Please help! How many's too many / what to do?

[B.Ollie]

We started out innocently enough, with a 20 gallon tank and Penguin 150. We 'conditioned' the water and put in just 3 neon tetras because we were dedicated to doing things right and stocking slowly. Now, 2 /12 weeks later, we have:

- 5 neon tetras
- 3 hatchetfish:
- 1 black molly:
- 1 albino cory

So we're over by 4.5 inches in our 20 gallon tank and apparently the hatchet fish need a school of 6 and the cory's need at least 3 (?)

Yes, we've made some mistakes along the way, but I want to do right by our fish and give them a good home. My question is, should we find another home for the cory since we don't have room for two more? And/or should we give up on having hatchetfish since we can't fit a school of six and still keep the molly and the tetras? Thoughts / ideas / advice??

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

i dont undestand? how do you have too many fish? your tank isnt over stocked

 

[B.Ollie]

Explanation

Well, I was basing my belief that we were overstocked on the inch rules that they told us about at the pet store. The salesperson said tetras take up 2" ea so with 5 that's 10", then the hatchetfish are 3" ea so with 3 that's 9", finally the black molly is 3" and the cory cat is 2" for a grand total of 24" - in a 20 gallon tank that puts us over by 4" which might not be such a big deal but apparently we still need 2 more cory's and 2 or 3 more hatchetfish for them to school properly and if we're already over we definitely can't fit that...

Other's have said that the inch rule is silly and it depends on the bioload of each fish, so I'm trying to determine if we have enough room for the bioloads of these fish if we bring the cory's and hatchetfish up to schooling levels, or if we should re-home one or the other.

Does that make sense?

 

[roydooms]

2 of my tanks are a little overstocked. IMO, it all comes down to maintaining the tank(PWCs). I keep my nitrates below 40ppm(close to 10ppm).

Try this website to see if your tank is overstocked.

Aquabid.com/

 

[B.Ollie]

Thanks - I'll check that site out.

 

[roydooms]

I gave you the wrong site... Here is the right one...

Aqadvisor.com

 

[B.Ollie]

I'm not sure that's the right one, either - it's a list of plants.

 

[roydooms]

I bought some of my plants from that site.

 

[B.Ollie]

You seem to be spamming by posting links that have nothing to do with finding out whether a tank if overstocked or not.

 

[The Editor]

@ B. Ollie That was the link in roydooms sig you clicked first time that took you to the plant catalogue... roydooms pointed you towards AqAdvisor.

AqAdvisor is a great little tool.. It uses pretty large safety margins (IE only assumes the filter you select is capable of filtering 65% of what the manufacturers say) and makes assumptions.. However it's a good rule of thumb.

If it says you're under 100% stocked you should be absolutely fine, if you're a little over (+10%) then it's probably OK but be prepared to do more maintenance on the tank... In short the more fish you have the more work you have to do to keep them happy and healthy...

 

[B.Ollie]

Thanks. I have trouble getting AqAdvisor to accept our specs - we have a Penguin 150 water pump and a 20 gal tank but if I input the Penguin 150 AqAdvisor auto populates the tank size as 30 gal and won't let me change it... Am I missing something?

 

[roydooms]

You seem to be spamming by posting links that have nothing to do with finding out whether a tank if overstocked or not.

Spamming? Didn't I say that I mistakenly gave you the wrong site and then gave you the right one?

 

[Termitehunter]

Well, I was basing my belief that we were overstocked on the inch rules that they told us about at the pet store. The salesperson said tetras take up 2" ea so with 5 that's 10", then the hatchetfish are 3" ea so with 3 that's 9", finally the black molly is 3" and the cory cat is 2" for a grand total of 24" - in a 20 gallon tank that puts us over by 4" which might not be such a big deal but apparently we still need 2 more cory's and 2 or 3 more hatchetfish for them to school properly and if we're already over we definitely can't fit that...

Other's have said that the inch rule is silly and it depends on the bio load of each fish, so I'm trying to determine if we have enough room for the bioloads of these fish if we bring the cory's and hatchetfish up to schooling levels, or if we should re-home one or the other.

Does that make sense?

What your saying does make sense. But throw the inch rule out the window for bio load. It doesn't apply in most situations. It really depends on the fish.

Here is a perfect example. 5 Honey gouramis, 8 neon tetras. 2 Coreys (LG) 5 mystery snails and a African dwarf frog all in a 10 gallon with low light plants. A very peaceful community tank. I do a 25% water change ever 12 to 14 days and my Nitrates never get over 20. Mater of fact they usually only get to 10 when I do my water changes. I have no nitrites or ammonia. All I'm running on it is a Tetra mini with air stones in the output section of the filter. Just stock slow, keep oxygen up and don't over feed.

 

[B.Ollie]

I must just be confused, don't understand why you're sending a link to the list of plants?

 

[The Editor]

If you know your tank and filter specs you can just chose the "User Defined" option for both and set the values as you know them. My tank isn't on the drop down menu so I have to custom define it.

I'm not sure how smart the tool is, whether it calculated the volume of the HxWxD box you define, or calculates the expected volume of water.. IE total tank volume minus volume of gravel/ornaments/equipment/glass thickness...

It tells me my tank should be 29L, however the clearseal info sheet that came with it states it at 27L, and when I do a large water change I find 12L has taken it down to half way so for the sake of dosing etc I assume I have 25L of water in the tank...

I must just be confused, don't understand why you're sending a link to the list of plants?

He's not sending the link to you as a reply.

The link is in his personal signature, you can tell by the line that separates the body of his text from the link...

 

[roydooms]

I must just be confused, don't understand why you're sending a link to the list of plants?

I got confused and gave you aquabid.com instead of aqadvisor.com
That's why I corrected it. Get it?

 

[EndlersEatGuppies]

I must just be confused, don't understand why you're sending a link to the list of plants?

He gave u the wrong site the first time! The second link he gave u is the link he wanted to give u the first time.

 

[DragonFish71]

I must just be confused, don't understand why you're sending a link to the list of plants?

He gave you the link to aquabid by mistake then gave you a new one to aquadvisor.

AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor


He wasn't spamming you by the way. He merely made a mistake by giving you the wrong link.

 

[B.Ollie]

I see - sorry

 

[jetajockey]

Hi. Before I go into stocking details, is your tank cycled? If not, then I suggest not putting anything else in it until it does, and keeping up with frequent water changes to avoid having the fish suffer from toxin poison.

If your tank is cycled, then yes you have a little bit of room to work with. The inch/gallon rule really is more of a vague guideline than anything. Also, the cory really needs to be in a group, so if I was to add anything I would add 2 or 3 more of the same type cory.

Is it a 20g High tank or a 20 Long tank? The 20L affords more stocking space because it has more horizontal length.