I'm excited, this is my first aquarium, I got my four mollies, a tiger barb, and a snail currently. I'de like advice on how best to keep a community, as I have only had one of the same species in a bowl, never a community. I plan on buying a small puffer next, and a bumblebee catfish. I appreciate any help you can give. Tell me what you think I should get. I have a 30 gallon tank. Please tell me any advice you have, and what you think I should add with two live plants and two holed rocks.
My first Aquarium!
- Thread starter Frogki
- Start date
First off welcome to the Tank, a very helpful place where you can find most of the answers you need pretty easily, READ READ READ then READ a little more.
I personally wouldnt add a puffer to that tank, seems like you already have a potential nipping problem on your hands with the one tiger barb and the 4 mollies(barbs tend to be a bit aggressive)plus the puffer would eat your snail.
read up on fish compatibility and then go from there.
GOOD LUCK
I personally wouldnt add a puffer to that tank, seems like you already have a potential nipping problem on your hands with the one tiger barb and the 4 mollies(barbs tend to be a bit aggressive)plus the puffer would eat your snail.
read up on fish compatibility and then go from there.
GOOD LUCK
Yes, see, I went to AAA pets, and the manager there told me that they would be compatible, and that this particular puffer only grows to about oh, say this big
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And my snail is as big or bigger, could he still eat that?
Anyway, thank you for the welcome, and I'm just relaying what the man at AAA pets told me, he said that they could go together just fine, and my mollies are much bigger than him (the tiger barb, not the puffer) XD... Once again, thanks, and please, let me know any errors of the manager... Thanks
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And my snail is as big or bigger, could he still eat that?
Anyway, thank you for the welcome, and I'm just relaying what the man at AAA pets told me, he said that they could go together just fine, and my mollies are much bigger than him (the tiger barb, not the puffer) XD... Once again, thanks, and please, let me know any errors of the manager... Thanks
i wouldn't get the puffer, theres only a few freshwater puffs i know of aand your tank would be to small for them with the fish you alrdy got, you could try like a pea puffer and have just one, but that still will probally fin nip
plus if you get any puffer other than a pea puffer, you'll need snails for it to eat to trim its teeth down
plus if you get any puffer other than a pea puffer, you'll need snails for it to eat to trim its teeth down
puffers have beaks similar to that of a birds, it can crack a shell with ease and slice another fish quite easily as well. its not that the mollies are bigger than the barb, Barbs are just notorious fin nippers and typically do better in groups. if you wanna do puffers go for a puffer tank 3 dwarf puffers would be pretty nice IMO.
Thank you, however, I think that the idea is ludicrus with your opinions, and I don't think I should add any type of puffer to the tank, thank you for letting me know before I had a bad situation. I just started with this, so I might make some mistakes... Anyway, IDK what type of puffer it was, it was relatively small so IDK... Thanks for your advice, can you make any suggestions as to what types of fish I should add to it? I would in fact like to add a bumblebee catfish to the tank, it would help with algea, and the snail is for bottom feeding (I also understand that they need regular food lol) and I would like suggestions of possibly one more species to add, I am considering fancy tail guppies, but I don't know whether that would cause a problem with the tiger barb...
Any help is appreciated!
Any help is appreciated!
Well, why, they are getting along very fine at the moment, and the AAA pets store guy told me that they would be fine together because the tank was big enough so they wouldn't bother one another. Course he also told me the puffer would be fine in the tank... Anyway, I don't know right now, I would like to keep a community tank, with the tiger barb and the mollies. I would like some more detailed advice, I plan on adding some fancy tail guppies, and another type of fish if I can, but I do not know, explain to me some more please, lol sorry...
Most people have that opinion, but IDK, I'll think about it for a couple of days, read about it, look it up, etc... OMG btw as a side not, I just watched that video of the aquarium in japan, it is truly... Inspiring lol... Anyway, They get along and with the fish I plan on adding I think I could keep them all as a comunity... Thanks, I'll think about your advice though
Word to the wise: NEVER take pet store employees advice. Most of them have no clue what they're talking about, even the store managers. Just the fact that he tried to sell you a puffer to put in your community aquarium is a bad bad sign.
I wouldn't buy a fish specifically for algae control unless you actually are having immediate algae problems, otherwise they'll starve to death. Bumblebees, while really cute and cool to look at, are hard to keep for a beginner as they require special diets and it can be hard to get food down to the bottom of the tank to them while the other fish will eat it before it even gets to them. If you only have one tiger barb, I would suggest getting a bigger school of them. The mollies you have will get very large, so you limited your stocking levels a lot by getting them.
