How Many Fish Is 'too Many'?

[sussexgirl]

I have the Aqua one 620T aquarium (Dimensions Tank: 62W x 38D x 72H cm).

I have followed the advice of my LFS as regards to stocking the tank but having read some of the posts here I am interested in what some of you may advise regarding how many fish to buy.

I currently have: 6 platies, 1 tiny silver mollie, 2 corydoras sterbai catfish, 2 long finned german ram, 6 neon tetras.

The tank is planted out with 5 live plants and I do a 20% water change weekly along with checking all my water levels.

My LFS's (we have two nearby) say 2 different things. The first one told me that you can stock a tank my size with anything from 30-40 fish. I have to say this sounds a bit much. The second store (where I've bought all my fish so far) say that I should stop at 25 small fish. This also sounds quite a lot to me. I have decided to stop with what I've got for the time being but had considered a couple of Discus at some point in the future. Then I have received more conflicting advice! The first LFS told me that I would need to remove my platies and mollie from the tank if I had Discus (and that they would buy them from me) whilst the second shop told me that you can keep Discus with platties.

Any advice appreciated folks!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi, your basic rule of thumb for stocking is 1 inch per gallon. so check the adult size of all the fish you want to keep, add it together and the most this should reach is the same as the number of gallons in your tank. I should stress though, this is just a guideline, some fish need much more room than that, also things like over filtering your tank can enable you to have more fish but (now I don't mean to sound patronising, just don't want you to try and start something and have it all go horribly wrong) thats the sort of thing that's probably best left to slightly more experienced fishkeepers.

Your tank's around 30 gallons so you can aim for about 30 fish inches, not sure about all the adult sizes of your fish but I think it sounds like your perfectly stocked size wise, only comment I would make is cory's like to be kept in slightly bigger groups so maybe consider getting 2 more?

I don't know a lot about discus but I think the general consensus is if you want them to breed and be happy, your best keeping them in a species tank with nothing else. As with anything there are exceptions to the rule, but I think to start with them it's probably best to keep to a species tank. If you wanted to keep them I'd advise emptying the tank of it's current contents and just getting a couple..... or start to join the sufferes of mts (multiple tank syndrome) and get another tank for them

Sounds like your doing the right things maintenance wise, are you gravel vaccing? It's especially important if your keeping cory's, if you don't keep your substrate clean they can pick up nasty infections.

Good luck and enjoy

 

[sussexgirl]

hi, your basic rule of thumb for stocking is 1 inch per gallon. so check the adult size of all the fish you want to keep, add it together and the most this should reach is the same as the number of gallons in your tank. I should stress though, this is just a guideline, some fish need much more room than that, also things like over filtering your tank can enable you to have more fish but (now I don't mean to sound patronising, just don't want you to try and start something and have it all go horribly wrong) thats the sort of thing that's probably best left to slightly more experienced fishkeepers.

Your tank's around 30 gallons so you can aim for about 30 fish inches, not sure about all the adult sizes of your fish but I think it sounds like your perfectly stocked size wise, only comment I would make is cory's like to be kept in slightly bigger groups so maybe consider getting 2 more?

I don't know a lot about discus but I think the general consensus is if you want them to breed and be happy, your best keeping them in a species tank with nothing else. As with anything there are exceptions to the rule, but I think to start with them it's probably best to keep to a species tank. If you wanted to keep them I'd advise emptying the tank of it's current contents and just getting a couple..... or start to join the sufferes of mts (multiple tank syndrome) and get another tank for them

Sounds like your doing the right things maintenance wise, are you gravel vaccing? It's especially important if your keeping cory's, if you don't keep your substrate clean they can pick up nasty infections.

Good luck and enjoy

Thanks for the advice, I think that you're right about the Corys. I'm totally enchanted by them and they are by far my most favourite fish in the tank. So I think I will add a couple more and then leave it there for a few months. Yes, I am gravel vaccing (just finished doing it actually!). I never thought tropical fish keeping would be so time consuming but do you know what? I absolutley LOVE it!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ha ha glad to hear it

once you get used to doing the maintenance you get it all done a bit quicker....... until you end up getting loads of tanks and it takes days

yeah cory's are great..... woke up the other morning thinking how great it would be to be a cory, they look like they have so much fun

 

[sussexgirl]

yeah cory's are great..... woke up the other morning thinking how great it would be to be a cory, they look like they have so much fun
[/quote]

OK, now you're worrying me!

I've worked out how many inches for my tank. If all my fish grow to their potential size then that's 38 inches. My tank at 95L converts to 25.1 gallons so I think I'm overstocked. Hopefully we'll be ok with good maintainance and I won't be adding any more. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Neal]

Atleast your a begginer who accepts your tank is overstocked!

Neal