Overstocked tanks???

[Caitie]

Hey there! Im new to this forum thing, and new to the fish thing I guess... I have learned so much just from experience about which fish are truly compatible with which but as a result Im worried I've overstocked one of my tanks. I have mixed and matched and downgraded fish to smaller tanks to save them from bigger bullys. I just want the opinion of people with more experience. I have 3 tanks right now ... a 20 gallon, a 15 gallon and a 5.5 gallon. I regularly take the water in to get tested for ammonia and nitrates at Petland and have just in the last little while been getting the results Ive been looking for. Planning on getting a 65 gallon shortly for cichlids and want to absorb as much knowledge as possible. Thanks!

20 (standard) :
Pearl gourami
Gold gourami
Opaline gourami
Clown loach
3 Mollys
2 Angel fish
Blue Ram Dwarf Cichlid
2 Swordtails
(all smaller babies)

15(tall):
2 Platys
4 Skirted tetras
2 Balloon mollys
5 guppys
Baby Honey Gourami
Leopard Gourami
* And 2 dwarf Gouramis that were moved from the 20 when a 3rd dwarf was killed by the Opaline.

5.5 (standard):
8 Guppys
3 Neon tetras

 

[philipraposo198]

yes all your tanked are overstocked. what are your parameters? .

 

[venymae]

I'm glad that you are aware of your overstocking issue, because...whew! You are way overstocked and have some major compatibility issues! Any way you could trade some in/take them back? I am not the best on stocking, but I'll give it a go, and hopefully others will chime in and help too!

Platy, molly, guppy, and swordtails all get along together. However Mollys and swords have higher activity levels and I think minimum would need to be kept in the 20 gallon.

Both your neon tetras and white skirt tetras are peaceful schooling fish. To keep them from being constantly stressed they should be kept in groups of 6 per species minimum. However, don't add any until you get a bigger tank or return some fish.

Opaline gourami's become territorial toward other male gourami's - as do pearl, golden, and leopard gouramis. They fight each other. They also get big (potentially 5-6inches) I wouldn't recommend them in any of the tanks you have now.

Angel fish can become territorial and bully other fish, however this doesn't always happen. They also get big and I wouldn't recommend 2 by themselves in a 20 gallon. It's too small.

Clown loaches can get up to 12 inches long (according to the internet) but usually stay around 5-8 inches. Still a big fish. Are you prepared to handle that big of a fish? They are however, peaceful, so as long as you give them enough room, they are a good community fish.

I don't know much about chiclids, but before you think about setting up another tank, I think you need to deal with the overpopulation problems you have in all of your current tanks. They are all very overstocked IMO.

A good starting point would to be to plug your stock into Aqadvisor.com and let it help you. It's a great beginners stocking guide. It takes lots of things into consideration including filter, tank size, fish size, fish temperament, and fish water requirements.

Then as you learn more, you can fine tune your tanks yourself. Hope this helps and good luck, we all made mistakes like this at one time, so don't beat yourself up, and just keep learning! Your fish will thank you

 

[treemanone2003]

Seriously? I am asking the guy about his water conditions and your trolling me? I am so tired of people like you on this forum to be perfectly honest. You clearly not here to help, so get lost.

And we all know it leads to the "is your tank cycled" question and from there it goes to "you need ATM colony. 6 days and your tank is perfect". Fwiw, whatever you've read in six months, hardly compares to my 20+ years of aquatics.

 

[bribo12]

Hey there! Im new to this forum thing, and new to the fish thing I guess... I have learned so much just from experience about which fish are truly compatible with which but as a result Im worried I've overstocked one of my tanks. I have mixed and matched and downgraded fish to smaller tanks to save them from bigger bullys. I just want the opinion of people with more experience. I have 3 tanks right now ... a 20 gallon, a 15 gallon and a 5.5 gallon. I regularly take the water in to get tested for ammonia and nitrates at Petland and have just in the last little while been getting the results Ive been looking for. Planning on getting a 65 gallon shortly for cichlids and want to absorb as much knowledge as possible. Thanks!

20 (standard) :
Pearl gourami
Gold gourami
Opaline gourami
Clown loach
3 Mollys
2 Angel fish
Blue Ram Dwarf Cichlid
2 Swordtails
(all smaller babies)

15(tall):
2 Platys
4 Skirted tetras
2 Balloon mollys
5 guppys
Baby Honey Gourami
Leopard Gourami
* And 2 dwarf Gouramis that were moved from the 20 when a 3rd dwarf was killed by the Opaline.

