Mollies and bettas?
- Thread starter cooleo589
- Start date
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ImACoolguy
Aquarium Advice Addict
It's unlikely and IMO the Molly is too big for a 10g anyway.
Caleb
Caleb
PassengerTN
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have no input on mixing the two, but I kept a trio of Molly's in a 10g for quite some time without a problem. Half of my current 6 Molly's (5f/1m) are the ones from my 10g and are no different than the 3 grown in the 29.
Jesse
Jesse
Mollies are fine in a 10 gallon tank. The general rule is 1 gallon for every inch of fish. Mollies get to be a little more than an inch so maybe five mollies in a 10 gallon. A beta probably wouldn't do to well with mollies because they will nip at a betas fins.
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PassengerTN
Aquarium Advice Addict
Inch per gallon is very outdated. Also, you must not have any experience with Molly's, as they grow up to 3"
Jesse
ImACoolguy
Aquarium Advice Addict
As Jesse said, inch per gallon is long in the past and forgotten. We base it off of bioload and other factors now. If you did inch per gallon, that's how you end up with a foot long Oscar in a 15g tank that can't turn around and a bioload through the roof it just doesn't work.
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And here I was wondering where these threads have gone. One thing I have liked about this guideline was that the original text I saw had it applied to fully grown fish and including tail. At that point I forgot about the guideline and realised I would soon have a problem. Actually just thinking back, some books had tail included, some didn't.
I use this guideline and make it work but it works in my tank using lots of on-the-fly adjustments. I'm not silly enough to stock an Oscar in a small tank but some small, darting fish don't work well either as they don't have room to run.
Layering the tank with bottom, mid and upper dwellers is another interesting area that was skipped in the old text I saw on tank builds (although to be honest a lot of new books seem to skip that as well - perhaps space constraints).
sinibotia
Aquarium Advice Addict
Mollies are borderline in a 10 gallon. Bioload wise they fit- swimming space is up for debate. I think you'll be alright.
However, I wouldn't try it with a betta. Bettas can be mean, and anything that looks remotely like a betta might get attacked by one. I think mollies certainly look enough like a betta for it to be a problem. Plus, it seems like a lot of bioload for a 10 gallon.
I wouldn't recommend it, but if you want to try it you'll need to be ready to set up a permanent proper tank for either the molly or the betta, or have some place lined up to rehome one of them.
However, I wouldn't try it with a betta. Bettas can be mean, and anything that looks remotely like a betta might get attacked by one. I think mollies certainly look enough like a betta for it to be a problem. Plus, it seems like a lot of bioload for a 10 gallon.
I wouldn't recommend it, but if you want to try it you'll need to be ready to set up a permanent proper tank for either the molly or the betta, or have some place lined up to rehome one of them.
tiger terror
Aquarium Advice Addict
The old method is outdated...you must take into account mature size&bio-load amongst other conditions as well..
Would you put a mature fish at 10" long in a 10g? Obviously you shouldn't...
sit in silence
I agree on top para - I'm wondering myself if a smaller livebearer species would work better swimming space wise.
sinibotia
Aquarium Advice Addict
I think of stocking in a two-tiered system where whichever tier has a LARGER requirement is the "minimum" size for a given fish. Those "tiers" are bioload and swimming space. The caveat between the two is that bioload stacks, while swimming space doesn't- which is why it's ok to keep 2 angelfish in a 30 gallon, but not ok to keep any in a 15 gallon. The bioload of an angelfish is 15 gallons, but the swimming space is 30 gallons.
I would say that mollies are fairly low in bioload requirement but have at least a 20 gallon swimming space requirement. You could get away with them in a 10, but it isn't ideal.
"An inch per gallon" is such a weak and badly-abused rule that I refuse to even acknowledge it. With all of the other intricacies of fishkeeping; if you can understand the nitrogen cycle, you can understand the basics of proper stocking without resorting to that idiotic "rule". 5 mollies in a 10 gallon is lunacy.
Is there an article on the basics of stocking in the "articles for starting your tank" section? Maybe I should write one....
I would say that mollies are fairly low in bioload requirement but have at least a 20 gallon swimming space requirement. You could get away with them in a 10, but it isn't ideal.
"An inch per gallon" is such a weak and badly-abused rule that I refuse to even acknowledge it. With all of the other intricacies of fishkeeping; if you can understand the nitrogen cycle, you can understand the basics of proper stocking without resorting to that idiotic "rule". 5 mollies in a 10 gallon is lunacy.
Is there an article on the basics of stocking in the "articles for starting your tank" section? Maybe I should write one....
