46 gallon overstock?

[brandus911]

Hellllo, everyone! New member that has been a long time stalker. I just have to ask a quick question. I'm currently running a 46 gallon bowfront tank with the following.

46 gallon
----------
3 Angelfish (Main attraction, 1 large, 2 med)
2 Clown Loach (snail control) (med size)
5 Red Platys (color variety)
5 Cory Cats (cleaning crew)
1 Dwarf Gourami (I pitied it being alone in its tank at Petco)
1 Hi-fin Spotted Pleco (algae control)

Overstocked? Thats fine, because I just got a 125 gallon fish tank! But im curious if I could addthe inhabitats of the 46 gallon plus add a Black Ghost Knife and/or Dragon Goby?

I've had a year of experience in the hobby, only finding failure repeatedly in gouramis (the one above is my most successful, been around for 3 months) and Black Ghost Knives which is sad because they're the fish I want the mostto succeed, I dream of being able to raise one to its biggest and hand feeding it.

Thank you for your time!

 

[vanimal]

Well they can be aggressive and maybe hurt your Cories. An African Brown Knife or Eel would be a better choice. What were you feeding your BGK when you had 1?

 

[FishFanatic88]

I would not add a dragon goby beacause they should ideally be kept in a brackish tank. i think you would be fine adding the black ghost knife, i would also reccomend adding 3-5 more clown loaches.

 

[FishFanatic88]

Well they can be aggressive and maybe hurt your Cories. An African Brown Knife or Eel would be a better choice. What were you feeding your BGK when you had 1?

I agree, they would most likely try and eat your cories and then the spines and plates on the cories would cause harm to your BGK or Dragon Goby.

 

[vanimal]

Get a Peacock Eel they can also be handfed and become very interactive with their owners.

 

[sally pu]

I feel like even a 125gal isn't big enough for what you have...

you should have more than 2 clown loaches, they do better in groups and for that amount the tank should be a minmum of 180gal.

 

[vanimal]

I agree rehome the clown loaches and you will have a lot more space in the tank. Other wise every thing else could easily fit in a 125.

 

[FishFanatic88]

I feel like even a 125gal isn't big enough for what you have...

you should have more than 2 clown loaches, they do better in groups and for that amount the tank should be a minmum of 180gal.

I disagree, a group of 5 clown loaches would be happy in a 125 gallon.

 

[vanimal]

They get 14 inches and they get thick too. They may be happy for a while but eventually would out grow that tank.

 

[sally pu]

I disagree, a group of 5 clown loaches would be happy in a 125 gallon.

for how long?

and then he wouldn't be able to house anything else in that size tank.

 

[brandus911]

Wow, didn't expect this many replies for a morning post (for me anyways).

To answer the question on feeding, I went with freeze dried blood worms on the BGK.

On the Peacock Eel, I will look into those (I work long hours, fish research is about half of what I do at work)

I never thought of the cories being in harms way. I have a 10 gallon I could devote them to as my "desk buddies", but im not sure they'd be happy as 5 cories in a 10. I mostly got them for clean up crew purposes.

I will look into getting more loaches, I do recall reading about them being happier in a group, but I wanted to make sure Joker and Harley would work in my 46 before thinking about more. It must've slipped my mind.

Personally I don't care for my pleco and didn't realize the exact level of destruction they can cause in a tank at the beginning (ornament displacements, floating plants, etc) I'm currently trying to get rid of it on Craigslist for a Clown Pleco I have in a 10 gallon (I'm under the impression that my research and Petsmart claim they get to around 5 inches, compared to the Hi-Fin's 18ish.)

Im really dead set on the Black Ghost Knife (my interest in the hobby being kickstarted by their appearance...not exactly a good fish for starters though >_>) so I will figure out someway to accommodate and make sure as little damage is done to any of my fish as possible.

I appreciate all the feedback, I'm glad I finally got around to making an account! If anyone cares to know, the 125 gallon will be ran with a Fluval that runs 300gal/hr says its for 100g tanks and a power filter that came with my 46 tank (two spinning bio-wheels on it, couldnt say on the model) along with 3 heaters (two 250 watt, 1 150 wat) set at 75-80 range. The 46gal is ran by a filter I bought for my old 55 gal, so it should hold up till transfers can be done.

