30G Freshwater Stocking

[ajmckerihen]

So I recently set up a 30 gallon freshwater aquarium, it's finally all cycled and good to go. Anyways, as this is my first aquarium I've set up, I went to my fish store and walked around and wrote down all the fish that interested me/were listed as communal fish/were in my price range.

This is the list:
- Glass catfish
- Neon tetras
- Assorted platy's
- Guppies
- Assorted small angelfish
- Swordtails
- Barbs
- Redtail shark
- Lyretail mollies
- Polypterus

There are already 3 nerite snails in the tank.

I guess my question is if there are some of these fish that cannot live together, or wouldn't get along. Or some that you'd recommend over others etc. I realize I couldn't get all them, seeing as the tank itself isn't too big, so I'm trying to decide what will work best. I have many live plants in the aquarium as well if that plays a roll in what I should purchase.

 

[toddnbecka]

Forget the glass catfish unless you're doing a group of them and nothing else. Cross the redtail shark and polypterus off the list. Neon tetras would do better in an established tank than a new setup. You could keep a single angel in a 30, but not with most barbs because they're usually fin nippers. The rest are livebearers, and aside from possibly overcrowding the tank with growing fry in the long run shouldn't be a problem.

 

[bettaowner]

If you add all male guppies and some platies, you would have a colorful tank and not need to worry about having too many fry, the platies are harder to sex and you may end up getting a pair.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Mr. Nowhere]

All live bearers sex the same how are platies more difficult?

 

[bettaowner]

I'm saying that it's easier to see the difference between a male guppy and a female guppy. With platies, one gender isn't less colorful so unless you look closely you could make a mistake with determining the gender.

 

[Mr. Nowhere]

Oh, you just have to look at there bottom back fins, males and females are completely different.

 

[toddnbecka]

Ya, the male's gonopodium is pretty easy to spot once they're a couple months old. Most lfs stock are young adults anyway, not half-grown juvies.