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I have guppies mollies and sordtails the lady at the pet store told me instead of getting pairs to get three females per one male.She said that the males would fight if there wasn't enough females.Is this true? How many fish is the maximum in a 30 gallon tank? I have black mollies that have had babies, do I need to seperate them? Should I use a breeding tank or put them in another tank? What can I do with the babies, because the pet stores won't buy them? Are snails good for a tank and how many should I get if they are? Can you put regular house plants into a fish tank or do they need to be aquarium plants? Can I put goldfish in with the guppies and mollies? What is a good temperature for the tank that I have my guppies and mollies in? Is it important to add aquarium salt into a tank? I have a catfish with a piece of netting stuck on it's spike. How do I get it off? Will it hurt to leave it on. He is swimming around and acting ok.

Welcome to FP. We have a section just for Livebearers called LiveBearers Lane.. recommend posting your guppy/platy/molly/endler/swordtail questions there in the future.

"the lady at the pet store told me instead of getting pairs to get three females per one male.She said that the males would fight if there wasn't enough females.Is this true?"

Partially right, partially wrong - 3 females to one male reduces stress for the females, not the males... The males will fight whenever there are more then one male + any amount of females in the tank.

"How many fish is the maximum in a 30 gallon tank?"
If you are just starting out and learning the ropes, I recommend to calculate how large your fish will be when full grown.. one inch of fish per gallon for a rough stock limit.

"I have black mollies that have had babies, do I need to seperate them? Should I use a breeding tank or put them in another tank?" - if they are breeding and you have babies in the tank, whatever you are doing is working. One tip, provide lots of hiding spots.

"What can I do with the babies, because the pet stores won't buy them?"

Lots of options here... a) sell at fish auction, privately to other aquarists, online. b) Buy a predator fish, keep in another tank, and feed the babies to it. c) separate the males and females into separate tanks, after a couple months, no more problem. d) don't have livebearers, they breed like bunnies..

"Are snails good for a tank and how many should I get if they are?" - Snails eat waste, but create equal waste, null point here. Why do you feel you need snails ?
Some snails are beneficial for various reasons, some are a pest problem. Do you want snails just for the joy of keeping them or to serve a specific purpose. This would determine the type/s of snails you are after.

How many snails depends on how many gal your tank is and the current stocking levels.

"Can you put regular house plants into a fish tank or do they need to be aquarium plants?" - to keep this simple, aquatic is best. Others will die over time.

"Can I put goldfish in with the guppies and mollies?"
No, goldfish are coldwater, livebearers are tropical.

"What is a good temperature for the tank that I have my guppies and mollies in?" - 76-80F

Is it important to add aquarium salt into a tank? - It is recommended that mollies like a little aquarium salt.

"I have a catfish with a piece of netting stuck on it's spike. How do I get it off? Will it hurt to leave it on."

Use small sharp scissors to remove as much of the material as possible, do not injure the cat. the tiny bit left will fall off.

The Amazon Nut...

the first thing, no guppies and goldfish can't mix,

gold fish in general need a pond being how a .12 cent feeder fish can grow to 2 feet. so goldfish are not house pets.

now with livebearers, unless u are ready to breed them, haveing around 3-5 tanks ready for the babies, you should only get males, i have not had any case where the males fight over females.

a female livebearer can easily over stock a tank by herself, so dont buy pairs, or 5 females unless u have alot of tanks ready.

1 male for 3 females in Livebearers is fine & be sure that you're going to have alot of fry, as most of them give birth every month.


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if you want ot breed and multiply the amount of guppies or mollies you have. Read this: add plants or rocks for hiding space for the fry to swim away from likely predators. Don't mix the goldfish with them. Goldfish will eat the young and the adult mollies with peck on the Goldfish. It's better to have 1:2 male:female ratio. So that you can have more fry. No store will buy your fry, you can give them away or sell them very cheap to friends or to other kids that likes them. In a 30 gallon tank, an estimate of 20 fishes is alright. snails are good, they are indicators that you have good water quality. You can mix them with neon tetras or other tetras of the same size.

ROOM TEMPERATURE IS BEST. your catfish? is it a plecostumus? It won't hurt, but remove it!! it grows upto 1 foot in size!!! too big!!!

welcome to fishprofiles and i agree conpletly with DafishMan except for the part that he siad about 1 gallon per fish i think that a fish should have at least 2-3 gallons to a fish but thats just me
and agien welcome to fishprofiles