fish compatiblity

Question
Thanks so much for your help, I have lost my angels thou, everytime I introduce new fish one or two of the resident ones die... why is this? I float all bags for a miniute or two depending on how long they've been in the bag(the water gets pretty cold after just a half hour), then release them along with the bags water, I'd had my two angels for two weeks with no problems I fidn it very odd for them to die all of a sudden. Also I was wondering how do you sex mollies? I now that with guppies the amels are brighter and smaller and the males have that long thin fin thing under there belly, three of my mollies have htat fin thing two don't does this mena 3 males and 2 females? can different speices/colors of mollies crossbreed?



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Followup To
Question -
Hi, I have a ten gallon tank with 7 guppies only two are really big(those are about 1 1/2 inches with huge tails the others look so small comparied), 5 mollies & two  1 inch angels, I and planning to set up a 33 gallon tank in the future and was wondering what other types of fish I could mix with mine? also what type of "critters" can be mixed with these? I want to get snails, dime sized dwarf frogs and algie eaters but am unsure if they'll be ok together, also for other fish I was thinknig about:

Sailfin mollies

blue/yellow gormatis

Neon teteras

Blue skirt teteras

Sword tails... all colors

and maybe some red eye teteras
Answer -
Hello,

You have quite a full 10 gallon!  I would upgrade to the 33 gal. as soon as you can.  Make sure you cycle it properly, though, allowing at least two weeks with the starter fish in there before you add your fish.

Almost any of the fish you listed would be compatible with what you have now.  I would skip the neon tetras if you're planning to keep your angels because as they age they won't care what they eat as long as it fits in their mouth.  And neons will easily fit inside an angel's mouth.

If you get mollies or swords, make sure you have one male to two or three females.  You want to keep them in this type of group (called a harem) to avoid territorial disputes.  If you get gouramis, make sure you only have one male.  You can have several females with him, or you can just have several females, but only one male per tank, again, to avoid territory spats.  All tetras, though, you want to keep in groups of at least 5.  I would buy five red eyes to cycle your tank with.  They're really hardy and can survive the high nitrates and ammonia that come with starting up a new tank -- toxins that would kill other fish.

Snails would be fine, so would a chinese algae eater or several otocinclus.  Unless you can find a dwarf plecostomus like a candystripe pleco, I wouldn't go with them (the common plecostomus) because they'll get a bit too big for your tank, even at 33 gallons.  I might also hold off on the african dwarf frogs, simply because of the angels.  You never know how they're going to react.  What I would suggest, though, is a small school (five or six) of corys (corydoras catfish).  They're real cute and eat anything that falls to the bottom.  Great scavengers.

I hope this helps, please let me know if there's anything else I can do for you!

-Lindsay

Answer
Hello again,

First of all, when adding fish to a new tank, it's best never to add the water they came with.  I know it sounds like it would be the logical thing to do, but adding someone else's water to your tank -- especially if it came from a pet store -- is like adding someone else's blood to your bloodstream.  You never know what will happen or what other people's tanks have hiding in their water.  So when adding new fish, you want to let the bag float for about 15-20 minutes, then pour out about 80% of the water.  Keep the fish and the remaining water in the bag, but fill the bag halfway with water from your tank.  Let it sit floating for another 10 minutes, then release everything.  This is the quick way to do it, but I've never had any problems this way.

And you're right, mollies are sexed the same way as guppies, with the anal fin.  The long stick-like fin is called the gonopodium -- males have it, females don't.  Also, whereas male guppies are brighter and smaller than females, the same does not apply to mollies.  The males get just as big as the females, and sometimes have a "sailfin": a really long, tall dorsal (top) fin.  And in the case of lyretail mollies, the points on the tail are extended on males.  As for different breeds of mollies, they will interbreed and you'll get some crazy mixes.  Your mollies may actually breed with your guppies (I've had it happen twice in 14 years), producing one or two "moluppies."

Thanks for responding, feel free to ask any more questions you have!

-Lindsay