Too many fish, now what?

Sounds like quite the group od mismatched tankmates. Well, I won't yell at you because anyone who has kept an aquarium has done the smae thing at least once, well likely a lot more. So, as long as you get a plan no worries.

Here is how I see it, the Silver Dollars, shark and at least one pleco need to go. Even if you just took one of these fish your tank would be a bit crowded. Some folks manage various plecos in tanks way too small for the fish size and do just fine. Are you one of those people? The gouramis will also get large 4"-8" and Kissers have a bad reputation for being mean. Your barbs are the fin nippy type and can hold their own with most non-cichlid tankmates. You need to ask yourself what is it that you want in your tank? Do you want a peaceful community? If so the fish you have don't work. Do you want a semi-aggressive community? The barbs and at least one gourami works. In that mix, the shark can hang with you until it reaches 3 1/2"-4" then it has to go. The sharks start off shy and non-aggressive. When they get big it is payback time.

So, figure out what you want and give the pet store back the stuff you don't want. Be thinking about fish that inhabit the top, middle and bottom. Once you thin the heard than you have time to think a bit more.

cojo55 said:

Hello all! I am pretty new to all of this and was having lots of issues for awhile. The best advice I was given was to stop, breathe, relax, and enjoy my fish! So I did and may have gone a little overboard and got too many :-? Please don't yell at me, as others have I just need to know if my tank will be ok or if I really need to get rid of some fish. I am pretty attached to all of them so this is hard... Water quality is not an issue and everyone seems happy and healthy. I love my fish!

I have a 37 gallon tank. 30w x 12d x 20h
My fish:
4 Tiger Barbs 9/13/13, 5 Green Barbs 9/13/13, 2 Algae Eater Clown Pleco 9/24/13, 1 Red Tailed Shark 11/3/13, 1 Gold Gourami 11/15/13, 1 Kissing Gourami 11/15/13, 3 Silver Dollars 11/16/13

Click to expand...

The silver dollars will grow too large for the tank, as will the kissing gourami. It's likely that you will run in to problems keeping the two gouramis together. The red tail shark, should it grow to its potential, will be too big for the tank. Add to that it's aggressive territorial nature and you could have a big problem on your hands. I kept tiger barbs for a while, in a variety of tank sizes and I really feel that the tiger barbs also require a larger tank.

The only things I would really keep in the tank are the 2 clown plecos. They are tiny plecos - 2 is perfectly fine in that size tank.

Your stock would need at least a 55 gallon tank, if not a 75 or 90. Soooo, your options are either to rethink the stocking of you tank, or upgrade to a larger tank. In my opinion. Everything seems fine now, because the fish are all still small. I assume. The dynamics of the tank can change drastically overnight as fish grow and mature.

Perfect example - I've had to separate the chocolate and chanchito cichlids. All of a sudden one had a problem with the other and that was that. Too, I had kept a couple of male golden wonder killis together, for well over a year. They were moved around and eventually found their way to the 125. They did fine together in there for maybe 6 months, and all of a sudden one day the 125 wasn't big enough for the two of them. Point is - things work fine, till they don't....

The silver dollars get massive. With the silver dollars, red tailed shark, and kissing gourami it's not a matter of too many fish. It's a matter of the tank simplynot being large enough to accommodate those fish at their full potential.

The red tailed shark will top out around 5 inches, and is an aggressive fish when full grown. They can easily become very territorial and kill other fish that they deem are in 'their' space. In a tank that size, the other fish would have nowhere to escape and could end up seriously injured and/or dead, combined with the shark being stressed at lack of space.

The silver dollars get even bigger, at around 6". They're a shoaling fish, that appreciate having a bunch of other silver dollars with them. A group of 6" fish in a 37 tank is just not feasible, they'll all be cramped in there with a high possibility for disease and injury. The tank size for a group of them is usually recommended at a minimum of 6 feet long.

The kissing gourami tops out at around 10 inches, and is known for being another very territorial fish (as gourami are wont to be). A ten inch fish would barely have any room to even turn around in a tank that's only 12 wide.

I know it sucks to have spent money and time on these fish and find out they aren't compatible. There are many species of fish suitable for a 37 gallon, but unfortunately these fish aren't. It's really in their best interest and yours to rehome them or return them to the pet store.

When you go to restock your tank, try to do a lot of research on the fish you're interested in before you buy them. Go to the pet store and write down the names of fish you're interested in and come home and research them (don't trust store employees, they're just there to sell you stuff and make money, it's not their job to care about the fish. They'll tell you anything you wanna hear to make a buck.).

See what fish are compatible, including what ph/gh/kh they live in, the temperature they need, their individual temperaments, whether need need to be kept in groups, what size tank they need, as much info as you can find. This will save you a lot of trouble down the line.

Sorry you found yourself in this situation, the others who have commented on this thread are correct in that many of us have found ourselves here before. It's possible to rectify the situation though, and start over on a better foot.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.