Will my tank be overstocked.

[Batgirl]

Hello I am a begginer and want to make sure i do everything right for my fish. The only fish I have kept (my parents had a big tank at one point but i was little) are betas so I want to take care of these fish right. I have been doing alot of research and I have a 55 gallon tank with 4 mickey mouse platys I had 5 in but moved one she will be returning once i get my beta for that tank I want to put 1 angelfish, 1 bristle nose pleco, 3 khuli loaches, and a school of fish that swim near the top. My questions are:
1) will my tank be overstocked?
2) Do I need more khuli loaches for them to be happy? (I origanly wanted gold dojo loaches but I have a ph of 6 coming out of my tap and warmer water than they like naturally)
3) what schooling fish should I get to swim at the top?
Any other advise you can give me would be helpful.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Hello I am a begginer and want to make sure i do everything right for my fish. The only fish I have kept (my parents had a big tank at one point but i was little) are betas so I want to take care of these fish right. I have been doing alot of research and I have a 55 gallon tank with 4 mickey mouse platys I had 5 in but moved one she will be returning once i get my beta for that tank I want to put 1 angelfish, 1 bristle nose pleco, 3 khuli loaches, and a school of fish that swim near the top. My questions are:
1) will my tank be overstocked?
2) Do I need more khuli loaches for them to be happy? (I origanly wanted gold dojo loaches but I have a ph of 6 coming out of my tap and warmer water than they like naturally)
3) what schooling fish should I get to swim at the top?
Any other advise you can give me would be helpful.

Hello, you have plenty more room
1. No you have a lot more room
2. I would add 10 more kuhli loaches to make it 12
3. I really like hatchet fish for the top, you can easily add 7-8 of those, but make sure you have a lid, they jump, also harlequin rasboras are good
So you can do
8 hatchet fish or 12 harlequin rasboras
2 angelfish and 3 rainbow fish + another school of fish
12 kuhli loaches

 

[Fishperson]

I don't think you are overstocked at all. A general rule is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water, but some fish create more waste than others, like platys, mollys, and livebearers in general, so 1 inch of platy needs about 1.5 gallons of water. Likewise, some fish don't create much waste, or are long and thin so length is a bad way to describe their size. Both of those describe kuhli loaches, so 1 inch of loach needs only about 1/2 a gallon of water. Obviously, a 1 inch long loach can't live in a 1/2 gallon tank, but yet get what I'm saying. You can have about 55 inches of fish, depending on what filter you have, so this is a good stock:

1 angelfish
5 platys
1 bristlenose pleco
8 hatchetfish, or 10 harlequin rasboras, or 10 zebra danios
8 kuhli loaches (the more the better to keep them active and happy)
^^^ That puts you at around 55 or 60 inches of fish, so that is a good and solid stock.

What filter do you have? If you haven't decided yet than you have a number of options. For a hang on back filter, you could do an Aquaclear 70, or Aquaclear 110, depending on how many fish you want. For a canister filter you could try a Fluval 406, although that is a bit expensive. Do you know how to cycle a tank? If not, read this:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html

And this:

Tips and Tricks For Your Fastest Fishless Cycle! - Aquarium Advice

Those are about the 2 kinds of cycling.

Hope this helps! to Aquarium Advice!

 

[cgthebeast]

Hello I am a begginer and want to make sure i do everything right for my fish. The only fish I have kept (my parents had a big tank at one point but i was little) are betas so I want to take care of these fish right. I have been doing alot of research and I have a 55 gallon tank with 4 mickey mouse platys I had 5 in but moved one she will be returning once i get my beta for that tank I want to put 1 angelfish, 1 bristle nose pleco, 3 khuli loaches, and a school of fish that swim near the top. My questions are:
1) will my tank be overstocked?
2) Do I need more khuli loaches for them to be happy? (I origanly wanted gold dojo loaches but I have a ph of 6 coming out of my tap and warmer water than they like naturally)
3) what schooling fish should I get to swim at the top?
Any other advise you can give me would be helpful.

Hmm, sounds good. You need more khulis for sure, at least 6 but the more the merrier. Hatchet fish are great top swimmers but can be jumpers when stressed. You have plenty if room in that tank to add more. You could as a colorful tetra species also

 

[Batgirl]

I have a aquaclear 300 and an aquaclear 30 but am planning on moving my 30 over to my 20 gallon and getting another one for my 55. And I already have 4 mickey mouse platys in there so I guess I went to the dark side without knowing it They seem fine though and I've had them for 3 1/2 weeks

 

[Sillyfishies]

I have a aquaclear 300 and an aquaclear 30 but am planning on moving my 30 over to my 20 gallon and getting another one for my 55. And I already have 4 mickey mouse platys in there so I guess I went to the dark side without knowing it They seem fine though and I've had them for 3 1/2 weeks

Ignore the inch per gallon rule. There's too many variables... I have 40 inches of fish in my 30 gallon tank and my nitrates don't go above 20...

I would do
4 angelfish
5 platies
8 lemon tetras
8 rummynose tetras
8 kuhlis or 8 Cory cats

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Yeah the inch per gallon rule is way out of date, that sounds like a good stock!

