# What beginner fish can live together?



## FishFaceMartin

Hi, everybody! I have a ten gallon that is in the process of cycling and once it has cycled it will be occupied by four female bettas. If all goes well with the bettas, I'm hoping to get either a 20 or 30 gallon and put several different types of fish in there. I was wondering if anybody could help me out by naming a few "beginner" types that get along and by telling me how many i could fit in a 20 or 30 gallon? I say "beginner" because I'm relatively new to fish and wouldn't trust myself with needy fish, but I'm a good pet owner and I would take the best of care of them. I really like mollies and guppies, so would it be okay to get a few of them? Also, perhaps I'd like to put some bigger fish in later on like maybe an angel? Would it work?

Thank you very much for all answers!


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## FishFreak95

Guppies and platies. I think mollys are brackish water. They are very colorful. 1 male to 2 females.So if you wanted 3 males you should get 6 females. If you dont want hundreds of baby fish try danios. Angels require a larger tank unless the 30 gallon is a 30 gallon tall


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## JohnnyD44

I agree with above....guppies are livebearers...you don't match them right you will end up with babies galore and not know what to do with them all.

any kind of tetras(neon, black skirt, red eye) all do well in schools of about 6. You could also go with some cory catfish, who like schools also. They are all good beginner fish and your tank would look great with schools of several fish.

As for an angel fish, they are a little tougher fish to maintain than the previous ones. They do need some more room to swim around so the smallest you could could get away with would be a 30G tank, they usually ned atleast 18 inches of vertical room. Neon Tetras at some point will also become neon food...just to keep in mind. 

Maybe you could get a list of fish from your lfs you like and post them here as for compatibility


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## Cody

No angels in a 20G or 30G. I wouldn't put them in anything less than a 37G, which is like 20" tall.

And Johnny, you mean shoals, not schools. There are very little FW that school.


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## JohnnyD44

yes, yes I do haha thanks


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## FishFaceMartin

Thank you guys for the answers! I did some research, and I'm thinking about getting 4 mollies, 5 guppies, 4 platties, and 6 cory catfish. The only thing I'm worried about is that I read that mollies like a little bit of salt of their water, and the others don't. It said that they could survive without it, but I don't want my fish to be suffering. Would all of these fish fit in a 20 gallon?


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## Cody

You need a place to put all the babies. You will have hundreds of babies from all the livebearers.

Mollies are brackish, but they have been bred in FW for the past few years are most are adapted to FW. They do prefer harder water, as do guppies and platies, but Cories like more of a soft/neutral hardness.


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## FishFaceMartin

I really don't want babies, so I'm going to get only males. Although, some of the fish I looked at were only unsexed... so I still might get babies. I'll keep that in mind, thanks.


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## JohnnyD44

Cody said:


> You need a place to put all the babies. You will have hundreds of babies from all the livebearers.
> 
> Mollies are brackish, but they have been bred in FW for the past few years are most are adapted to FW. They do prefer harder water, as do guppies and platies, but Cories like more of a soft/neutral hardness.


 
yep, you will see so many babies your eyeballs will spin......i have mollys in my tank right now with corys and everyone seems to be happy


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## Cody

Mollies (and I think platies) can change genders from a male to a female. It has been seen before.

Point is, Livebearers=Hundreds of babies, especially saying you have the main producers.


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## Psychmajor

Just a an fyi, if you get too many male mollies, they can snip at each other, even cause some damage, even though you dont want fry, (baby ish) you should get 3 female and one male molly. oftentimes the mollies will eat their fry, or abort the pregnancy, so thats one thing to think about. also, i have had mollies and although a little salt is good, they wont suffer without it. as said above, many have been bred and kept if fw, (freshwater) so it should be a big deal. Livebearing fish have bene known to eat their fry. 
one more thing if you end up with fry, the lfs will sometimes take them off your hands. mine always did!


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