Good Selection?

[Carapar56]

So with me upgrading my 10 gallon aquarium to a planted tank soon I went ahead and decided on which plants I wanted to get. SO far the list is:

Anubias nana
Sagittaria subulata
Water Sprite
Enchinodorus red flame
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Ruffle plant

I know several of these plants are expected to reach heights exceeding the height of my aquarium but I've seen all of them used time and time again in 10 gallons with proper pruning.

It'd be a pain. But considering I'm one of those people who already can stand in front of my tank for an hour or more, just watching my fish. I'm pretty sure I can spend long hours pruning if need be.

My plan is to have a background of a couple Water Sprites mixed in with 2 Enchinodorus red flame and one Ruffle plant. Then for mid ground I'd have some Cryptocoryne wendtiis on both sides of the tank. And in the middle of the tank I'd have my driftwood with Anubias attached and on both ends of the driftwood their would be Sagittaria subulata planted in the substrate.

I think it sounds like a good set up and if I keep up with pruning, fertilizing, and make sure my lights are good enough, I'm sure the plants would flourish.

At the moment the only fish in there are a molly and a juvenile molly/platy hybrid. The only fish I plan to add are a small school of maybe 6 - 8 black skirt tetras. The filtration is currently 2 HOB 10 gallon tetra whisper filters but I will be upgrading to a canister filter rated for 60 gallons. Considering my 55 gallon is down and when I do set it up I plan to buy I new filter, why not up the filtration exponentially on the 10 gallon I plan to keep for awhile?

If anyone has any thoughts or concerns or any plant substitutes, input would be greatly appreciated. Ohhh but don't comment about using Java fern. I understand its a great plant and a nice size for 10 gallons but I think its one of the ugliest plants around. It looks fake, like one of those fake clothe like plants they used to make. yuck.


At a stock with my molly, platy/molly hybrid, and 8 black skirt tetras it says I'm 112% stocked with 333% filtration. http://aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php?A...rchMode=simple With 6 Black Skirts I'm 100% stocked. Either way I have plenty of filtration with the Eheim 2213 canister filter that I'm switching onto the tank. Should I stick with 6 or is 8 alright? I know the filtration isn't an issue but I want to make sure they have room to swim around, ya know?

[Goes to 11!]

Just a heads up that you unless you go for higher mid-light levels the sword will not be expressing much red color, That is easy to accomplish in a 10 though.

Btw, Mollys and platys cannot breed, They are different genus.

[Carapar56]

Oh I know. I already have lighting figured out. I'm going for about 3 watts per gallon. More like 3.5ish but that'll be good.

And they managed to.. And people have done it.. I had for a year my black molly and platy females.. After a year there should have been not a single bit of sperm left in the females for them to reproduce on their own. After about 14 months the black molly was seen mating with the female platies and bing bam boom about a month later I was having weird little hybrid fry.. I had this occur 3 times. Out of the over 150 fry I had only 1 lived. All the others started showing weird deformities or just plain died. They showed no symptoms of sickness. I'd just go to sleep, wake up and check on them in their breeder tank and they'd all be dead.. My hybrid now is an orangish brown color with speckles of black. He has a fat stocky platy body, but huge fanning fins like his father. His body is rather stock and fat but he has an elongated tail that a molly has. He's almost 3 months old now and he's barely an inch long.

Whatever he is, he's the weirdest little thing and when I still had female platies he seemed unable to breed. Like he'd mate with them and they would never get pregnant. Whether he's a polly or platy or molly he's my little weirdo. XD but back to the topic, I'd love some feedback on my plant choices c:

[Goes to 11!]

Yeah, I phrased that badly lol - I should have said that they do not breed viable offspring due to the defects you mention - It's not like they won't try :-P.

[Carapar56]

Yeah, I phrased that badly lol - I should have said that they do not breed viable offspring due to the defects you mention - It's not like they won't try :-P.

Yeah they definitely tried XD I'm sure I had upwards of 200 fry from the platy/molly breeding.. Considering I'd always find the fry in the morning, when I wake up, swimming around the top of the tank trying to get away from the parents XD I don't know. Nature is a weird thing. And I find it hard to believe that after a year of being alone the female platies could still have sperm left in them. Considering over that year they all gave birth to normal platies, which I left in the tank and allowed them to eat as I couldn't care for more fish.

Idk my little polly is a lucky one. One out of 200 to live. From the 3 different platies who all mated with my male molly, only one of those platy/molly babies lived. He's just so weird and cute. XD

[Goes to 11!]

Idk my little polly is a lucky one. One out of 200 to live. From the 3 different platies who all mated with my male molly, only one of those platy/molly babies lived. He's just so weird and cute. XD

[Carapar56]

I can try !! He's lightning fast and like I said he's barely an inch. Probably about 3/4" long. Tonight when I do his water change if I can get him to sit still I'll try to take a picture of him with my phone or my dad's camera. But no promises!!

[imma24]

. At the moment the only fish in there are a molly and a juvenile molly/platy hybrid. The only fish I plan to add are a small school of maybe 6 - 8 black skirt tetras. The filtration is currently 2 HOB 10 gallon tetra whisper filters but I will be upgrading to a canister filter rated for 60 gallons. Considering my 55 gallon is down and when I do set it up I plan to buy I new filter, why not up the filtration exponentially on the 10 gallon I plan to keep for awhile?


Either way I have plenty of filtration with the Eheim 2213 canister filter that I'm switching onto the tank. Should I stick with 6 or is 8 alright? I know the filtration isn't an issue but I want to make sure they have room to swim around, ya know?

I wouldn't put 6-8 black skirts in a 10gal - I have 5 right now and my largest one is about 2 1/2 inches (that's after being in my 46 gal for 2 yrs) - that's big - they'd be bumping into each other in a 10gal along with your other fish.

[Carapar56]

I wouldn't put 6-8 black skirts in a 10gal - I have 5 right now and my largest one is about 2 1/2 inches (that's after being in my 46 gal for 2 yrs) - that's big - they'd be bumping into each other in a 10gal along with your other fish.

Any other large bodied tetra you'd recommend then? I dont want a stream line bodied tetra like a cardinal. Anything that would work but is more of a large body shape? I was thing serpaes but I thought the might be too aggressive with my molly and polly.

[Carapar56]

Actually would a small school of Harleys work?? I really love them and I plan on getting them for my future 55. Maybe I should get some practice with them? Do you think I could keep 8 in a 10 gallon?