Too many fish too soon?

[newfishhobbyist]

I just want to get everyone's advice/suggestions. I have a 55 gallon aquarium and just now have an established tank - I had 6 red glass barbs and 6 glo-fish but the barbs started getting too aggressive (I'm a newbie and the LFS employee told me they were peaceful community fish!) and I lost 3 glo-fish so I took them back to the LFS. Now I have 3 glo-fish and and added about 14 neon tetras. I just added the tetras on Saturday and added a flyer pleco. Is it too soon to add 6 juvenile silver dollars this weekend?

Thanks!

 

[redsoxfan692]

I would say wait. you need to let your tank adjust to the new bio-load before adding more fish. I probably wouldn't have added 14 tetras as once; so keep a good eye on your water parameters and do water changes as necessary. Keep in mind that plecos tend to have high bio-loads.

 

[richiestang_78]

I agree, you need to let your tank age a while before you start sticking alot of fish in there, especially such sensitive fish as Neons. People have terrible luck with Neons just dying for no reason, and they seem to really only flourish in very established and usually planted tanks.

 

[RWaltman]

one time I added forteen thousand tetras to a ten gallon aquarium in one day....they all lived to grow beyond 7" apiece....quite the crowded 10 gallon! (JUST KIDDING!) hahaha....man I'm so funny....ahhh...sigh....what where we talking about? oh yeah adding fish...most fish like to be in larger groups with each other, yet nobody will tell you to add more than three fish at a time! BAH! my suggestion? give the new guys atleast a week (atleast...I've added another fish quicker, but mind you just one) then start small...I usually do a partial water change before I add any fish to get the water super clean for em'...I'm not the norm on this site but I rarely have fish die, all mine are happy and healthy...depends on the fish, I swear a bichir can swim in sewage...hardest fish around....mines a tank (and may I add tetra eating machine)....but back on subject...for you...if this tank is just starting off...go slow...I know I know...I WANT FISH NOW!!! yes, we all get the BLAM! FILL THE TANK WITH FISH! urge....but with a tank fourteen tetra and a pleco won't make much of a dent in the bioload, start slow...its important to get that delicious bacteria growing that eat the nitrates...you might want to feed your pleco algae wafers for a bit, I doubt you have that much algae growth already...is this going to be a large community tank or do you have other plans for it?

 

[timwag2001]

i never add more than 4-5 fish at a time just to make sure that my bio filtration can keep up.

 

[kangster]

i added 12 baby neon tetras (less than 1 inch) to my 10 gallon tank
they all survived and are now about a little less than 2 inches each
i did 20-30% pwc every 2-3 days for like a month and a half
they are still living happily (4 months) with my other fish

 

[timwag2001]

yeah, i guess considering the size of neons it's not really too bad of an increase.