Am I Overcrowded!?

[murph909]

I have 2 rainbow sharks,, 2 red tail sharks, 2 black sharks, 2 bala sharks, 1 dwarf gourami, 1 blue gourami, 1 angel, 2 severums, 2 plecos in a 55 gallon tank,, local pet store says im ok but dont add any more,, whats ur oppinion? am i going to be overcrowded after they grow?

 

[rdd1952]

Definitely overcrowded or at least will be. Strictly from an inches standpoint, you have well over 100" of adult fish. The 1" per gallon guide isn't really applicable to these fish as they get so large. I would say it would be more like 1" to 2 or even 3 gallon which would mean you probably have 3 to 4 times too many fish in the tank.

Even without the issue of overcrowding, you have a major compatibility issue. You should never have redtails and rainbows in the same tank. Actually, you should never have any 2 species of sharks in a tank together and in many cases you shouldn't even have 2 of the same species in the same tank (the 2 rtbs will eventually fight each other) as they will fish constantly, especially as they get older and bigger.

 

[Betta91]

Wow, that is veeeery overcrowded. How do you even clean your tank anyway? Sharks are always really jumpy fish...I can't imagine having more than one individual shark in a tank, let alone 2 different species.

 

[cuticom]

I'm sorry to say but you have a lot of potentially big fish

Rainbow Sharks- 6 inch (ok, though should only really have one, or 6 or more)
Red Tail Sharks- 7 -8 inches (Ok but as above, isn't compatible with rainbows, pick one species and stick with it)
Black Sharks- 20+ inch ( Oooh boy, you might want to rehome these guys, unless you upgrade to a massive tank...)
Bala Sharks- 14 inch (Needs a school of 6, and theres no way you can fit that big a school in a 55, extremely skittish when housed alone, often injuring itself from getting scared and banging into things)
Dwarf Gourami- 2 inch (It's fine in your tank, but not compatible with other gourami, and may be lunch to the sevs)
Blue gourami- 6 inch (ok, but as above not compatible, probably wont go well with the sevs either)
Angel fish - 6 inch (could be ok, not sure on compatibility between it and Severums)
Severums- 10-12 inch ( ok, but you can only keep one, you could keep two if there were no other fish in the tank)
Plecos- depending on species these guys can get anywhere between 6 inch and two feet, if their commons they'll grow massive, if their bristlenoses their fine, dont really no much about these guys.

I'd advise cutting down to
1 shark (red tailed or rainbow, these guys are fantastic scavengers)
2 Severums

You'd need to keep on top of water changes, but that could work.

Or you could keep the Angel fish, a shark and perhaps the gouramis, not sure on compatibility.

Hope that helps
Emma

 

[vinylman]

As RDD says, your main problem is the Sharks; you need to move them out sooner rather than later.

 

[@ombomb]

am i going to be overcrowded after they grow?

Yes, but all that will be left in the tank with be the plecs and a single black shark.

What sort of plecs are they?