Bit Of Advice Needed For My Levels

[Leadfoot]

did a test today and found out that my pH level is 7.2 and Nitrate level is 10 have been told that these levels are good for the type of fish that I'm keeping...is this information right or should I be doing something to lower the levels a bit more?

 

[Boxermom]

Those levels are fine. Just an fyi, you are quite overstocked, and you have shoaling fish that do better in larger numbers. Additionally, if you have a common pleco, you are going to cause it to be stunted if you don't rehome him very soon. Common plecos need about 90 gallons (about 340 liters) each, they get quite huge and have a very large bioload due to creating a LOT of poop.

 

[Leadfoot]

which ones are the shoaling fish? if I do have to get rid of the plec what is the absolute maximum amount of fish i can keep if only keeping tetras etc?

 

[Boxermom]

Zebra danios, WCMMs, and all the tetras are all shoaling fish and should be in a school of at least 6. If you are only keeping tetras, how many you can keep depends on which ones you keep. With thin bodied fish such as those, the general rule of thumb is one inch (of their adult size) fish per gallon, so you can have about 15 inches of fish.

WCMMs can live in tropical tanks, but they do better in cooler tanks.

I would recommend keeping the neons, glowlights and serpaes and rehoming all of the other fish.

 

[Leadfoot]

just been told that the plec I have is a dwarf or miniature plec and I can have an absolute maximum of 24 inches of fish!


in that case i'm well within my limits

 

[Boxermom]

I've never heard of either a dwarf or miniature pleco. Could you get the actual name of it? And no, you can't have a max of 24 inches of fish in a 15 gallon tank. Not sure who told you that but that's waaay overstocked and your fish will suffer for it. For narrow body fish such as tetras, as I said, the rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon. For thicker bodied fish, its less fish per gallon. Either way, there's simply not enough room in a 15g for 24 inches of fish without overloading it. Oh, and even if that were true, you would still be overstocked. You measure by the fish's adult length.