Stocking question- what are my options? Please help.

[sarah5775]

I have a 29 gallon aquarium. I am going to get a ten gallon next week- a friend gave me a nice wooden stand for one. I was planning on using it for fry, but I'm going to be overcrowded in the 29 gallon when my fish get full size, and my first priority, of course, must be to the fish I already have.

This is what I have now:

4 neon tetras
5 black longfin tetras
4 gold barbs
1 otto
1 apple snail
8 platys (5 adults, 3 half-grown)
3 mollies (1 adult, 2 half-grown)

This is what I am shooting for, to be spread out over the two tanks:

5 neon tetras
5 black longfin tetras (max out at 3 inches, I hear)
4 gold barbs (will get 2 1/2 each)
5-6 platys
3-4 mollies
4-5 ottos in the 29 gallon and two ottos in the 10 gallon
An apple snail in each tank
Some room for a fry survivors if there are any

Can it be done and if so, how can I distribute the fish?

 

[hsherman1986]

Best I can come up with is the neons and mollies in the 10g as well as 2 ottos and the snail.

As far as the 29g, everything else goes in there. The barbs and tetras will need more space than the neons, and you have more platies than mollies, unless you would mix and match the two (2 mollies in each tank, 3 platies in each), but with that, the 10g would be overstocked...

Thats all I got...hopefully someone else will come along with more info.

 

[sarah5775]

The mollies have to be kept in groups of threes, so mixing and matching is out. The thing is, platys get 1 inch long and mollies get 3 1/2 (I think) so its really 14 inches of fish (mollies) vs 5-6 inches of fish (platies) even though there's more in number.

Looking at it again, I'm actually thinking the platies and the two ottos (and snail) in the ten gallon and everything else in the 29.

But I'm interested in hearing what more experienced fish-keepers think.