Need help 35 to 20 gallon with 20ish fish

[tpebic]

First time posting after months of having the iPhone app, great community with lots of advice. But I am stuck.

I have 35 galling tank with this
1 Rummy Nose Tetra,
2 Bala Sharks,
2 Black Angel Fish,
2 Pearl Gourami,
6 Adult Mollies
2 Yo yo Loaches,
I Pleco,
2 Clown Loaches,
5 Serpae Tetra,

Now I want to empty my tank so I can create a beautiful ciclid tank.

But I need to to know the minimum size to put the current owners into, I was thinking of a 20 gallon tank. With just a few plants and pebbles for based.

What do you all think, the community is very happy and rarely cause any trouble between each other, mostly it's just the loaches getting chased around for bugging the angels. I also have minimalist tank set up with just plants and pebbles.

Thanks to who ever helps all advice is welcome.

 

[jetajockey]

Hi and welcome. That tank is overstocked for even 35 gallons. If anything that stocking plan could use a much larger tank, 125g+ would be a good start. Ideally though I'd move out the incompatible fish that make the tank size requirement so high, like the bala sharks and clown loaches (both get very large) as well as the pleco if its a common one.

If you took those 3 species off the list then I'd probably put the rest of the stock into a 40b/55g preferably.

 

[tpebic]

Hey jeta,

Thanks for the reply, I have been told that the tank is over stocked but then again I see tons of tanks with 40 plus fish in something like a 30 gallon, when you say it's over stocked do you mean to much waste or not enough space?

I have near perfect water readings, minus over feeding them the odd time, I do water changes once a month or less, I just top up, I rarely empty my filter, I have used wool from a pillow and have noticed a huge improvement in water readings and how clean my tank is. Don't worry I cleaned the wool before using it. I have not had a fish die or "disappear" since march. None of them look stressed or get sick. I have only had the tank since October.

Given that information, I like to push the limits I guess?

 

[jetajockey]

It's overstocked based on eventual adult size of the fish. Stocking plans are given with the long term in mind. Both bala sharks and clown loaches get up to about a foot long fully grown, and common plecos can get that and more.

 

[LyndaB]

+1

There is also a problem with the lack of proper school size. Rummynose tetras are a species that greatly benefit by having many of their own in a school. I wouldn't keep less than a dozen of these beauties. The loaches also should have larger schools.

You should just rehome these fish if you're not going to be offering them a proper environment. You would need a huge tank to do right by them.

I have near perfect water readings. I have only had the tank since October.

Given that information, I like to push the limits I guess?

Did you research any of these species prior to stocking this tank?

When you say "near perfect", what are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Numbers, please.

 

[fanaticbooks]

Decades ago a fish person told me that for every inch of fish, you need a gallon of water. Something to do with needing that for oxygen, food, life, etc.

Now whether that is a good rule of thumb I don't know since I am not real knowledgeable, but I have found it seems to work for me and when I mention my 28 gal with minimal stuff in it, fish people feel how I stock is pretty good ratio.

The bigger a fish grows the more room it needs. A lot of varieties of Pleco can grow to 3 feet. I just had to remove mine because it grew 10 inches in less than a year. Much bigger and I wouldn't have been able to remove from the small opening of my octagonal.

Going to a 20 gallon, you will have way too many to fit. I wish you well as you try to sort this out.
fanaticbooks

 

[LyndaB]

The inch per gallon rule is like an old wive's tale. It works fine for things like neon tetras, however, when you get to something like a 10 inch pleco, which of course you wouldn't put in a 10 gallon tank, the rule falls quite short.

You're best served to keep compatibility, bioload, available filtration, tank setup (decor and plants), species requirements (number in school) and much more in mind when choosing stock for your tank. There's a whole lot more to it than how big the fish is.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I agree that you will eventually have to rehome the fish at some point, for now I would look into rehoming them. Could you give us your specific water levels???

Decades ago a fish person told me that for every inch of fish, you need a gallon of water. Something to do with needing that for oxygen, food, life, etc.

The inch per gallon rule...is not very accurate. It can apply to fish that only grow an inch, like neon tetras, but for bigger fish it's a no. Just because giant danios can only get two or three inches long does not mean you can put five in a fifteen-inch long tank, they need much more swim room than that.

 

[fanaticbooks]

Thank you LyndaB and bruinsbro1997. I wasn't sure even then if that was real accurate.