 

[vanimal]

Well there's your problem. The BGK is a bottom feeder and must have sinking food. This is what I would feed it.
Shrimp Pellets
Main diet Frozen Blood worms/Brine Shrimp
They also enjoy live foods like black worms or earth worms. I believe your previous BGK died because of the diet. But its ok everybody makes mistakes or do you think it was something else??

 

[brandus911]

...yep, I'm a idiot. That makes so much sense it hurts. Sigh...luckily I feed the loaches, cories, and the pleco, a mix of shrimp pellets and algae discs so if thats truly the case now, it could be easily solved. Also, I heard that nearby electrical equipment can mess with a BGKs world, since they possess a weak electrical system to locate food...heard this from the guy I got the 125 gallon from.

It sounds far fetched, but as you can imagine, I'm willing to believe anything if I can make my fish not die and me feel like a soul-less monster. I ask because I usually would place the BGK in the beginning in a 10 gallon (till they got bigger) on my desk a foot away from my computer screen/computer. Which leaves me to wonder if hes correct.

 

[sally pu]

Wow, didn't expect this many replies for a morning post (for me anyways).

It's called help, and as long as you appreciate it and listen to it it will always be given to you!

 

[brandus911]

This is a picture of my 46 gallon. I love to show off my largest Angelfish (her name is Nevaeh, the girlfriend named her). If its actually a female, I have no idea, but we'll say she for now. She and me has a history, because shes actually a survivor of a horrible 10 gallon overstocking. 2 Bala Sharks, a BGK, 2 Angelfish. This 10 gallon was actually my start up on the hobby and she was also the first fish (being the only survivor : /) to explore my 55 gallon tank when I bought it and set it up (my father owns it now and he breeds Angelfish! My passion for fish going back to when I was a kid and saw him feeding a bamboo banded shark frozen shrimp in his own 125 gallon saltwater.)

Ignore the Spongebob decorations. I did that to appease my grandmother, because my grandfather loved to watch Spongebob and he passed away several months ago. RIP.

 

[FishFanatic88]

for how long?

and then he wouldn't be able to house anything else in that size tank.

I dont think you guys realize how big a 125 gallon tank is, it is 6 feet in lenghth. there is an article on Loaches.com by a guy named Martin Thoene, where he set up a loach river tank. when he initially set it up he had 13 clown loaches and 20 tiger barbs. Unfortunatley after a filter failure he lost some tiger barbs and 3 large clown loaches. Now it holds 10 clown loaches, 8 various botia, 13 cories, and several other fish. Do the math, that is 2x as many clown loaches as i suggested, o and there are other fish in the tank too!

If you do not believe me, then go to loaches.com and search 125 gallon, the article is titled My Clown Loach Aquarium.

 

[Sharkbait54]

125g is fine for clowns they won't outgrow it in years!!!

 

[Samzter]

Hellllo, everyone! New member that has been a long time stalker. I just have to ask a quick question. I'm currently running a 46 gallon bowfront tank with the following.

46 gallon
----------
3 Angelfish (Main attraction, 1 large, 2 med)
2 Clown Loach (snail control) (med size)
5 Red Platys (color variety)
5 Cory Cats (cleaning crew)
1 Dwarf Gourami (I pitied it being alone in its tank at Petco)
1 Hi-fin Spotted Pleco (algae control)

Overstocked? Thats fine, because I just got a 125 gallon fish tank! But im curious if I could addthe inhabitats of the 46 gallon plus add a Black Ghost Knife and/or Dragon Goby?

I've had a year of experience in the hobby, only finding failure repeatedly in gouramis (the one above is my most successful, been around for 3 months) and Black Ghost Knives which is sad because they're the fish I want the mostto succeed, I dream of being able to raise one to its biggest and hand feeding it.

Thank you for your time!

I don't think you're overstocked, jmo. Good call on the 125. I think the clown loaches will do much better in the 125. I think the angelfish will either do great in either tank.

 

[Samzter]

for how long?

and then he wouldn't be able to house anything else in that size tank.

All that matters is that he upgrades in the future. Which he probably will.