5.5 (standard):
8 Guppys
3 Neon tetras

Well out of the 20 gallon I'd rehome the angels, loach, ram and 2 gouramis. The 15 is ok other than the 4 gouramis. Possibly rehome the leopard and keep all the smaller ones. Oh you should get 2 more black skirts as well. In the 5.5, the neons need to go as well as a couple guppies.

 

[melosu58]

All off topic posts were removed. Please help the OP out on their topic.

 

[gilpi]

Hey there! Im new to this forum thing, and new to the fish thing I guess... I have learned so much just from experience about which fish are truly compatible with which but as a result Im worried I've overstocked one of my tanks. I have mixed and matched and downgraded fish to smaller tanks to save them from bigger bullys. I just want the opinion of people with more experience. I have 3 tanks right now ... a 20 gallon, a 15 gallon and a 5.5 gallon. I regularly take the water in to get tested for ammonia and nitrates at Petland and have just in the last little while been getting the results Ive been looking for. Planning on getting a 65 gallon shortly for cichlids and want to absorb as much knowledge as possible. Thanks!

20 (standard) :
Pearl gourami
Gold gourami
Opaline gourami
Clown loach
3 Mollys
2 Angel fish
Blue Ram Dwarf Cichlid
2 Swordtails
(all smaller babies)

15(tall):
2 Platys
4 Skirted tetras
2 Balloon mollys
5 guppys
Baby Honey Gourami
Leopard Gourami
* And 2 dwarf Gouramis that were moved from the 20 when a 3rd dwarf was killed by the Opaline.

5.5 (standard):
8 Guppys
3 Neon tetras

The 20 gallon is really crowded. You mentioned they are smaller babies? Even if that's the case, it's still over crowded. Angels can grow pretty big and they can live nicely with the Ram, perhaps even two Rams in a bigger tank.

 

[T1KARMANN]

Over stocking isn't a problem as long as your water is good

 

[venymae]

Over stocking isn't a problem as long as your water is good

I disagree. I think it depends on the temperament of the fish. I mean, even if you had clean air, clean food, and a smell free toilet, you still wouldn't want to live in a crowded room with no privacy. Certain fish need room to move, swim live, mentally de-stress. Water quality is not the only issue to consider with overstocking.

 

[T1KARMANN]

Every single mbana or African ciclid tank I have seen would be what the average community fish keeper would call over stocked

I take it you must be a average fish keeper with no open mind on doing thugs different

I take it you use the 1" of fish per gal method

 

[treemanone2003]

IMO, you need to address the grown out adult size. Also, you need to address if they're juvies, how committed are you to a better than good WC schedule to grow them out. That is, of course, if you're seriously committed to your fish or if you think it just looks nice. It's been my experience that you need to recognize overall health first. If that's not a concern then you've got the wrong hobby. The op is correct in his questions and it's up to us to help his issues.

 

[Caitie]

Ok everyone!!! I appreciate all the feedback and have since switched some things up ... still have more modifying to do but its a work in progress. Yes I am a serious fish owner and truly do have the welfare of my fish as a top priority,,, As much as I agree I definitely should have googled and found out some more info first, I also do just have to say I have been taking the guidance and advice of my guys at the local Petland who have been completely aware of my tank sizes the whole time and did not let on that I was way over capacity. Obviously making a sale is probably more of a priority ... anyways I have since rehomed some Gouramis and some guppies, also lost some guppies which I will make a new post about. I also lost a swordtail. With my 20 I still need to do some rearranging I understand but for the most part I would like to watch these babies grow for a while as everyone seems pretty comfortable in there and I haven't had any fatalities in so long. I think instead of a cichlid tank I will turn my new 65 gallon into another community tank till I have more experience and so I don't have to ditch my guys. I really do love this hobby and since reading these responses have been racking my brain and losing sleep on how to fix what Ive created. How long am I looking at before these guys get too uncomfortable and full grown??

 

[MonkeyMonk86]

Caitie, I can't answer your question as such, but the longevity list in this article might help you guesstimate aprox grow out rate:
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/beginnerinfo/a/lifespan.htm