Fish for 29G tank

[hyperman]

We are about to start adding fish to our newly set-up 29G tank. Put an active filter from angelplus in for the cycling. We would like to have Swordtails, Molly's and Platy's. Would 6 fish for the 29G tank be too many to start with? We would like to have a final total of 12 fish. Is that number going to be an issue for a 29G tank? Finally, is it necessary to have catfish?

 

[flitabout]

Mollies and swords both need at least a 30g tank that is preferably longer for the swords. Platies on the other hand only need a 10g. I also wouldn't do swords and platys together as they can breed with each other and with that stock it is bound to happen. Most livebearer females are pregnant when you get them. I am currently fighting all of these issues atm and have so many babies in my 37g that I can't count them I think it's somewhere around 50. I lost all of my adults execpt 1 platy female that I am praying doesn't decide to drop more of them. Even when a male isn't present the females can carry "packets" of semen for 6-9 months and still produce litter after litter in that time when she feels conditions are right.
Swords can be a bit tricky you may think you have a female or you can just have a late developing male these are usually your really big males that can actually grow up to 5-6inches. They are built for speed and that is why they do the best in longer tanks of around 36 inches. Mine has the same footprint as yours so while it isn't horrible for them it isn't optimal either. Mine made up for lack of length with diving up and down in my tall tank. They really are fun to watch! All of them both like a heavily planted tank with lots of floating plants. Here are some links on liveaquaria that I love for all of the info they give about each type of fish.
Mollies
Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Black Sailfin Molly Livebearer
Swords
Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Hi Fin Lyretail Swordtail Livebearer
Platys
Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Assorted Mickey Mouse Platy Livebearers

 

[flitabout]

Oh and no it isn't neccessary to have a cat. I am not normally a big fan of them but I have fallen hopelessly in love with the L-144 L/F which is a yellow bristol nose longfin pleco. They are also better off in a mature tank.

 

[hyperman]

What if we purchased just males? Then we would be able to have the swords and platy's together. And have no risk of babies. Why did all your adult fish die?

 

[flitabout]

Sword males will become agressive with each other with little or no females. The best ratio is 1 male to 3 females. The same goes for platys.
As far as my guys dying I am not sure exactly what happened. My parameters where spot on as far as ammo and nitrite. My nitrates where running on the high side at around 30ppm. So I think it was a combination of several things, I discovered that my on tap water (city water) the PH had risen very high in the last month like from 7.4-8.8, I was battling high nitrate levels so I was doing a tun of water changes that messed with the stability of the overall system which I didn't realize because I wasn't testing for PH. The girls really started fighting with each other about the week before the babies started being born and nipped the heck out of each others fins and 2 had what looked to be really bad fin rot. It pretty much went down hill from there. Long story short Higher nitrate had me doing a tun of water changes, which raised the ph, causing stress, the stress caused fighting, fighting and stress lowered their immune systems which left them open to infection hence the fin rot. But that's just a theory.