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

The inch per gallon rule is dumb, it's saying that you can put 3-4 oscars in a 55 gallon

 

[Batgirl]

One other question the heater i bought will no longer allow me to change the tempature from 82 degrees so I guess I need a new one any suggestions on the best I have time to save money because my tanks at 78 degrees without a heater and don't want to keep buying them.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

I think that top fins are very good, good deal for the price

 

[Sillyfishies]

One other question the heater i bought will no longer allow me to change the tempature from 82 degrees so I guess I need a new one any suggestions on the best I have time to save money because my tanks at 78 degrees without a heater and don't want to keep buying them.

I like AGA adjustable ones:..

 

[jwh0818]

I don't think you are overstocked at all. A general rule is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water, but some fish create more waste than others, like platys, mollys, and livebearers in general, so 1 inch of platy needs about 1.5 gallons of water. Likewise, some fish don't create much waste, or are long and thin so length is a bad way to describe their size. Both of those describe kuhli loaches, so 1 inch of loach needs only about 1/2 a gallon of water. Obviously, a 1 inch long loach can't live in a 1/2 gallon tank, but yet get what I'm saying. You can have about 55 inches of fish, depending on what filter you have, so this is a good stock:

1 angelfish
5 platys
1 bristlenose pleco
8 hatchetfish, or 10 harlequin rasboras, or 10 zebra danios
8 kuhli loaches (the more the better to keep them active and happy)
^^^ That puts you at around 55 or 60 inches of fish, so that is a good and solid stock.

What filter do you have? If you haven't decided yet than you have a number of options. For a hang on back filter, you could do an Aquaclear 70, or Aquaclear 110, depending on how many fish you want. For a canister filter you could try a Fluval 406, although that is a bit expensive. Do you know how to cycle a tank? If not, read this:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html

And this:

Tips and Tricks For Your Fastest Fishless Cycle! - Aquarium Advice

Those are about the 2 kinds of cycling.

Hope this helps! to Aquarium Advice!

The inch per gallon rule is very dumb. It only makes sense if you have the adequate filtration and even then its way off. 1 inch of goldfish definitely doesnt equal 1 inch of tetra and 1 inch of bala shark doesnt equal 1 inch of molly.

I know 1 inch of fish is the oldest rule but its been long outdated and due for a make over. I would start researching on what fish you like the most and go from there. Each fish has different needs and some arent tank mate compatible. You should also research what kind of water flow each likes and what kind of bio-load each is looking at. They are all different and should be compared when using 1 inch per gallon because you need to factor in bio-load, adult size, filtration, aggression, and territorial needs.


*edit* I just reread and realized I replied too soon! Carry on! My little speech is still pretty good!

 

[Fishperson]

The inch per gallon rule is very dumb. It only makes sense if you have the adequate filtration and even then its way off. 1 inch of goldfish definitely doesnt equal 1 inch of tetra and 1 inch of bala shark doesnt equal 1 inch of molly.

I know 1 inch of fish is the oldest rule but its been long outdated and due for a make over. I would start researching on what fish you like the most and go from there. Each fish has different needs and some arent tank mate compatible. You should also research what kind of water flow each likes and what kind of bio-load each is looking at. They are all different and should be compared when using 1 inch per gallon because you need to factor in bio-load, adult size, filtration, aggression, and territorial needs.


*edit* I just reread and realized I replied too soon! Carry on! My little speech is still pretty good!

Hahahaha! lol

I just read that and started fuming, I was like !

And then I read the edit part!

Anyway, yeah I totally know what you mean about the inch per gallon rule, but I remember when I was really new to this (I'm still pretty new just not as new) and I kept wondering why everyone trashed it, why not just modify it? So yeah, that's what I tell people now. It also depends largely on how much you feed. You can have 10 inches of tetra in a 20 gallon tank, but if you totally overfeed, then you're pretty much fully stocked.

Anyway, no harm done!

 

[Fishperson]

Did anybody read the whole post?!?!?!


I said the inch per gallon rule is bad, it just needs to be modified a bit. Obviously there is a minimum tank size for some fish, so no s*** you can't put 4 oscars in a 55 gallon tank. And duh, some fish kill each other if they are put together, like most male bettas. But if you modify how many inches each fish is "worth", based on their bioload, you can get a fairly good idea of whether your tank is overstocked or not.

Jeez people, read before you post...

 

[Batgirl]

So can I put 1 angel fish, 2 bristlenose pleco, 8 khuli loachs, 8 hatchetfish, 5 platys?

 

[cgthebeast]

So can I put 1 angel fish, 2 bristlenose pleco, 8 khuli loachs, 8 hatchetfish, 5 platys?

Should work

 

[Sillyfishies]

So can I put 1 angel fish, 2 bristlenose pleco, 8 khuli loachs, 8 hatchetfish, 5 platys?

Pretty sure u can put more.

 

[Batgirl]

I know this was from long ago (still not completely stocked due to varying selection at lfs)

I was wondering if you guys thought I could add a ram and some cories to this tank?

Would that push me into overstocked or cause aggression?

I'm asking cause my uncle wants to get rid of his ram and 3 corys and make his 30 saltwater. If they can't I can just put them in a 30 gallon I'm inquiring about on Craigslist.
Thank you

 

[Sillyfishies]

What is the current stocking list?

 

[Batgirl]

1 anglefish
2 khuli loachs
6 grown up platys
9999999999999999 gazilian platy fry