How Many Fish For A 240l Tank?

[ey2006]

I was just wondering how many fish I could fit (roughly) in a 240L tank? Measurements are 1200mm x 500mm x 400mm.

I plan to have the following (though I still haven't made up my mind yet!)

- 20 Zebra Danios
- 6 Platys
- 2 Pearl Gourami's
- 6 Panda Corydoras
- 3 Clown Loaches
- 2 Yoyo Loaches
- 10 Neon or Cardinal tetras
- 1 Bristlenose pleco

Is that too many fish? If so, how many am I over by?

Most of the fish above wont grow too large, except the Clowns, which I think might be a problem as they grow pretty large.

Perhaps I should cut down on the number of danios? Since they are top swimmers and clowns are bottom feeders, I thought they wouldn't really get into each others way.

Thanks in advance.

 

[chrismr]

Have not worked out whether stocking amounts are too high or low, but just wanted to comment on a couple of other things.

Firstly, the clown loaches might get too big for that tank. maybe stick with yoyos?

Secondly, danios are manic things and may distress some of the calmer species you were thinking of - well, the pearl gouramis...

I would suggest go with a larger school of cardinals and skip on the danios.

And maybe go for a couple of ancistrus.

I would skip on the platies, but I amnot a fan of livebearers.... just so common

 

[ey2006]

Thanks chrismr, with the Clowns, I planned to get 2-3 small, juvenile ones and as they grow really slowly, once they get bigger, I plan to move them to a bigger tank.

Would the danio's activeness cause stress on most other calmer fish species in addition to gouramis? I had danios with cardinals and pearls in my old tank and they seemed to get along fine.

Any suggestions from others? Thanks

 

[ey2006]

bump

 

[BOD]

i wouldnt say skip the platties - whats wrong with livebearers just because you dont like them - if you look around live bearers are some of the most colorful and interesting fish, i just bought 1 platty and 1 swordtail yesterday, they are much more interesting to look at than some other fish.

 

[ey2006]

i wouldnt say skip the platties - whats wrong with livebearers just because you dont like them - if you look around live bearers are some of the most colorful and interesting fish, i just bought 1 platty and 1 swordtail yesterday, they are much more interesting to look at than some other fish.

Hi BOD, I would agree with the platties, but maybe its because they are so common? Another plus for the livebearers is that they are quite hardy. Do you know if swordtails and platties would get along or even breed if the conditions were right?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I was just wondering how many fish I could fit (roughly) in a 240L tank? Measurements are 1200mm x 500mm x 400mm.

I plan to have the following (though I still haven't made up my mind yet!)

- 20 Zebra Danios
- 6 Platys
- 2 Pearl Gourami's
- 6 Panda Corydoras
- 3 Clown Loaches
- 2 Yoyo Loaches
- 10 Neon or Cardinal tetras
- 1 Bristlenose pleco

Is that too many fish? If so, how many am I over by?

Most of the fish above wont grow too large, except the Clowns, which I think might be a problem as they grow pretty large.

Perhaps I should cut down on the number of danios? Since they are top swimmers and clowns are bottom feeders, I thought they wouldn't really get into each others way.

Thanks in advance.

The tank is about 60gals(roughly), although i'm not that great at working out gallons, a couple of clown loaches should be ok in there although that really is around the minimum recomended tank size for them;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=34953

For the platies i think those are good but you will either need 2-3females per male or go for a single gender group as the males can harrass the females a lot for sex- more females and the more the agression is dispersed. The same goes for males in an all-male group.
The rest of the fish are fine except some are really not suited to a new tank set up at all like the panda cories and cardinal/neon tetras- its generally advised they don't go in a tank under 6months mature as they are very sensitive to wate quality, and new tanks often don't give them the stable enviroment they need to survive and thrive.
The pearl gouramis though should not be mixed with overly-active or nippy fish, as they are slow fish and their long "feelers" are often prone to getting nipped by the more nippy fish types like danios. Mixing gouramis together can be tricky as well because they can often be social troubles between the genders.
I don't know much on yoyo loaches though so i couldn't say on those, but you stocking plans look fine in general- i would decide between having either the gouramis or danios, and then add the neon/cardinal tetras and panda cories once the tank is fully matured at a much later date .

