I think i've overstocked my tank (advice needed)

[1catfish]

I have a Tetra Starter Line 54L LED Fish Tank, which is about 60x30x30cm, in the tank i have a clown pleco, 2 honey gourami and 4 female platies. I saw a bunch of people keeping a clown pleco in a 10-15gallon tank online on youtube/reddit so i assumed mine would be ok, but with doing more research, a lot of places say 20gallon minimum. i'm worried about ammonia spikes and i'm starting to test regularly and so far its been ok.

To summarize, is there any way to make this work? or is this too overstocked?

EDIT: thanks for all the help everyone, I definitely feel better about my tank stocking

 

[emeraldking14 65]

I have a Tetra Starter Line 54L LED Fish Tank, which is about 60x30x30cm, in the tank i have a clown pleco, 2 honey gourami and 4 female platies. I saw a bunch of people keeping a clown pleco in a 10-15gallon tank online on youtube/reddit so i assumed mine would be ok, but with doing more research, a lot of places say 20gallon minimum. i'm worried about ammonia spikes and i'm starting to test regularly and so far its been ok.

To summarize, is there any way to make this work? or is this too overstocked?

Well, if your filter system can handle the bioload produced by your fish without any problems, the water parameters should still be okay no matter the tank size. But a clown pleco can grow out to 9-10cm (sometimes even a bit larger) most of the time. But if yours is still small, and if you leave them alone, they'll hardly move. Which won't add too much to the bioload. But I've got several ones of them in 60 liter tanks and I never had any problems. Those tanks are minimalistic in decor, so they have enough space to move around. Only stones or wooden deco are in there, which is good for them to hide.

 

[Boundava]

Clown plecos only get to 4" (8.8-10cm) max so you should be fine. They are panaques so need wood to rasp (and the aufwuchs that grows on it) and aren't the poop masters that royal plecos can be. Years ago I had 4 in a 75 gallon along with 2 BN plecos, a ton of small tetras (black neon and emperor), rainbows (threadfin/Gertrude, half a dozen gold dwarf gourami, 5 golden dojo loaches, and a partridge in a pear tree. It was heavily plantedand I had an Eheim 2217 setup on it, I also made 80% WC weekly.

So no, I don't think you are overstocked.

 

[TwoTankAmin29]

There is more to stocking than the nitrogen cycle. Swimming and living space matters as well. In addition the mix of fish we choose also matters. For example, small fish and predators do not usually mix well. The schoolers do so as a defense mechanism. So if we want to keep such fish and see them often schooling we need to have something that scares them into schooling. The trick here is to get something bigger which does not eat meat, I found that SAEs worked well to keep my cardinal tetras schooling a fair amount of the time but the SAE do not eat them so there actually was not real threat. But the cards do not know this.

Many smaller fish are hard wired to bolt for cover at the fist hint of something that might be a threat. If the smaller fish wait to determine what the big thing actually is, they may get the answer inside of its stomach.

About the last place I go to for good information on fish is YouTube. Sites like this one are a much better bet. And even better is Google Scholar. The sites I might use on Youtube for fish information are the ones which belong to the true experts. But one needs to know who these people are and then find their site, if they offer one. I also prefer to read the articles and books such people write.

Any fool can make a Youtube site etc. It is hard to separate the few true experts online from the myriad fools out there. The same applies to fish sites. For good info on your clown pleco (Panaqolus maccus) try Planet Catfish https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=734 and Seriously Fish https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/peckoltia-sp-l403/

(edited for typos)

 

[Jennet13 71]

Clown plecos only get to 4" (8.8-10cm) max so you should be fine. They are panaques so need wood to rasp (and the aufwuchs that grows on it) and aren't the poop masters that royal plecos can be. Years ago I had 4 in a 75 gallon along with 2 BN plecos, a ton of small tetras (black neon and emperor), rainbows (threadfin/Gertrude, half a dozen gold dwarf gourami, 5 golden dojo loaches, and a partridge in a pear tree. It was heavily plantedand I had an Eheim 2217 setup on it, I also made 80% WC weekly.

So no, I don't think you are overstocked

Can I just clarify for the benefit of 1catfish please? When you say it was heavily planted, did you mean that you had some plants with their bases in the water so that the roots were growing in the tank, or that it was heavily planted with aquatic plants. They may not have read enough in here yet to realise a lot of people use their aquariums to get good root system going in their aquariums. Thanks.

 

[Boundava]

Can I just clarify for the benefit of 1catfish please? When you say it was heavily planted, did you mean that you had some plants with their bases in the water so that the roots were growing in the tank, or that it was heavily planted with aquatic plants. They may not have read enough in here yet to realise a lot of people use their aquariums to get good root system going in their aquariums. Thanks.

Heavily planted with aquatic plants (also running CO2 with dry ferts at the time). Multiple anubias, aponogeton (crispus, ulvaceus, Madagascar lace and boivinianus) and tiger lotus.
I was just going through photos on my hard drive, if I can I will upload it when I am home.
Heavily planted was almost an understatement. I think I had some salvinia floating too...

 

[Jennet13 71]

Thank you. This will help anyone from UK that joins this site. I have spent hours on here researching stuff, and to be fair am fascinated by what I am coming across. Start with this site at the top of the web page, and then copy and past Latin name into new tab and just read and read. Not much of it stays between my ears, but I know I can always go back to reading if it's something I am interested in keeping.

 

[GaryE]

The OP doesn't have predators with prey, and all the fish are small enough that with regular maintenance, the tank and the fish should be fine.

Once you get your feet under you in the hobby, and develop a good understanding of why people do what they do (for better or worse) and then get an idea of how species diversity works, youtube can be a rich resource. There's no more accessible place to find habitat information. But that you didn't ask for. To your original question, with a decent filter and regular weekly water maintenance, you don't seem overstocked to me. It looks like you're taking a very responsible approach.