Getting back to it

[hijnx]

As a child I had a guppy tank (30ish gallons?). I've wanted to get back into it and now have a 20g. I did my research while the tank matured and had a plan, but my wife wanted more vibrant colors. I had already stocked 6 zebra danios and 10 ghost shrimp. On a whim (my bad) we went and got 3 mollies and 3 platies.

Is that too much? If possible I'd like to add a bottom swimmer, but I don't have high hopes for that.

 

[Mattyfelts]

As a child I had a guppy tank (30ish gallons?). I've wanted to get back into it and now have a 20g. I did my research while the tank matured and had a plan, but my wife wanted more vibrant colors. I had already stocked 6 zebra danios and 10 ghost shrimp. On a whim (my bad) we went and got 3 mollies and 3 platies. Is that too much? If possible I'd like to add a bottom swimmer, but I don't have high hopes for that.

sounds pretty stocked, both platys and mollies have high bio loads! You can use aqadvisor.com to see roughly how stocked you are. Also platys and Mollie's are both notorious live bearers and rigorous breeders ( I'm on my 4th generation of fry in he past 10 months) !

 

[hijnx]

Thanks for the input!

I'd expected the livebearers to be fruitful and multiply. I have a buddy who's just getting started as well and will be taking any of my survivors. I'm also wanting at some point to give him my ghost shrimp and replace them with red cherries, but I'm concerned about them being eaten. Is that a legitimate concern? I'm not sure if they would fit in the mouth of a molly or platie.

 

[azmodan]

I would not put RCS with mollies or platies as typically they'll just end up being expensive snacks.

 

[hijnx]

Oh I'd thought they were the same size as ghosts. Is there a more interesting shrimp that I could use in this setup? Ghosts are fun, but I'd like something with color eventually. Crystal shrimp maybe?

 

[azmodan]

Not a ton of shrimp options with mollies in a tank. Amanos or a bamboo shrimp could work. Most dwarf shrimp like RCS or CRS would probably either get eaten or just spend all their time hiding. Those sort of shrimp are best kept in species tanks or nano fish tanks (and even then some of the juvies often still get picked off).

 

[hijnx]

Ok. Thanks for the info!