Do I have too many fish?

[dapellegrini]

I think i am at the upper limit in my 72g tank and am trying to figure out what I should give away or move somewhere else to get a better balance. I recently upgrade my lighting, filtration and added CO2 injection and a lot of plants and now it is becoming obvious that i need to make some fish adjustments:

- 6x clown loaches (2 are about 6-7" and the other 4 are 3-4")
- 1x Pleco - maybe 11"
- 1x Rainbow Shark - 6-7"
- 1x Kuhli Loach - 4-5"
- 1x Opaline Gourami - Full grown around 4"
- 9-10x Neons - Full grown at about 1.5" each
- 3x Rummynose - Full grown at around 2" each
- 3x Cory Cats - 1 full grown 2-3" and 2 very small ones
- 1x SAE - the others died. This one is a baby
- 4x Oto Cats - 1" each
- 10x Ghost Shrimp

The obvious offenders are the large fish... I just don't have another large tank for them. The Pleco is the only one I think I could do without, though I might consider thinning my Clown population by a couple.

They are all in a 72g BowFront tank.

 

[labrakitty]

I don't think that is too many fish, I would only say the pleco is getting too big for the tank.

 

[hc8719]

i did the math, and your inch per gallon rule is slightly over, but considering, a good portion of the fish are neons, otos, cories, kuhli, and rums are small fish, your ok for now, the clown loaches and shark will eventually outgrow the tank, but by the time that happens (in a few years, i dunno on their growth rates) the pleco, shark, and loaches may very well be the only orginal fish in the tank still alive, if so, you'd be fine until the pleco got huge

which they do, fast

 

[triazole]

especially with the plants in there, i think you are in the clear regarding stocking. but think about getting rid of the pleco and adding some more SAEs. BTW, great clowns!

 

[Blazeherd2306]

You might be a little bit overstocked, but as long as your nitrates aren't high it doesn't really matter. The clowns should probably be given a bigger tank eventually (especially with 6 of them), but they are slow growers so you are okay for now.

BTW nice clowns! How long did it take for those two to get that big?

 

[hc8719]

i meant to say that in my first post, the clowns look very nice, especially in the third pic

 

[shayfish]

Before I even read any of the replies my only thought was "holy snot, look at those loaches". Niice.

 

[jbarr]

In addition, those clown loaches are radical.

I've never been to keen on loaches, thought they were neat I suppose, but now. Wow./

I'm a believer.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

The op's rainbow shark looks amazing too. I didn't know they got quite that big.

 

[hc8719]

the sharks get bigger than that i believe.

do the loaches ever eat the shrimp? i head they would

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Really? I thought rainbows maxed out at 6".

 

[hc8719]

they do, i cant really tell how big that one is in the pic

 

[Blizzard]

Before I even read any of the replies my only thought was "holy snot, look at those loaches". Niice.

Me too, lol!

 

[hc8719]

whats up with the creepy fish in your avatar blaze? didnt you have a clown loach or something?

 

[Blazeherd2306]

LOL, it's a pic of some deep ocean fish. You'll notice that I change my avatar pics alot.

My other avatar was a pic of flames.

 

[Blizzard]

LOL, it's a pic of some deep ocean fish. You'll notice that I change my avatar pics alot.

My other avatar was a pic of flames.

Ha, I'd like to see someone try to keep one of those....

-Blizzard

 

[dapellegrini]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I offloaded the Pleco to balance things out a bit and am thinking of picking up some more SAE's or Oto's... I have had really bad luck with the SAEs as the only local store that has them, has them very small and fragile...

I have probably had the big loaches for just over 10 years now. Were orginally 3, but I lost one a couple years back to sickness. Then I added 4 more about 1 year ago. They grew from tiny to around 3" since I got them.

And surprisingly nothing is eating my ghost shrimp. Still all there. Infact I have seen a couple carrying eggs on their underside...

I would also like to pick up some nerite snails, cherry shrimp, etc, but they seem to be very expensive online, and unavailable in Phoenix.

 

[hc8719]

how big is the clown? i know it looks close to 7" but he's kinda at an angle,

whats with the gravel, why is there 5" of it?

 

[dapellegrini]

Well, this guy is just under 7" when straightend out, but is not very found of my camera... The other large clown is the same size.

The gravel is a mix of Flourite and normal gravel. When I started planting a while back I would add a sack of Flourite every so often and that got a little out of control. On the sides it is upto 5" deep, in the 2-3" elsewhere. I sometimes use the excess gravel with larger rocks to create hills and valleys in the aquarium, thus the large amount.

I actually had another thread going on the topic of my deep substrate and concensous seemed to be that it should be ok, especially since I have MTS in there stirring it up. If I was to start over I would do 100% Eco Complete, but at this point that would be a HUGE project.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=87361

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Wow...10 years old. Most people's die in less than 5 years, mainly from ich or other diseases.

Mine are 3 years old and about 5" each.