[Dk]

Hello all this is my first post i just found this site and it looks informative. Ok heres the rundown. I have a 55 gallon aquarium, an aqua clear filter for a 70 gallon tank running, i use silica sand as a substrate. This tank has been running for quite some time( ie just under a year). I also run an air stone as well as have several live plants and about 100 wtts of light.

This is my question do you think i am over stocked?

I have the following fish, 8 under 1 inch bronze cory, 2, 1 inch peppered cory, 1, 2 inch clown pleco, 1, 5 inch farowella, 1, 6 inch weather loach, 1 khuli loach, 1, 1 1/2 inch yo yo loach, 7 neon tetras, 2, 1 inch black skirt tetras, 1 dwarf neon gurami, and 2 ottos.

Also keep in mind i do clean my tank once a week. as well as the ussual tests for ammonia ect.

I havent had a problem per say with sick fish , or any ammonia or nitrate related issues. I just wonder if i shouldnt get another tank for some of the guys or find them a new home. i dont plan on adding any new fish to this tank either so this isnt a can i cram in another one question. i am also running a couple smaller tanks but couldnt transfer any of these guys to them. since the extra tanks house aggressive or predatory fish.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sleepy]

Hi Dk.

I would recommend a bigger tank for the loaches and the farowella (besides the common recommendations for these fish). It seems they´re getting along with each other.

The Corydoras are mostly on the ground as well as the loaches - I guess. I did not care of any of your loaches but by looking at the pictures I´ve found on google they seem to live mostly on the ground as well as the Corys.

After that I would stock up the black skirts tetras and leave the tank with that.
I probably would buy 3 or 4 ottos for the left pair but that depends on the tank and it´s structure. Space for them etc. If you think the tank´s beginning to be overstocked I would not buy any more otttos.
Hard to tell because I don´t have a picture of your tank in mind (length and width).

 

[Dk]

48 1/4 x 12 3/4 x 21

having probs with the upload pic here is the url

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[Sleepy]

Nice tank.
The 12 3/4 inch are the width, are they ?

I´ve seen a lot of tanks in the U. S. and noticed that they are usually long and high but not very wide.
For example I have a 64 gallon European tank with a size of 47 inch length, 15.7 inch width and a heigth of 20 inch.
I would really buy another tank for the loaches and take a look how the other tank ground looks.

I really do like how you take care of your tank.

 

[Dk]

why another tank for the loaches? I mean the khuli is a 3 inch or so fish, the weather loach could be around 10 inches give or take, and the yoyo wont become very large either. I mean its not like i have a school of clown loaches or somthing that gets both long and wide. If you look at the pic you can see the weather loach in the fore ground he is abotu 6 inches long and the tank is easily 8 times his length and wide enough so that even if he grows to max length he can still turn around with space to spare. Plus they are alot like eels in the way they move .

Im not trying to sound snippy or anything so please dont take this atht way. I just wondered why you thought i needed a new tank for the loaches?

 

[GalaxyGirl]

I don't know why you would need a new tank for the loaches, my friend has one in his 10gallon, but I have heard that you need LARGE tanks for them. Not sure there.

As for the other fish you have, tetras, gouramis, etc., I go by the 1 fish to 1 gallon rule and 1.5 tetra to 1 gallon.

I recommend this website:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/community/community1.html

 

[Dk]

Hey that looks like a cool site ill check that out. Thanx alot. I know the old 1 inch rule. but i also know that its kinda just a guideline not very realistic when your talking about something other then a school of 1 inch fish.

 

[Lupin]

Your tank doesn't look overstocked to me at all. The only thing to consider is their final sizes but even then most of the fish you have needed more members their own species. I would suggest you add more cories, kuhlis and yoyos. 3 yoyos and 6 kuhlis are fine. Try to stop there and concentrate on mid dwellers. Your black skirts will need more members of their own species. Neons are fine.

Unless you have clown loaches, of course, you do not need another tank.

 

[fish_4_all]

Ok, right now the fish are fine and you are not overstocked. As for your question, you are overstocked. I know it is confusing but let me explain.

The overstock rule is based on the final size of the fish. Altho0ugh they are small now, some of your fish are going to get rather large and may do so in a short amount of time. If you can do so, I would get a larger tank ready, cycled and setup so you can be ready to move them and sort them out somewhat. The only real problem you are going to run into is the competition for bottom between the loaches, the farlowella and the loaches and the bigger and more mature they get the more agrression you will see.

It may work out but to me it seems like it may be a real battle and some stressed fish in the future.

 

[Dk]

Thanx for the comments. Oh yeah i figure i have somewhere between 60 and 70 inches of fish if they grow to thier full potential. As for the loaches and the other fish competing. well what happens is you drop food in weather loach gets thier first sucks it in and blows pieces out of his gills corys are quick behind getting that. farowella doesnt seem much to care for anything but cleaning plants and glass, except for when i stick some fresh produce on the side then him and the plec nibble on it. The plec mostly just grazes on the bog wood i have wich is covered in alage and javamoss. the khuli pops his head out and gets his share at night. so far the only fish thats really new is the yoyo. so i dont have too much info on him but i see him grazing during the day on alage and looking in the sbstrate for bits.

I dont have a real good lfs. They rarely have loaches other then clowns. i bought the 2 khulis they had but 1 was doa . then they didnt get anymore in that was liek 6 months ago and still no more. It was the same with the yoyo they had 2 but when i got them home one had several sores on his body. i put in some mela fix and watched him close but he died within 2 days.

I do want some more tetras. I have had them for a while i had 4 but an ill tempered alage eater killed them before i knew it was him doing it.

 

[Dk]

Picked up a few more black tetras today and another peppered cory so id have a group of 3 of them. I dont know if ill be able to find anymore loaches but if i do ill grab them up.