25 gallon fish tank 55 fishes help?

fishlover91

My lfs is useless all of the fish I have had from there have had white spot so I would not trusr giving him my fishes, what do you think the chances of survival are keeping them this way?
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Byron

Situations arise and we must do what we can. While the fish may seem fine now, they probably are not, and stress from overcrowding, non-compatible tankmates, or insufficient numbers of shoaling species will take its toll eventually. This can show up as more frequent health issues, susceptibility to disease, and early death. I can't go into all the reasons now, sorry, but I will suggest remedies.

First, is larger water changes. At least 50% of the tank volume, preferably 70%, every week. And one large water change is better than smaller more frequent changes in terms of "fixing" the water. Provided the water parameters (pH and hardness) between tap water and tank water are close, this will cause no problem for the fish, quite the opposite. Use a good conditioner.

Ammonia at .5 is one sign something is wrong, i.e., too many fish. Ammonia and nitrite should never be above zero in an established tank. Nitrates at 25 also indicates the problem. While this is not overly high, it is higher than the fish prefer. Nitrates should be below 20ppm in tanks without plants, and major water changes are the best way to achieve this. Live plants assist by assimilating ammonia (as ammonium) and less goes through the bacteria cycle to become nitrite and then nitrate. Even something as simple as stem plants floating would help with water quality.

The above is the immediate plan. Beyond this, you should try to find other homes for some of the fish. How about other aquarists? Other stores except the one? If you have a local fish club, ask them if anyone can help you out.

Byron.

redchigh

If you're brave, you can actually make quite a bit of money selling fish online, and shipping them through the mail. (I do, but I would only do it for the hardier species like livebearers, danios, etc.)

Also try craigslist, aquarium clubs, or just get a rubbermaid container, stick it outside (if it's warm) with a bunch of plants, and put all the livebearers in it. :P

I'll be glad to help you mail some of the fish if you decide to sell them online. There's no out of pocket cost, since you can wait until you get money to purchase the supplies...

LasColinasCichlids

Byron will be the best to give the details on what can and will probably happen to them if kept in that size tank with that many of them.

Overcrowding and uncompatable fish (not only by behavior but by water parameters as well) will stress the fish, weaken their immune system, make them vulnerable to illness and disease, and eventually death...in a nutshell.

With that many fish in that size tank, you also will find that some of the fish that wouldnt normally be very aggressive may become overly aggressive as they dont have their required space.

You will have a very difficult time also on keeping your water parameters in check. As your posted test results show, you have ammonia present. And I doubt there is enough surface area in a 25 gallon tank for the appropriate amount of beneficial bacteria to grow to be able to maintain that amount of fish.

You should try giving away some of the larger species and the ones that have the most out of sync compatability wise (like the minnows) to lighten the load not only for the sake of their survival, but for the quality of life of the fish.

I cant say an expected amount of time or even a precentage of survival. But I can say the side effects of a severely overcrowded tank will eventually catch up to the fish, and I can promise they wont get to their even close to their average lifespan. Eventually some of the fish will start to die off and then you will get down to a correct number of fish, and the ones that were further out of their comfort zone by water parameters, temp, and tank size will probably be the first to go, thus leaving you with a more appropriately stocked tank...however, I doubt that is how you want to get to that stocking.

You can also try re-homeing some of them by posting on TFK or craigslist, if you choose to go that route.

bettababy

No, there is not room in that size of a tank for any more fish, it is already over crowded.

LasColinasCichlids

This is a duplicate thread that has already been answered today:

25 gallon fish tank 55 fishes help?

Byron

For the record, there were three identical threads started so I have moved the posts from two of them into this (longer) thread and deleted the other two threads. We are now all on the same page, so to speak.

Byron.

Byron

Something came to mind here, don't jump into this major a change quickly, work into it slowly. The existing state has to be slowly corrected, via small frequent (2-3 a week) water changes over a couple weeks, to work up to a more realistic state for the bio-load.