hatchet fish

Question
I wanted to start a 30 gallon fish tank in the next couple of weeks and was wondering if i could put hatchet fish with livebearer fish???
would say 5 hatchet fish
         6 molly or platy
         2/3 otto catfish
would this be too many fish or could i add some more and if so what would be the max capacity of each..

thank you for your time,
bob

Answer
Hi Bob,
Hatchets are cute little timid fish, so keep 6 of them with floating plants, and a well covered tank, as they do jump, or fly out!  The need acidic water.  PH should be around 6.5 to 6.8  To lower the PH put driftwood in your tank, or run your water on a little peat.  Never use chemicals.  Mollies would not make good tankmates with Hatchets as Mollies need alkaline water to survive.  A shcool of Cardinal Tetras, neons, lemon tetras, drawf gouramis, cory catfish kruhli loaches, white cloud tetras, and Rasbora Harlequin  do well with Hatchets.
Here is my choice, but the choice is yours:
6 Hatchets,
6 neons
2 drawf Gourami (females)
4 Khruli loaches
6 cory catfish
3 ottos
Never add fish all at once in your tank.  Add two, then wait 5 days, and check your water.  If your ammonia, and nitrites are zero, and nitrates safe, add two more, keep doing this until you reach the amount of fish you want in your tank.  When adding too many fish to your tank at once, the chemistry would change causing death to all your newly bought fish.  It takes time to build a pretty tank, but it is worth it in the long run.
Hope this helps.
Lynda