Am I Overstocked

[mark456]

hi, i have a 20 UK gallon and have the following in it,

3 swordtails,
1 platy
1 thai flying fox - 1inch
6 zebra danios
1 male betta
1 plec - 3 inches but will rehome him once he gets 5inches

stats are;
nitrAte = 9
nitrIte = 0
Ammonia = 0

i was wondering if i could have some other fish in there somethings like neons and how many

thanks

 

[BrookeLea]

20 UK gallons = about 24 US gallons. Following the gallon per inch rule:

Swordtail x 3 = 12 inches (already half your space)
Platy x 1 = 4 inches
Thai Flying Fox x 1 = 5.5 inches
Zebra Danio x 6 = 15 inches
Male Betta x 1 = 3 inches
Plec (assuming that he's a common) x 1 = 24 inches

You are very overstocked at 63.5 inches in a 24 gallon tank.

I have a few suggestions to get you on the path to correct stocking. First off, rehome the plec now. There's really no room for him in that tank, no matter how small he is now. He produces a LOT of waste, and as your tank is already so overstocked, he's making the problem much worse.

Next, your male betta needs to be moved into his own (at least one gallon) tank. As much as many people would like them to be, bettas are just not community fish. He will not be happy at all in that tank.

That brings us down to 36.5 inches. I'm not really sure what to tell you to lose from there, but here are some potential problems.

The flying fox COULD be a problem with the other fish if there's not enough coverage in the tank for the other fish to get away from him when he starts to get pushy.

The lone platy, although not a schooling fish, would be much happier with a group of it's own kind. If I were you, I would rehome it.

If you stuck with just the swordtails and the danios, you would be about right, stocking wise. If you added extra filtration and did extra water changes, you could probably do ok with the Thai flying fox in there, as well.

I know that this seems like a much emptier tank, but it would be a much healthier and happier one!

 

[modernhamlet]

Brooklea's pretty much right. I think you can probably keep a bit more than just the danios and swordie, but not a ton more. You should definitely remove the 3 problem fish and only then take a look at the tank and it's parameters and CONSIDER a small addition.

Remove:
Plec
Betta
Flying fox

None of these belong in your tank, I'm afraid, unless the plec is one of the smaller ones. If you don't know... assume it's going to reach 1.5' in length.

Only when things have cleared out should you consider some SMALL bottom dwellers (livebearers and danios are both top level fish). I'd go with 4 small corys or loaches.

 

[mark456]

i thought platys only grow to a max 2iches and im getting rid of my plec when its 5 inches long, also it says in my book swordtails grow 3inchs max not 4 inches, also my betta looks very happy but i was thinking of rehomeing him anyway

thanks

 

[Annastasia]

i thought platys only grow to a max 2iches and im getting rid of my plec when its 5 inches long, also it says in my book swordtails grow 3inchs max not 4 inches, also my betta looks very happy but i was thinking of rehomeing him anyway

thanks

Swordtails will get to about 4". Males can get up to 7" if you count in their Sword. On the Platies...depends on the type. Your normal Maculatus Platies will get to about 2", Variatus Platies can get to 3 - 3 1/2". Also, what is your male to female ratio like? You should ideally have 2-3 females per male. I know Swordtails and Platies are different species, but since they are related you still need to stock accordingly. Male Swordtails will still try to breed with female Platies, for example.