Advice about bottom feeders

[livada]

Hi guys !

I am relatively new to keeping fish, i started like 5 or 6 months ago. I set up a nice medium size aquarium. I did some calculations on a website and this are the results it gave me
Width: 70cm (27.56")
Height: 40cm (15.75")
Depth: 35cm (13.78")
Your tank's volume is 98,000.0 cubic centimeters or 98.0 liters, which is approximately 25.9 U.S. gallons.

I have tons of fish because i really want to make a community tank which includes

2x Serpae Tetra
4x Mollies
4 Swordtails
6x Pepper corries
2x ancistrus fish
2x Black widow tetra
5x Neon tetra
3x Chinese algae eater
10x big guppies and around 20 small in breeder box
1x Bala shark

Should i get more bottom feeders to clean up the tank ( considering the number of fish i have ) or do i have enough ?

Thank you !

 

[BBradbury]

Hello liv...

You have too many fish planned for such a small tank. A 55 gallon or more is needed. Have you done your research to make sure all these fish will live together peacefully?

B

 

[livada]

Yea until now i never had any problem with my fishes, they all live peacefully. I had only few problems with the swordtails the two males sometimes fight each other. Other than that they get along just fine.

What worries me is that i read a lot of bad things about the algae eaters. Until now they have been keeping to themselves and they do marvelous work on the glass.

 

[Skai]

Bala sharks get HUGE if properly cared for. They really aren't fit for anything so small as your tank. They need over 120 US gal. Its one of those fish I wish stores would stop selling. Along with redtail catfish.

Do you currently own all these fish? If so I would seriously start looking for a new home for the bala shark or see if you can return it for store credit or something.

 

[livada]

Yea i own all the fishes on the list, i just bought the bala shark today. The shark is almost the same size as my swordtails. The pet shop where i bought it from told me that once he gets too big i can return it and replace it for a small one again. There are people who want to buy big fishes for their aquariums is what he told me. Plus the price that i paid for it is very cheap for such a marvelous fish. Less than 2 dollars

 

[Skai]

They're also schooling fish so they really should be kept in multiples... yet another reason I would not suggest keeping it.

Also, you mention the swordtails fight sometimes? You don't have the right ratios of females to males. Typical ratio is around 4:1 F:M.

Your other schooling fish are a little small in number too. I wouldn't venture into any other types of fish and instead work on maybe narrowing down your list to a few key species you like.

 

[livada]

Thanks for your reply Skai.

The problem is that i love all the fishes i have. The swordtails are 2 males 2 females. But they don't look the same, one is brownish orange with very thick black line, the other group is white and orange. The second one is a bit bigger than the other pair. I was told that they won't fight at all. In the first month they didn't but one of the male wanted both females i guess and started it. I had to separate him into my dad's tank so i will have a bit of peace in my tank.
In the near future i plan to branch them out into live bearers and eggs fish. My father also has a tank which is a similar size to mine but he has only guppies there. Thanks for the opinion guys i really appreciate it.

Also what about the bottom feeders, do i have enough of them or ?

EDIT: I posted a couple of pictures but they need to get accepted by a moderator.

 

[livada]

https://ibb.co/smNm7yd
https://ibb.co/txrHK2B
https://ibb.co/prvqpg7
https://ibb.co/4KCmjmz
https://ibb.co/jRG85X9
https://ibb.co/dtYDsw0

Here are some pictures of my tank, sorry for the lower resolution i had them downloaded from messenger chat.

 

[Skai]

Swordtails really don't care about colors they'll even crossbreed with platys if they're around. To them a swordtail is a swordtail and they'll definitely fight for females.

As I said, I wouldn't get anymore bottom feeders. You have a school of corys and that should be fine

 

[earhtmother]

The only fish in your tank that is in the right quantiy are your Cories which as a group of 6 are perfect
Live bearers especially larger ones like Swords & Mollies need a MINIMUM 3 females for every male, 4:1 is better.
Mollies are EXTREMELY particular about their water quality and while they will be fine for awhile in not perfect conditions WILL eventually just start dieing off-YES I do speak from experience.
Tetras are a schooling fish and should be in groups of 4 minimum.
Your algae eaters may be fine now but as they grow they WILL become aggressive bullies. The only people I have heard having even a little success with them in a community tank are Cichlid owners and then only because the cichlids are more aggressive than the algae eaters.
The Bala Shark may have been a GREAT deal but buying a fish knowing you are going to have to rehome it later is cruel and although some people may want large fish that doesn't mean that it will not linger around in a tank at the pet store for months before being resold.
We all fall in love with certain fish and want to own them, unfortunately what we WANT to do and what we SHOULD do are rarely the same thing.
I would give your guppies to your dad at least then you will have visiting priviledges.
The Bala needs to be returned ASAP, so do the Chinese Algae Eaters.
I would return the Mollies and get 4 more FEMALE Swords.
Your Neons, Cories and Ancistrus - which are probably common Bushy Nose Plecos - are fine although if the Bushy Nose are both males there may be some territorial issues as they grow.
I would see if you can retun either the 2 Serpae or 2 Black Widows and make a group of 4 of whichever one you like best.