I wouldn't buy a fish specifically for algae control unless you actually are having immediate algae problems, otherwise they'll starve to death. Bumblebees, while really cute and cool to look at, are hard to keep for a beginner as they require special diets and it can be hard to get food down to the bottom of the tank to them while the other fish will eat it before it even gets to them. If you only have one tiger barb, I would suggest getting a bigger school of them. The mollies you have will get very large, so you limited your stocking levels a lot by getting them.
Thanks for the info, I'm sure it will help later... OK, so I have at least one male mollie from what I checked, but I'm afraid that if I have a female, either another male is in there too, and they will fight, or I'll get fries... And I do plan on buying at least one more tiger barb, along with some zebra scissor fish. Is that too many? Or will I have to feed them all seperate foods? He didn't try to sell it to me fyi I saw him and I was looking at him, he said that it would be fine as long as I watched him, and the tank was big enough etc... LOL, thank god I logged onto here before I did. Any suggestions on another species?
I saw him and I was looking at him, he said that it would be fine as long as I watched him, and the tank was big enough etc... LOL, thank god I logged onto here before I did. Any suggestions on another species?
Tiger barbs that are not within a small group may turn out to be little pain in the butts. These Barbs need a small group of in my opinion 5 or more so that they can establish a pecking order and nip within their group. I have kept solo and pairs of Barbs before and while it may have worked at first, they started to be pains to the other fish.
If you have two..the one may beat up on the other. Maybe they get along. But if they dont then you now have an issue.
The mollies are actually sensative to water conditions. So make sure your tank is kept up.
Is the tank even cycled? If it is not..then you need to read up on the cycle of a aquarium. Miss Fishy has a link on her sig that will help.
If you have two..the one may beat up on the other. Maybe they get along. But if they dont then you now have an issue.
The mollies are actually sensative to water conditions. So make sure your tank is kept up.
Is the tank even cycled? If it is not..then you need to read up on the cycle of a aquarium. Miss Fishy has a link on her sig that will help.
First of all, never ever ever ever ever ever ever (times infinity) listen to people at pet stores. Most of the time, they don't care what happens in your tank and they will tell you fish are compatible and that you can add more fish to your aquarium just so you'll buy more from them, hence giving them more money.
And guppies will do great with mollies, because they are both community fish, but once that tiger barb gets bigger, you will have a lot more problems. Tiger barbs are aggressive and should'nt be kept with peaceful community fish. I suggest either getting a 10 gallon tank for your community fish and keeping a school of tiger barbs in your current tank, or returning your tiger barb to the pet store. Personally, I'd just return it.
And guppies will do great with mollies, because they are both community fish, but once that tiger barb gets bigger, you will have a lot more problems. Tiger barbs are aggressive and should'nt be kept with peaceful community fish. I suggest either getting a 10 gallon tank for your community fish and keeping a school of tiger barbs in your current tank, or returning your tiger barb to the pet store. Personally, I'd just return it.
"Thanks for the info, I'm sure it will help later... OK, so I have at least one male mollie from what I checked, but I'm afraid that if I have a female, either another male is in there too, and they will fight, or I'll get fries... And I do plan on buying at least one more tiger barb, along with some zebra scissor fish. Is that too many? Or will I have to feed them all seperate foods?"
If you are keeping any livebearers, it's best to keep 3 or 4 times as many females than males so that the males don't harass the females. However, keeping this many females also increases chances of spawning. Keeping a group entirely made of males OR females is fine, since once they start breeding, it can be difficult to control them. But, if you don't mind raising fry, you can sell them to your fish store usually or you can let nature take it's course and let the other fish in the tank eat the babies. I don't know about the zebra scissor fish. Make sure all these fish you want are compatible tank mates. Look online to check.
If you are keeping any livebearers, it's best to keep 3 or 4 times as many females than males so that the males don't harass the females. However, keeping this many females also increases chances of spawning. Keeping a group entirely made of males OR females is fine, since once they start breeding, it can be difficult to control them. But, if you don't mind raising fry, you can sell them to your fish store usually or you can let nature take it's course and let the other fish in the tank eat the babies. I don't know about the zebra scissor fish. Make sure all these fish you want are compatible tank mates. Look online to check.