current of the filter and caught brine shrimp as they washed by:



2. A full frontal of my tank. General positioning of systems:

-- Heater is fully submerged, horizontal, back bottom left of tank
-- Canister intake is back left, vertical.
-- Canister outlet is back right, about 5 inches below the surface, blowing diagonally in from back right corner.
-- Airstone, buried in the substrate, back right back wall.

 

[mommytron]

tank looks great, i love the bowfront tanks (in fact i actually have a stand built for a 26g bow with a 20H on it...the bowfront was SO expensive but the stand was cheap lol) i also love black mollies, they are so cool. they are always my daughter's favorite fish at the store so how rough is your substrate? if you take a few pieces and roll them around between your hands, do they poke into you or anything? if they don't, and they are relatively smooth, you could probably get away with some cories. i think that skunk cories would look so good in this set up. also, if you're looking for more mid-dwellers, penguin tetras are very cool looking (black and white) and would awesome in this set up. you could even do black neons or black emperor tetras that would go with your theme. now that i'm thinking about it, severum mama and HN1 (who are a part of this forum and very reputable, and super nice people) are selling albino black neons--some of the coolest fish i've seen. they would look so great in contrast to the mollies. something to look into! lookin good so far!

 

[Vircomore]

My brief research has raised yet another question:

Where do you all usually get your fishy friends? I did searches on all the fish you listed there, and both LiveAquaria and ThatFishPlace are completely out of stock on all of them...

 

[mommytron]

severum mama and HN1 have some gorgeous looking fish and a great reputation. -> http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f25/fs-beautiful-community-fish-128373.html

what about your LFS? usually if they don't have what you are looking for in stock, they will try to order it for you. worth a shot!

 

[Vircomore]

I'll check them out, thanks!

As far as LFS go, I haven't done a lot of exploring in the area I'm currently in, but the only one ive found outside of Petco and Petsmart is a little "strip mall fish and bird shop" whose fish stock didn't look in the best shape. (I was only in there once to buy an emergency replacement heater).

I'll do some more looking around and see if there are some dedicated fish shops around here.

Edit: After perusing Google Maps for a bit, it appears that the strip mall shop is the only thing besides petco and petsmart that is less than a 45 minute drive from my home.

 

[mommytron]

well a 45 minute drive might be worth it if it's a good store. shipping charges for fish can be pretty crazy... but i know that severum mama and HN1's prices are lower than most LFS you would find. but, i think it would be worth it to do a little travelling to check some places out. like i said, if there is something you want but can't find online, most LFS will try and order it for you.

 

[Vircomore]

Hey all,

A little update: Thanks to some more research and an "aquarium stocker" calculator that was posted in another thread, I think my final "Black and White" tank stocking is probably going to look like this:

4-5 Black Mollies (I'm probably going to pick out the cream of the litter currently in my tank - all females - as my final stock, and trade/sell the rest)

1 Albino Bushy Pleco...

And a school of 5-6 Black neon tetras (as Black-and-White ambassadors)

 

[mommytron]

sounds like a great plan! can't wait to see the tank with the final stock in it. i love my black neons, i have 6 and they school together so tightly. they were the last 6 at the store in a tank with a bunch of other fish, so i think they were already tightly bonded when i got them.