Fish - Too Many, Too Few, Or Just Right?

[Xreaper]

Hi all,

I currently have a 30 gallon tank with the following fish:

(3) Rosy Barbs
(3) Tiger Barbs
(1) Red Tailed Shark
(1) Angelicus Loach

I was doing some reading and it seems the loaches very much prefer to be in groups; with that i want to get 2 more Angelicus Loaches but I certainly don't want to overcrowd the tank. Adding those 2 would give me a total of 10 fish in a 30 gallon tank, at the moment none are more than 2 inches. Opinions?

~George

 

[thezookeeper]

Hi all,

I currently have a 30 gallon tank with the following fish:

(3) Rosy Barbs
(3) Tiger Barbs
(1) Red Tailed Shark
(1) Angelicus Loach

I was doing some reading and it seems the loaches very much prefer to be in groups; with that i want to get 2 more Angelicus Loaches but I certainly don't want to overcrowd the tank. Adding those 2 would give me a total of 10 fish in a 30 gallon tank, at the moment none are more than 2 inches. Opinions?

~George

There is a formula I use from a book by Dr. William Innes that gives you a rough way to set how many fish your tank can handle. This formula is based on water surface area and is without aeration or filters, which will allow you a few more fish. Here is the formula

size of fish , surface area per fish

Guppies 3 sq inches
platies 8 sq inches
medium barbs 20 sq inches
large cichlids 54 sq inches


This has worked great for me over the years and with aeration and filters running you can get away with adding a few extra fish to your tank.

 

[kribensis12]

I think you should get rid of the RTBS as tey can be wuite mean, i had one completely kill everything in my tank.

 

[wendywc]

Definately get more loaches. And either go for a good sized group of rosy barbs or a good sized group of tiger barbs.