Am I Overstocked...?

[Aleydis]

Hi! My name is Aleydis- and I've just begun fishkeeping a month or so ago. I feel my tank MAY be overstocked... My friend randomly picked up 5 platys for me and demanded I put them in my tank. I did, but now I'm having second thoughts!

Aquarium:
Currently at 20 gallons. Holds:
-2 plecos
-3 red platys
-2 yellow-black platys
-5 female guppies
-4 male guppies
-10 cardinal tetras

Am I overstocked? Some of my fish keeping friends seem to think so. I also think some of my female guppies are pregnant...

 

[Corleone]

What kind of pleco? Most plecos get huge, and all of them are epic waste producers. One common pleco alone will overstock the tank when it grows up, or else you'll stunt them greatly and they won't live their very long lifetimes. Even if they're small plec species, they're probably the biggest problem in the tank - my bristlenose makes an immense amount of mess in my 55 gallon tank. The rest is quite a bit for a 20 gallon, but if the tank was properly cycled and you keep up water tests and changes as appropriate, people have stocked heavier than that.

 

[Starfishpower]

welcome to tropical fish forums!

it might be overstocked. the way to find out is to just do very frequent water tests over the next couple of weeks to see how the beneficial bacteria can catch up and keep up. if you really dont want to risk it you could just return the fish to a lfs (local fish store) yourself and kindly explain to your friend that you love the thought but it was bad for your other fish. thats my advice. and yes that is what i would do if i were faced with this problem. good luck

What kind of pleco? Most plecos get huge, and all of them are epic waste producers. One common pleco alone will overstock the tank when it grows up, or else you'll stunt them greatly and they won't live their very long lifetimes. Even if they're small plec species, they're probably the biggest problem in the tank - my bristlenose makes an immense amount of mess in my 55 gallon tank. The rest is quite a bit for a 20 gallon, but if the tank was properly cycled and you keep up water tests and changes as appropriate, people have stocked heavier than that.

agreed, keep an eye on those plecos.

 

[Aleydis]

welcome to tropical fish forums!

it might be overstocked. the way to find out is to just do very frequent water tests over the next couple of weeks to see how the beneficial bacteria can catch up and keep up. if you really dont want to risk it you could just return the fish to a lfs (local fish store) yourself and kindly explain to your friend that you love the thought but it was bad for your other fish. thats my advice. and yes that is what i would do if i were faced with this problem. good luck

What kind of pleco? Most plecos get huge, and all of them are epic waste producers. One common pleco alone will overstock the tank when it grows up, or else you'll stunt them greatly and they won't live their very long lifetimes. Even if they're small plec species, they're probably the biggest problem in the tank - my bristlenose makes an immense amount of mess in my 55 gallon tank. The rest is quite a bit for a 20 gallon, but if the tank was properly cycled and you keep up water tests and changes as appropriate, people have stocked heavier than that.

agreed, keep an eye on those plecos.

Thank you!

I'm actually not sure of the type of pleco I have... But I have a bad feeling, because I think the woman selling the plecos grimaced when I mentioned I had a 20 gallon tank. I know the plecos can get QUITE large, since I have a friend who keeps fish (I don't know how she does it... She just randomly puts stuff in her tank without minding the consequences and for years her tank turned out fine! She has a 18-inch pleco in her 120 Gallon tank. )

I don't have any testers, unfortunately. My family thinks I should just leave the fish be and not mess with them too much. =P If you've read my signature you probably already know my predicament... What should I do?

 

[Starfishpower]

planetcatfish.com can help you out with the plecs. as for the rest of it... it is up to you but try not to allow anyone into pressuring you into something that goes against what you think is right. if those new additions to your tank will overstock it then find a new home for them, though its worth finding out about the plecs first just because if they turn out to be a kind that will get so big you will need to get rid of them eventually or get a bigger tank then it might be a good idea to go ahead and relocate the plecs to a new owner.. which would reduce the bioload and allow you to keep the new fish your friend gave you.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok it sounds like you want a fairly low maintenance tank that'll be nice and keep running itself, shouldn't have too many problems causing you to reach for medications and such like.

the best way to keep things easy and natural is get the tank set up correctly with an appropriate level of fish. you don't need a huge amount of time/money/effort to do this, just a little bit of reading and sensible action.

Firstly, to keep a tank healthy (and therefore not need to resort to medications) you need to keep the water health, to keep the water health you need to understand the nitrogen cycle. The link in my sig 'whats cycling' explains the process and why you need test kits, so have a read through that, once you've understood it you can keep the water clean and healthy and the fish clean and healthy.