This would leave you with

4 Black Widow or Serpae Tetra
5 Neons
6 Cories
8 Swords
2 Bushy Nose Plecos

Still WAY overstocked but at least the fish would be in the groups they feel most comfortable with. If algae is an issue get 4 Nerite snails.
Get some Hornwort to float on top of the tank to help with water quality.
Do a MINIMUM 50% water change a week, a 35% watet change every 3-4 days would be better.
You don't mention what you have for filtration, with this much overstocking I would definitely be going with something rated for 50 gph or 2 rated 30 gph.
Good luck

 

[earhtmother]

Go to www.aqadvisor.com and put in your information and you will get an idea of what your stocking should be. Its not perfect but a little more accurate than MOST pet store employees ever are.

 

[livada]

Thanks guys !

As for the filtration i have a very good pump which is 880 L/H which with some converter it says 193 g/h. The heater is also great 200W.

The bala shark is having the time of his life from what i see. I wanted either bala shark or betta fighter as one bigger fish in my tank. I was gonna buy a beta but when i saw the shark i didn't even hesitate.

The first month i had some glow light tetras in my tank which i had to take out because they were too aggressive towards my guppies and bullied everyone in the tank. I tried couple of very very nice orange barbs but they didn't go so well with the guppies. The black widow tetras and the serpae tetras to me are the most peaceful species of them all from what i seen.

I change 50 percent water once a month. I add water every couple of days because it evaporates constantly.

 

[Leeatl]

With that many fish in that tank you should be doing %50 water changes weekly at least .

 

[earhtmother]

It sounds like you are running an air pump but not an actual filter????
DEFINENTLY not enough water is being changed
50% **ONCE A WEEK** is needed not once a month. Topping up evaporation will only make any water problems worse.
We've given you restocking & water change suggestions that you seem to be ignoring, so I hope your fish prosper under your care but i sincerely doubt it in the long term

 

[libertybelle]

Agreed, but just a small point to make here to the OP.

People aren’t making stocking and maintenance recommendations to be killjoys here. Having overstocked tanks are prone to illness, aggression, injury and water quality poisoning. That is not enjoyable in the long run.

I had two goldfish in a five gallon tank as a kid. Was constantly cleaning and medicating and when fish lasted a year or two I thought that was great. Because pop culture taught me goldfish only lived that long. I gave up the hobby for a decade because I thought keeping fish was just way too hard. It wasn’t. I just didn’t know how to do it properly.

I think we’ve all made our points and there’s no need for more piling on but I just wanted to offer that perspective. Well stocked and temperament balanced tanks are easy, enjoyable and healthy; that’s all people want to help you have.

There is of course a solution that allows you to keep all the fish you are obviously attached to and that is to get a bigger tank. Or if you can’t afford it right now make a goal, haunt craigslist etc and plan to get them an environment that will allow them to thrive. There’s a lot of good advice on this thread to help you make that happen!

 

[Leeatl]

Sounds like a possible troll .

 

[Delapool]

Sounds like a possible troll .

Over to OP for reassurance but reminds me of my fish-keeping start. Great guidance given though.

Thanks guys !

I change 50 percent water once a month. I add water every couple of days because it evaporates constantly.

Is that in US? I’m in southern Australia where not so bad but further north in Asia I’ve heard of that. I have tank covers to stop evaporation. Which I keep suggesting would be useful for my sisters fish tank (she lives in norther Australia closer to tropics).

 

[livada]

I have submersible pump which pumps and gives air too. The filter is big and the water was never dirty. Im in Europe btw. The top of the tank is glass pane which can be removed in two pieces, i picked that because i don't want to put on actual cover on it. Oh and Leeatl i am not a troll, i just asked a simple question and gathered some advice so no worries

 

[Skai]

You say the water was never dirty? I find that incredibly hard to believe. When you say not dirty, do you mean it just looks clear or are you testing the water quality?

 

[livada]

I never tested the water, but so far no fish died in the aquarium so the quality must be decent. I use tap water for the tank tho