Just lovely. Overstocked 75 Gallon… Help please?

[Nelo]

I acquired a 75 gallon with the following fish:
8 Black Skirted Tetra
1 Yellow Lab
1 Common Pleco

I have always wanted rope fish and also have been interested in bichirs, so I went to an upscale LFS nearby to pick up either 2 ropes or 1 rope and 1 bichir (was wanting senegal). The guy who was helping me is someone who I see pretty much every time I go in to make purchases and he has experience keeping ropes, bichirs, and arowanas. He told me I would be fine doing two ropes, then he convinced me it would be okay to go with a little baby endlicheri bichir (3-4 inches, really small). He ended up giving me an additional free baby bichir claiming "this one looks skinny so I'll give you two." I know how big these fish get and will probably get another tank just for them in the years to come, but I still didn't fully realize how overstocked the tank is now until today when I plugged everything into aqadvisor. I trusted the guy since he seemed to be experienced.

Soooo… now I have an overstocked tank that I truly wasn't meaning to do. I love my fish and want to hear what suggestions you all have. I really don't know what to do as I would be really sad giving any fish away. The filter I have is an API Filstar X3. Water parameters are fine (for now…) according to my API master test kit.

Thanks for reading!

 

[CoronaBlue]

I don't have ropes or bichir but I know they get big. Since that is what you wanted I'd say rehome the tetras. The lab should be ok and since you have 8 tetras that will free up some room.

 

[Nelo]

The lab is pretty big, and the previous owner said he picks on the tetras so I was thinking about rehoming him but I haven't noticed aggression but I'm sure he does since he's a lone African Cichlid. I wish I had another tank to put the tetras in. I'm also going to add another canister filter, I was thinking of the SunSun HW-304B

 

[CoronaBlue]

Sun Sun are decent filters. As for the lab I bet he can get nippy with the tetras. The 2 aren't usually kept together, but I'm sure some people have had success with Mbuna's and tetras. You can rehome the lab but that's not going to help the crowding problem especially when the bichirs and ropes get bigger.

 

[ktomminello]

I would rehome the lab and the pleco and keep 5 of the tetra. I just think it would look pretty, lol

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[ktomminello]

Just be prepared to thin out your ropes and bichirs as they grow to maintain balance

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[Nelo]

The ropes are at least 11" long already, one likes to hide in the decorations a lot and the other hangs out and swims around the tank a decent amount. Should I rehome the pleco and keep all of the tetras?

 

[ktomminello]

I'm kind of partial, but I would. Pleco are very cool in their own right, but they are some of the biggest tank busters going, plus it could potentially seriously injure one of your ropes if circumstances were right

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[RackinRocky]

Agreed ^^^ I'd also rehome the Pleco. Not only are they tank busters, but they poop so darn much!

 

[Luananeko]

Agreed with above suggestions. Rehome the lab and pleco, as they're the biggest contributors to your bioload atm. The tetras can stay for now, but you'll want to move them once the bichirs grow... They may become snacks otherwise. Bichir can have surprisingly large mouths when they want to.

Rope fish actually prefer company, so as long as you can manage the water parameters, keeping both the ropes and at least one of the bichir is recommended. I'm not familiar with the bichir species you have, so I can't say whether they'll be territorial with each other or not. Many bichir species won't tolerate conspecifics, but there are a couple species that do. Regardless, they should get along with the ropes though. There are several accounts of ropes treating bichir as "one of the gang" and piling in together in holes with each other (especially when the bichir grows up with the ropes).

 

[rockyofhockey]

I acquired a 75 gallon with the following fish:
8 Black Skirted Tetra
1 Yellow Lab
1 Common Pleco

I have always wanted rope fish and also have been interested in bichirs, so I went to an upscale LFS nearby to pick up either 2 ropes or 1 rope and 1 bichir (was wanting senegal). The guy who was helping me is someone who I see pretty much every time I go in to make purchases and he has experience keeping ropes, bichirs, and arowanas. He told me I would be fine doing two ropes, then he convinced me it would be okay to go with a little baby endlicheri bichir (3-4 inches, really small). He ended up giving me an additional free baby bichir claiming "this one looks skinny so I'll give you two." I know how big these fish get and will probably get another tank just for them in the years to come, but I still didn't fully realize how overstocked the tank is now until today when I plugged everything into aqadvisor. I trusted the guy since he seemed to be experienced.

Soooo… now I have an overstocked tank that I truly wasn't meaning to do. I love my fish and want to hear what suggestions you all have. I really don't know what to do as I would be really sad giving any fish away. The filter I have is an API Filstar X3. Water parameters are fine (for now…) according to my API master test kit.

Thanks for reading!

I hate to break it but endlicheri bichirs get BIG. Some of them even get up to 20 inches. I have a senegalus bichir in my 40 gallon bowfront but that's bare minimum. Senegalus get up to 8 inches usually at the max. I would've gotten 2 of those for your tank as there very docile