The second important thing to do is stock the tank to a sensible level, you've two time bombs waiting to go off in your tank basically, firstly the plecs, if they do turn out to be one of the larger species it's bad news, so try to get an ID on the species, if they get too big then return them to the store or give them to your friend with the 120gallon tank as that should be a big enough home for them. The second timebomb is livebearers, you've said one of them is pregnant already, the other will follow suit shortly afterwards, they have LOTS and LOTS of babies, the tank will very quickly become overcrowded and then the water gets messed up, you then gets diseases. It's all about keeping the water clean. There are plenty of small colourful community fish which will not breed without any encouragement from you so stocking your tank with those species would be a more sensible option.

 

[SJ2K]

 

[Aleydis]

ok it sounds like you want a fairly low maintenance tank that'll be nice and keep running itself, shouldn't have too many problems causing you to reach for medications and such like.

the best way to keep things easy and natural is get the tank set up correctly with an appropriate level of fish. you don't need a huge amount of time/money/effort to do this, just a little bit of reading and sensible action.

Firstly, to keep a tank healthy (and therefore not need to resort to medications) you need to keep the water health, to keep the water health you need to understand the nitrogen cycle. The link in my sig 'whats cycling' explains the process and why you need test kits, so have a read through that, once you've understood it you can keep the water clean and healthy and the fish clean and healthy.

The second important thing to do is stock the tank to a sensible level, you've two time bombs waiting to go off in your tank basically, firstly the plecs, if they do turn out to be one of the larger species it's bad news, so try to get an ID on the species, if they get too big then return them to the store or give them to your friend with the 120gallon tank as that should be a big enough home for them. The second timebomb is livebearers, you've said one of them is pregnant already, the other will follow suit shortly afterwards, they have LOTS and LOTS of babies, the tank will very quickly become overcrowded and then the water gets messed up, you then gets diseases. It's all about keeping the water clean. There are plenty of small colourful community fish which will not breed without any encouragement from you so stocking your tank with those species would be a more sensible option.

Thank you! You've been very helpful. I will try to get an ID on the plecos, but there is still a problem:
-The store I bought it from does not accept refunds or the returning of any fish
-My friend with the 120 gallon tank does not want any plecos. She has two already.

As for the live bearers, I do have a second smaller tank if the fish get out of hand, although the smaller one does not have heaters or filters. I will try to get a heater for the small tank. Water changes will be more frequent there so hopefully my lack of a filter won't be a big deal. And if they give birth to too much (I have a breeding tank, but for this specific reason I've decided not to use it), and the other fish don't eat it, I'll give them to my other friends as part-time pets. Unfortunately all Cassandra (The friend with the 120 gallon tank) can do for me is offer me advice. Her tank is fully stocked and she doesn't want any new fish.

I will DEFINITELY consider getting a test kit of some kind, though. I've been wanting to get one for ages, my my family thinks I don't need one. I personally think I do, since I keep cardinal tetras in my tank. I'll buy one behind their backs!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok i can see you have plans for passing on babies, but the population will grow at such a rate that the small tank will quickly be overcrowded and all your friends won't have room to take the babies from you.

with one pair of livebearers you can expect maybe 30/40 young every couple of months. can you really find a home for 60 platys and 60 guppies every single month, and that's without keeping any of the young, if you do they will also breed and start producing their own.

as for re-homing the fish, we have a buy sell swap forum, you could offer then up in there see if anyone else wants them, i'm not sure what is available in Canada but have a look around on the internet. In the UK we have a classified advert website set up specifically for buying and selling fish and fishtank equipment. There may be something similar in Canada.

 

[shelaghfishface]

im sorry that you will have to go behind the familys back to get one ( testing kit) but beleive me ,and miss wiggle can back me on this one, i got my tank into such a dangerous mess when i wasnt testing ( not that i didnt have tests but i was wrongly making assumptions), its it vital that you test, its the first call, as an "illness" could quite easily turn outto be high ammonia, nitrite, and you would treat the fish to no avail, i can second the part about the livebearers, i have just got my very first female guppies, as i am now preapared for the off spring, i have bred platys and they breed at the drop of a hat, so you can be prepared for the numbers above++
its fair enough that you want a tank with little maintanence, and illness ( its what we all want) but effort has to be made to get it to this stage, regular water changes, excellent diet, compatible tank mates etc...
maybe you could introduce your family to this forum, let them have a read of problems that can happen and good that comes out of it ( tho best to show them the non emergency parts first), in just about evey post there will be a quote about water testing, and im sure you will go someway to sway them in your favour, im not sure how old you are, but if you are only young, then what about comprimising (sp) do some chores in turn for the testing kits and bits and bobs, as with everyting in life comprimise can be met, with maturity and paitenece i wish you all the best i like the way you are thinking, very mature, but i feel a bit dis heatend that you would have to decieve your family , just for a test kit, parents can be really a pain sometimes lol, ask my sons and daughter
i wish you tonne sof luck with this and hope they come round to your way of thinking, it would make life so much easier for you
shelaghy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Aleydis]

Thanks so much... Apparently one of my guppies gave birth early in the morning. Since I was SO inexperienced, I didn't put her in the breeding tank, but I found 2 fry in the breeding tank today anyways... The rest must have gotten gobbled up.

