Inherited an abandoned, overstocked tank - advice?

[tikkha]

My neighbors moved away and left behind a 37-gallon tank full of fish. They packed up, turned in their keys to my friend who is a property manager, and left the state. The tank was full of algae and the water level was low, but after some water changes, gravel vacuuming, and adding a UV filter, the water looks clear now. I'm uncertain how long they were abandoned, but thankfully the previous owners at least left the heater on for them.

In any case, I have all these fish now. All of them seem healthy and get along, but there are definitely too many for the 37-gallon aquarium.

Here is the full stock:
Two large angelfish (3 inches top-to-bottom, 2 inches across)
Two plecos (about 3 inches each)
Two small silver sharks (about 2-3 inches each)
Three small red-tailed black sharks (about 1.5-2 inches each)
Three large tiger barbs (1 inch each)
Two dwarf gourami
1 mystery snail

I want to upgrade as soon as possible to a larger aquarium, and maybe separate some of these out. What size do you recommend? Would a 150 gallon be big enough or do I need something larger?

 

[Aiken Drum]

This all depends on how far you want to get into the hobby.

Lets look at the silver (bala) sharks. These get quite big, around a foot and like to be in groups. So the 150 gallons is a good size tank for a moderate number of bala sharks.

The red tailed sharks will get more territorial as they mature and so even though they dont need to be in groups and dont get as big as bala sharks those 3 sharks will possibly need a bigger tank than 150g to keep them all to together. Or they could be seperated into 3 smaller tanks - say 50g each. Or you could rehome a couple of them and keep 1.

The plecos. Well plecos could need anything upto 150g depending on type. They come in all shapes and sizes from a few inches to a couple of feet long.

The tiger barbs and dwarf gourami should be good in your 37g. As the bala sharks grow the barbs and gourami may become snacks as well.

If it where me and i had the resources to do it. I would go with the 150g. Get a few more bala sharks. Rehome 2 of the redtails. Try and identify what plecos you have. If they are going to outgrow the 150g maybe rehome 1 of them.

Keep the 37g for the barbs and gouramis. Increase the number of barbs into a nice school.

Hope that helps.