 

[Nim]

IMO Danios will actually be able to stress out other fish including Cardinals and the likes. Besids, they will be competing for food with the smaller ones and will probably account of more then 70% of the food you feed (if its flakes, sinking food is a different percentage but danios may not get a lot of sinking stuff).

Cardinals I think are pretty hardy fish despite what the books state. The current state of Neons has deteriorated so much due to inbreeding that I personally think its a waste of money buying neons. I have never been able to keep mine alive for more then 2 months and my cardinals rule

Other colourful choices: Herliquine Rasbora, Cherry barbs, Pentazona Barb (5 banded barb.. like a slim tiger barb but not as vicious).. plenty of tetras, Pencil fish (you cannot have danios if you want pencil fish as they spook too easily), Rainbow fish but these are again fast.

Clowns IMHO are also ok for the tank that size. They rarely exceed 6" size in captivity and they also take a dog's entire life time to reach their full estimated captive size of 8". I have a couple of 5" beasts (4yr old) in my 240L tank and I dont think its small for them.

I cannot comment on Panda corydoras as I have never kept them.

Pearl gouramis are lovely fish but will be happy only if you have any floating plants and not too much water flow... Other non dwarf gouramis can adapt better to a general community then pearls.

I would also add a Red Tailed Shark in there as it looks brilliant as a solitary grazer in a tank this size

Platies... not a fan of livebearer myself but I do love Platies and Sword tails just because of the vivid coluration they come in. In a tank of Tetras, it is unlikely that their fry will survive.

Stocking otherwise looks ok. A lot depends on your plants for the filter and plants for the tank.. if you only have an internal filter then I must say that you may be overstocked..

Nim

 

[BOD]

Most live bearers get along they are peaceful fish, and in most conditions when you have males and females they will breed, but as tokis said a ratio of 1 male : 2-3 females.

Even if you want a single sex group and go for females you will most probably get fry for quite some time as most females are already pregnant when you buy them.

as i said they make a good colorful addition to the aquarium...if you actually look around a pet store apart from one or two fish they are all mostly the same colors.

 

[Nim]

Livebearers can be very tricky m8. Females are usually very peaceful but males are 60% of the times very aggressive. They dont show their aggression if they have plenty of females available but on an ocassion I have had a Male Platy (one of the earlier broods of the stock) had become a terror in my mbuna cichlid tank (I had to move it there as it would nip at every other fish in sight). Within hours of moving it, it tried to mate with a male yellow labidochromis (I think it succeeded as well) and then it went after the pseudotropheus who used to fight back but eventually gave up fighting back as the platy would not nudge.

After remaining with the mbunas for a year I moved him back to my main community tank (that has male bettas) and he was such a gentleman.. Sad that he died a couple of weeks earlier .. he was born on the 3rd of July 2002 (Just 2 days after my birthday).
I have experienced similar aggression in Sword tails and male guppies and mollies as well many times especially once they mature up but this platy was an exception to everything.

Nim

 

[BOD]

liverbearers are not tricky they are one of the easiet fish to look after which is why they are good beginner fish, and nim why on earth did you put a platy in a mbuna tank in the first place mbuna are species tanks, which shouldnt have community fish in with them, it was probably attacking them as it was in the wrong enviroment, also a platty in no way could succeed in mate with a yellow lab.

And you cant base your whole knowledge on 1 platty which you had which was agressive.

 

[jkrekord]

nim that is utter nonsense 60% of livebearers arent aggresive pearl gouramis would be fine and whilst i LOVE red tail black sharks they would terrorize the other fish i know from experience you have to be careful with what you stock with them

 

[Nim]

Its not nonsense.. why do you think they tell you to have 1:3 male female ratio?
Why is it not reccomended to keep only male guppies? the 60% I was mentioning was about the males and not the females and they do have some or the other sort of aggression. You can moderate the aggression by having plenty of females but that does not mean they are peaceful.

I put the male platy with the mbunas because its aggression was comparable and I did it with utmost care and not just dump it in. It lived with them for about a year without any damage but it just learned that its not the king of the world and it got sorted.

Anyways, this discussion has nothing to do with this thread so if you guys want to discuss this further, I can start a new thread.

Nim

 

[BOD]

the 1:3 female ratio isnt for aggression is so the females dont get pestered to mate all the time.

 

[jkrekord]

exactly BOD and the reason you shouldnt keep all males is SOMETIMES they nip each others fins but not aggressivley