As for how to get rid of the fry-
Selling them over the net cannot even be considered. I'm simply too young.
I could just let them be... And if the fish give birth and the fry get gobbled up, so let it be. (I'm sorry for my cruelness)
Or... I have a friend with 5 gigantic turtles... They love live food. This is the last option I could take. I can easily get rid of any unwanted fish this way, though.

Today I'm going out- I'll go and get some testers. My family is so hard to be with... They look at me weirdly when I mention feeding veggies to my fish. When they found out I was feeding peas to my fish one day, they flipped and said I was killing them. I did feed exactly as I was supposed to (Boil frozen peas, cool, peel off skin, smoosh...)...

I told them my plans to get a tester. Their response was:

'So if you get this tester thing... You'll see that 'Ooops! My PH is too high' and you'll have to go buy more medication for that. Or, you'll go 'Oops! My ammonia levels are too high' and you'll have to buy more medication. You're DRUGGING your fish! Once you stop giving it to them, they'll die! Just leave them alone!'

I don't care. I'm getting the testers.
Thanks, everyone.

 

[simonas]

my sons tank which is about the same size as yours is overstocked but has always been the most successful. I thnk that its because I do very regular changes and tank maintenance on it. I had same problem, a friend gave us some fish and they couldn't go in my tanks as they would be eaten so they went in my sons, it loks well but 1 or 2 changes of water a week for that one

good luck.

I would consider getting shut of plecs though

 

[shelaghfishface]

Thanks so much... Apparently one of my guppies gave birth early in the morning. Since I was SO inexperienced, I didn't put her in the breeding tank, but I found 2 fry in the breeding tank today anyways... The rest must have gotten gobbled up.

As for how to get rid of the fry-
Selling them over the net cannot even be considered. I'm simply too young.
I could just let them be... And if the fish give birth and the fry get gobbled up, so let it be. (I'm sorry for my cruelness)
Or... I have a friend with 5 gigantic turtles... They love live food. This is the last option I could take. I can easily get rid of any unwanted fish this way, though.

Today I'm going out- I'll go and get some testers. My family is so hard to be with... They look at me weirdly when I mention feeding veggies to my fish. When they found out I was feeding peas to my fish one day, they flipped and said I was killing them. I did feed exactly as I was supposed to (Boil frozen peas, cool, peel off skin, smoosh...)...

I told them my plans to get a tester. Their response was:

'So if you get this tester thing... You'll see that 'Ooops! My PH is too high' and you'll have to go buy more medication for that. Or, you'll go 'Oops! My ammonia levels are too high' and you'll have to buy more medication. You're DRUGGING your fish! Once you stop giving it to them, they'll die! Just leave them alone!'

I don't care. I'm getting the testers.
Thanks, everyone.

oh thats a shame..... regular water changes- small ones that the key and the good diet you have them on. maybe you have a local independent fish store that will trade the fish for some plants for you ( keep the water good)

shelagh xxxxxx

 

[Corleone]

'So if you get this tester thing... You'll see that 'Ooops! My PH is too high' and you'll have to go buy more medication for that. Or, you'll go 'Oops! My ammonia levels are too high' and you'll have to buy more medication. You're DRUGGING your fish! Once you stop giving it to them, they'll die! Just leave them alone!'

I'm glad you're going ahead and getting the tester. But here's a good counter argument to use on your family:

If your pH is stable, it matters quite little what it actually is. Adjusting it is best left to the experienced fishkeepers, and is only necessary for certain sensitive fish (and even there, I've heard of discus thriving in a pH rivaling my own). I usually don't even check what the actual value is, I recognize the normal color and watch for any change. As for ammonia and so forth, the solution isn't medication, just water changes.

It's a shame, but your parents have a very old fashioned way of thinking about fish. I'm glad (and your fish are, too!) that you're not following the same way of thinking. I have an aunt who has the same way of thinking, and I've been trying to lead by example. I casually bring up my tank and all the wonderful fish I have and how long I've had them with so few deaths, while she loses nearly everything she puts in her tank, and honestly believes most fish have a natural lifespan of around a month. I haven't gotten through yet

 

[OldMan47]

to the hobby Aleydis. You have an advantage that many new fishkeepers don't have. You know people personally that can look at a tank and know from experience whether there is a stocking problem by what they see in front of them. I wouldn't depend entirely on your friends for everything but I bet they can help you get through the first few months of trying to run a tank properly. Experience is always better than book learning when it comes to practical fish keeping. They know a lot about the water that you get through your tap and how their fish react to it. That part is something you can't get here although, with enough chemical test results, we can often help you.