I'm afraid of overstocking my tank

[BrookeLea]

Maybe I should have found this out before I went out and bought more fish, but I'm not really sure how many are too many. Here is what I have in a 29 gallon tank.

1 pleco
2 cories
5 neon tetras
3 guppies
3 platies
7 mollies
1 tiny fry hiding under a rock. I can't fish that little bugger out.

Geez...that sounds like a lot! Have I done a bad thing here? Should I move some of them to a smaller tank? I'm doing a 30% weekly water change and all seems to be going well. They seem to have plenty of room to swim around and they don't look crowded to me, but I'm really not sure what "crowded" is in the fish world.

Also, in my 10 gallon fry tanks, I've got 17 black molly fry, 5 cremecicle molly fry and 3 tiny ones that I'm not sure who they came from. I have a few other pregnant fish and I'm not sure if it's ok to put their fry in with the other group. How many fry can I put into a 10 gallon?

Thanks!
Brooke

 

[Raechal]

1 pleco= 18 inches
2 cories = 4 inches
5 neon tetras= atleast 5 inches
3 guppies = atleast 3 inches
3 platies= 6 inches
7 mollies= 14 inches
1 tiny fry hiding under a rock. I can't fish that little bugger out

That is around 50 inches of fish in a 29 gallon tank. Usually people go by inch per gallon rule with smaller community fish like guppies and platties.

I would definately give your pleco back to your LFS if he is a common pleco. They get HUGE and produce a massive amount of waste. If you removed him from your tank, the load of fish waste would decrease significantly.

What do you plan on doing with all of your fry? If you can, try donating or selling them to a LFS. Then you can use the 10 gallon to put your 3 guppies and your neons in.

Then for the 29 gallon keep the platies and mollies and maybe add 2 or 3 more cories as they really appreciate being in larger groups.

As for 30% weekly water changes: Sounds good as long as you have that plec in there (assuming he is a common plec) water changes like that should help the other fish deal with all of his waste.

 

[BrookeLea]

Thanks for the help! I had never heard of the inch per gallon rule.

I'm kind of attached to my pleco. He is a common one, but I don't think I'll be giving him back. I'm willing to deal with taking care of the extra waste.

As for all the fry...I've got homes set up for them with my family and friends so that I can keep an eye out on them and make sure that they are taken care of. I think I'm going to get a couple of other tanks to seperate the boys and girls and try give them away in same sex groups to avoid more fry. Though I heard that it's not a good idea to put a group of males together with no female? And I've also read that they can change their sex, so I'm not sure that that plan will work out.

I think I will move my guppies and neons to their own tank. I'm going to have tanks everywhere!

I'll aslo add 2 or 3 more cories to the 29 gallon to make my other 2 cories happier.

Thank again!

 

[Annastasia]

I think I'm going to get a couple of other tanks to seperate the boys and girls and try give them away in same sex groups to avoid more fry. Though I heard that it's not a good idea to put a group of males together with no female? And I've also read that they can change their sex, so I'm not sure that that plan will work out.

When you have male Guppies with no females, sometimes they will fight and nip each other's tails.

Guppies can't change sex. Usually that's just a case of late developing males. They look like females for a long time, then develop their gonopodiums.

As for giving away all females, they still may have fry. Females can store sperm, and may have up to 7 batchs of fry without any male.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, just pointing a few things out!

 

[BrookeLea]

I don't have any guppy fry yet. Just mollies. The mollies are the ones that I've found homes for. Can they change sex? I'm aware that livebearers can store sperm, but I was planning on seperating the males and females before they were old enough to start mating. When can they start mating?

 

[Raechal]

The waste isn't the biggest problem about your common pleco. He will get atleast 18 inches and if you keep him in anything smaller than a 55 gallon he will be stunted and be very unhappy/unhealthy. They grow pretty slow as I have had mine for close to 2 years and he is about 6 or 7 inches long right now. I'd either give him away or keep him if you know you can upgrade to a 55 gallon or larger in the future.

 

[Raechal]

I don't have any guppy fry yet. Just mollies. The mollies are the ones that I've found homes for. Can they change sex? I'm aware that livebearers can store sperm, but I was planning on seperating the males and females before they were old enough to start mating. When can they start mating?

By the time you can tell their sexes I think they are already able to start mating, but the females won't be able to release fry until they are much older. My best bet would be to pick up a bumblebee catfish and put him in your 29 gallon. He'll pretty much take care of any fry problems.

 

[Annastasia]

I don't have any guppy fry yet. Just mollies. The mollies are the ones that I've found homes for. Can they change sex? I'm aware that livebearers can store sperm, but I was planning on seperating the males and females before they were old enough to start mating. When can they start mating?

Sorry, I got confused.

Mollies can't change sexes either. The males look like females for a long time, then you can see their gonopodium. If you closely, you may be able to tell the males and females apart at about 3-6 weeks, depending on the fry. Then you can probably seperate them before they start to breed.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

They grow pretty slow as I have had mine for close to 2 years and he is about 6 or 7 inches long right now.

actually, i just got rid of mine and he clocked in at a hefty 9 inches. i got him february of 04 at 2 inches. so that's 7 inches of growth in only a little over a year--about an inch every 2 months!

 

[Raechal]

They grow pretty slow as I have had mine for close to 2 years and he is about 6 or 7 inches long right now.

actually, i just got rid of mine and he clocked in at a hefty 9 inches. i got him february of 04 at 2 inches. so that's 7 inches of growth in only a little over a year--about an inch every 2 months!

Yea, I think mine is a little slow at growing. He was kept in a 55 gallon for two years so he isn't stunted. He's only around 6 inches right now if that. He gets fed plenty and always has a full stomach. *shrugs* Maybe he's a dwarf.