Adding a school of neon tetras to 10g?

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ashleykw

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 31, 2017
Messages
59
Location
Arizona
I have a 10 gallon with 2 African dwarf frogs, a Dalmatian molly, and a baby platy. It has a filter, heater (at 84 because I'm coming down from ich) and an air stone. Salinity I'm maintaining 1/2 tsp per gallon. Still cycling but once it finally cycles, I've been wanting to add some shoaling fish, and think the smallest and prettiest ones are neon tetras. (I was even kinda thinking mixing neons with cardinal tetras). I used an aquarium calculator to see if it would fit in adding a school of 5, and they do work but it would be at the maximum. I asked a guy a PetSmart what the minimum for a school would be, he said at least 3. Some say 4. What are your opinions about safely adding some tetras, and how many would be minimum for them to school?
 
IMG_1034.jpg
Here you can see all 4 of them. Little orange one is the platy, and the frogs are by the dragon bubbler.
 
Your Molly will need a larger tank. I prefer 30g minimum for Mollies. Depending on the "type" they can hit 3-5".

Cardinals and Neons prefer diff temps and Cardinals get larger. I would not put Cardinals in a 10g.

Neons can fit, but not a lot of swimming room.

I'd rehome the Molly before adding more fish. JMHO.
 
I would also recommend upgrading to a 20 gallon minimum. Mollies require at least a 20 gallon and enjoy having the company of other mollies so it'd be best to upgrade to that. This is the same thing with platies so by adding more, you'll need to upgrade. Overall, you should have larger groups of the species you have plus, by upgrading you can get a pretty good sized group of neons :)
 
I'm planning on upgrading to a 20-gallon after we move apartments in a few months. I bought this 10gallon not too long ago after my 2 gallon with a betta started leaking... anyway long story short I ended up returning the betta and 2-gal for this 10-gal (just kept the platy and frogs, platy was barely the size of a minnow and given to us for free). At PetSmart for mollies it says minimum 10gal communal. Some research also suggests a minimum of 10. I understand they would thrive in a larger tank, as would any fish, however she seems to be doing well so far in this 10gallon. But I will definitely be investing in a 20 gallon in the near future, just not at the moment. For now I guess ill plan on holding off on the tetras until I upgrade as well. Thanks for your opinions!
 
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