Overstocked?

[foxyhasswag]

Is my 15g overstocked its got one moonlight gourami one female sword and 1 sailfin molly

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[GingerMinusSoul]

I think you're okay. The rule I've always stuck to is one inch of fish per gallon!

 

[foxyhasswag]

Do I have room for a pearl gourami

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[GingerMinusSoul]

Do I have room for a pearl gourami

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I wouldn't add another fish because the gourami and the sailfin can get as big as 5 inches each.

 

[Coursair]

Is my 15g overstocked its got one moonlight gourami one female sword and 1 sailfin molly

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Well your mature fish will have almost no swimming room. I'd say get smaller fish and start over.

Sailfin Mollies should have 30g or more. Same for the Gourami IMHO


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[Spencer1044]

IMO small fish go well with small tanks. Big fish need to be in bigger tanks. And I recommend 1 in of fish per gallon if you change the water monthly. If you change the water every 2 weeks i would say you could have 1 1/4 in of fish per gallon maybe 1 1/2 but dont over due it.

 

[Luananeko]

To those quoting the 1" of fish per gallon "rule"... This rule does not work! Please do not follow it or recommend it to others. That is how you end up with people sticking Oscars in 10 gallon tanks. A better guide (still not perfect, but gets you into a MUCH better ballpark from which you can research and use experience to finalize your plan) is aqadvisor.com's stocking calculator.

As far as water changes go, most folks here recommend 25%-50% weekly or every other week. Once a month is quite a long time to go between changes on a normally stocked tank, planted or no.

OP - Moonlight gourami need 20g absolute minimum (30g ideally) due to their adult size of 6", and swords need 30 gallon due to their active and territorial nature. Sailfin mollies get up to 6.5" at their adult size and are fairly active as well, requiring at least a 30 gallon tank. If you intend to keep these fish through adulthood you need to invest in a 30 gallon tank within the next few months.

If you don't intend to upgrade, the fish should be rehomed and the tank restocked with more suitable species. I highly recommend doing a bit of research prior to restocking so you can stock a little more wisely. Aqadvisor.com is a good sanity check on your stocking plan, but you'll need to do further research to double check.

 

[Pandicorn]

To those quoting the 1" of fish per gallon "rule"... This rule does not work! Please do not follow it or recommend it to others. That is how you end up with people sticking Oscars in 10 gallon tanks. A better guide (still not perfect, but gets you into a MUCH better ballpark from which you can research and use experience to finalize your plan) is aqadvisor.com's stocking calculator.

As far as water changes go, most folks here recommend 25%-50% weekly or every other week. Once a month is quite a long time to go between changes on a normally stocked tank, planted or no.

OP - Moonlight gourami need 20g absolute minimum (30g ideally) due to their adult size of 6", and swords need 30 gallon due to their active and territorial nature. Sailfin mollies get up to 6.5" at their adult size and are fairly active as well, requiring at least a 30 gallon tank. If you intend to keep these fish through adulthood you need to invest in a 30 gallon tank within the next few months.

If you don't intend to upgrade, the fish should be rehomed and the tank restocked with more suitable species. I highly recommend doing a bit of research prior to restocking so you can stock a little more wisely. Aqadvisor.com is a good sanity check on your stocking plan, but you'll need to do further research to double check.

We meet again luananeko! I totally agree! Too many people jump into this hobby without any knowledge at all, and then get frustrated when told to start over! You cannot put a common goldfish in a 2 gallon tank! I like aqadvisor, I would stay around the 110% for filter and 90% for aquarium space to give yourself some slack


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[threnjen]

We don't really use the 1" per fish rule around here. It's really quite inaccurate. Try aqadvisor as mentioned by others.

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

 

[CCXGT]

If you're committed to your maintenance you can't be overstocked.

Don't let anything get out of hand and nothing will go wrong.

 

[azmodan]

I agree with the others in that none of those fish are very appropriate for a 15g. Your best bet would be to return/rehome them and start all over with some fish that are more for appropriately sized for your tank. You could look in honey and dwarf gouramis, guppies, platies, tetras, rasboras, nano fish, dwarf shrimp, and countless other fish that would thrive in that size tank.

 

[Spencer1044]

Or get a bigger tank

 

[Pandicorn]

If you're committed to your maintenance you can't be overstocked.

Don't let anything get out of hand and nothing will go wrong.

Yes, you can. This may sound crazy, but I kid you not, I have seen a 1' common Pleco in a 3 gallon tall container.


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[CCXGT]

Yes, you can. This may sound crazy, but I kid you not, I have seen a 1' common Pleco in a 3 gallon tall container.


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I know, my uncle has been keeping a hugely overstocked tank for 30 years now.

 

[Pandicorn]

I know, my uncle has been keeping a hugely overstocked tank for 30 years now.

How big is it, what's it got? You can overstock with the size of the fish and the tank, but the biological load... As long as you have swimming space and are willing to buy like 3 filters, and do 50% WC every other day... Sure...


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[CCXGT]

How big is it, what's it got? You can overstock with the size of the fish and the tank, but the biological load... As long as you have swimming space and are willing to buy like 3 filters, and do 50% WC every other day... Sure...


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It's a 150G tall with just about every freshwater fish imaginable in it (including a group of Cichlids), I have no clue how everything's just worked out for him so smoothly.

I haven't seen it for a couple of years now but I'll need to get over there and take a pic or two.

 

[sabrinarichard]

To those quoting the 1" of fish per gallon "rule"... This rule does not work! Please do not follow it or recommend it to others. That is how you end up with people sticking Oscars in 10 gallon tanks. A better guide (still not perfect, but gets you into a MUCH better ballpark from which you can research and use experience to finalize your plan) is aqadvisor.com's stocking calculator.

As far as water changes go, most folks here recommend 25%-50% weekly or every other week. Once a month is quite a long time to go between changes on a normally stocked tank, planted or no.

OP - Moonlight gourami need 20g absolute minimum (30g ideally) due to their adult size of 6", and swords need 30 gallon due to their active and territorial nature. Sailfin mollies get up to 6.5" at their adult size and are fairly active as well, requiring at least a 30 gallon tank. If you intend to keep these fish through adulthood you need to invest in a 30 gallon tank within the next few months.

If you don't intend to upgrade, the fish should be rehomed and the tank restocked with more suitable species. I highly recommend doing a bit of research prior to restocking so you can stock a little more wisely. Aqadvisor.com is a good sanity check on your stocking plan, but you'll need to do further research to double check.

Amen to that!

 

[Luananeko]

How big is it, what's it got? You can overstock with the size of the fish and the tank, but the biological load... As long as you have swimming space and are willing to buy like 3 filters, and do 50% WC every other day... Sure...


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Agree completely here... Bioload is the only thing you can manage to compensate for in overstocking. Fish being too large for the tank size and not having proper swimming room or too many territorial fish in a cramped space isn't something maintenance and filtration alone can overcome.

 

[CCXGT]

Well apparently I see 'overstocked' as meaning something else..

 

[threnjen]

Well your mature fish will have almost no swimming room. I'd say get smaller fish and start over.

Definitely talking about size in this thread.

I agree that water changes could be done 3 times a day on an "overstocked" tank if we're just talking about bio load. I am way more concerned with physical space.