I just got another tank and my current 10g I'll probably use for tropicals,so I was wondering what would be good for a beginner? I was thinking maybe mollies but I really don't know much about tropicals so also any basic advice about tropicals would be appreciated. thanks

Platties are good for beginners, really hardy fish. If you really want mollies, they are also relatively easy to keep and I would definately recommend going for them. Just make sure the temperature stays constant and ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels in check as well as ph, you know, the normal fish stuff. If you don't already have the tropical set-up, I would suggest a submersible heater. They are a little more expensive but you don't need to worry about the water line during water changes or from evaporation.

Mollies, indeed. Those were my very first fish as well, and I went for the Dalmatian mollies, since my daughter was crazy for "101 Dalmatians" at the time. Within a few months I went from 5 fish to about 25, they multiply like bunnies!

Hi ,if youy do go with mollies,you do have to be careful of what else you place in the tank along with them.Mollies need a more brackish type of water,and alot of fish can't handle that salt level.

hi dory
guppys are a good introduction to tropicals if you want livebearers. if you dont want fry then how about some tetras, theres loads of different types to choose from.

mostly why I was thinking mollies is that I want a very colorful fish and preferably a livebearer.
Ranchugirl, what do you do with all the extra babies, just sell them to the petstore?
and do mollies really need saltwater, I though tropicals just needed warmer water than gf? How constant does the temp. need to be, I'm not really good at keeping temp. stable, as long as it's warm is that good? I guess I need a few pointers on tropicals!

Well, yeah, I gave most of them to the pet store. Unfortunately I killed all of them 6 years ago with an "unappropriate" water change, didn't know beans about fish keeping back then. That whole incident brought me to the pet store and our first goldfish!

I would stay away from mollies, they can get quite large (around 6") which is really too big for a 10 gallon tank. And they breed worse than rabbits. A female livebearer (swords, platies, guppies, mollies) can store sperm through several pregnancies, so even if you have only a female and no male, she can possibly have several batches of babies.

Platies would be more of a good size for a 10 gallon, or guppies, but again, you have the tons of babies issue. Check with your local stores, see if they will even take babies in. Many used to, some will give store credit, some will take them for free, but more and more refuse to take them due to health risks and the fact that they usually have a contract with a supplier that forbids them accepting livestock from anyone else.

You could always try a few neon tetras, they stay small but still get up to an inch, much larger than the tiny things you see in the store. White Clouds would be a good idea as well, or cherry barbs, they like cooler water.

Or you could do one betta, or a few sparkling gouramis or dwarf neon rainbowfish, some corydora catfish or kuhli loaches for the bottom...

Most mollies only get around 4" at most from what I've seen unless you get the larger sailfin variety which may well get to be 6".

I must say that I wouldn't recommend mollies either unless they will be the only type of fish in your acquarium. I have a 55G tropical tank set up and I started with 4 Pearl danios which are doing fine. I also have four 1" cory cats. Then I got 3 black lyretail mollies. 2 of them died about 2 weeks after I got them within several hours of each other. The other one is fine. Never figured out what happened to them. A few weeks later I got 4 more lyretail mollies. One of them did have babies...lots of them. All 4 of them eventually died over the course of about 3 weeks. I have one baby that survived and he is by himself and is about 1/2" now.

But mollies are not the hardy fish that people make them out to be. They definitely require more of a brackish water quality than most people believe. Because of this fact I would only choose mollies if they are the only fish going in the tank. Other than that I would recommend danios - all varieties- are very hardy fish. And I have some cardinal tetras now and they are doing well also. But I've had employees from more than one LFS tell me that tetras are fine once your tank is established but not at the beginning cause they are not that tough. Platies are also a good choice.

Good luck on your choice of fish. B)

are platies livebearers? How big do they grow, how long do they live, what temp. should their water be, ect.ect.? I geuss I really should get a book from the library on tropicals; I don't know much about them!!

Playtys are live breeders, they get up to 2 inches the biggest that they get is 2 1/2 inches, I don't know how long they live I have only had mine since April this year.

here's some more info. on platys
Assorted Palty

here's another link to different breeds of platys
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg....3&TopCatId=1103