what is too many fish

[tennhound]

I have had my tanks since june. well planted and has 9 zebra. 9 long fin leopard, 9 long fin blue danios, 4 corys, 1 pictus cat, 1 pleco. If i do my 20% water changes every 2 to 3 weeks. can i add more fish. I want to add 9 pearl danios. Will this hurt my tank

 

[PlatyLady]

that would depend on the size of your tank. How big are we talking about?

 

[ferret]

You might want to let us know how big the tank is. What you list is wwwwaaayy too much if its like a 10 gallon, but might be fine in say a 40 gallon.

 

[tkos]

The pleco you have will probably reach up to 2 feet in legnth, even though it is tiny right now. So size of tank is super important. Anything less than a 55 gallon tank will be overstocked with that monster.

When stocking a tank always try to find the adult size of the fish. That way you won't overstock too early.

 

[ScottS]

Profile shows that it is a 29 gallon tank, which leads me to agree that a small species pleco is in order (trade your pleco for a bristlenose or school of otos) and that there's not really a large enough environment for an additional 9 danios, as tempting as it may be.

I'd love to see a pic of that aquarium though!

 

[Sati]

I personally like overstocked tanks as long as they're healthy. And that can be done! But in order to do that you need to keep up on water changes. I would do your water changes at least ever week, not every 2-3 weeks.

 

[ferret]

Overstocked can be very very different things. 1 pleco in a 10 gallon is overstocked. 20 danios in a 10 gallon is overstocked.

The fish he listed are incredibly overstocked with any tank less than 40 gallons.

All my tanks are overstocked according to the inch rule, so maybe I'm not the best one to speak ;P

 

[Allivymar]

Yeah, if thats a 29g you are already overstocked and there isn't really room to add more fish safely. Scotts point about the plec is a strong one; common plecs get to be about 2 feet long, do NOT grow to the size of the tank and produce HUGE amounts of waste. Even now, weekly water changes and gravel vacs would be recommended. Whats your water parameters?

 

[tennhound]

The tank is a 29 gallon. Don't know how big the pleco gets. Plan on getting a bigger tank after the first of the year. If it gets to big I will move it to the bigger tank. All my fish seem to be doing fine. Only problem I had was when I put the catfish in. It ate my 2 neons.

 

[Allivymar]

LOL yeah, catfish will do that.

Again, if its a common pleco, it will get HUGE. I have one; didn't know when I bought an "algae eater" what is was or what to expect (this was before I got a clue). He was about 1.5 inches long and I named him "the lil guy". 4 months later he was 3.5 inches long and I realised I was going to have a problem. Finally started doing research and discovered how big they get as adults. I've had him a year now, and he's 8 inches long and still growing. He now lives in a 55g; once he reaches a foot long I'll have to find him a new home as I cannot fit a larger tank here.

And I'm curious about your water parameters, especially nitrates. Since you have a high bioload, and water change infrequently, I'm guessing you have pretty high nitrates. That also can be an issue when adding new fish. Your guys have become acclimated to high levels of waste in the tank. It may kill the new guys tho who aren't used to it. Do you test regularly?

 

[saaebn]

tennhound

I know it can be so hard trying to not only figure out the inch of fish per gallon. Just tonight I went out to get an algea eater for my 75 gal and something cool for my sons 10 gal. It is so hard for him to understand that although some fish at the store look so tiny that they will grow much bigger. Plus, when you look at the LFS near me they have about 10 inches of fish per gallon which in a way gives you a false sense of what is really natural and will work space wise. I would also make sure ( in my extremely amaturish opinion) that you have really good filtration because that has made a big difference in how healty my tanks are.

Good luck.

Stacie

 

[tennhound]

I have a back filter and an under ground filter. Don't know the tank paramiters never check. Never thought to check because fish have been doing fine. Until 2 weeks ago there was only 3 of each danios, 4 corys, 1 pleco and 1 cat in the tank. I will have to check with Bernie and see what kind of pleco I have because I got it from him. It was in a tank marked small pleco.

 

[dralarms]

Bernie's got a cool looking setup dosen't he? Today was my first trip. Tomorrow may be my second. Everything looks good on my sw setup so I may be able to get some fish tomorrow.

 

[chriznat20@msn.]

Let me just say this, i have a 55 gallon. And in this 55 gallon FW tank ive had for a year, there are : 1 - 8" pleco, 1 - loach of some type, 2 -blue gouramis, 1 - tiger barb, 9 - rainbow tetras YES i said 9!, 5 - danios, 1 - striped rafael, 1 - orange gourami, 1 - neon tetra, 1 - "silver dollar" fish, 2 - paradise fish, 3 snails.
That is a total of about 30 fish and in my own opinion, its overstocked but my parameters are always perfect and i do a 30-40% water change every 2 weeks.
You have to keep it up and as long as you do so, you'll be fine. But you have to be conscientus about it.. I run two strong power filters and I have a bubbler in the rocks to keep the water in good motion and aerated.

 

[tennhound]

I agree Bernie's is wonderful. I love his place. you can find almost anything there. If you cann't find it there I'm sure he would try to help you find what you need. And I plan on doing my water changes quite often. Thanks for the advice.