Is My Tank Overstocked? How Many More Fish Can I Add? Plants? Species?

[tropicallover]

Hello! 20 gallon tropical tank.
I have:
6 Zebrafish (Danios)
4 Mollies
1 Male Betta

I made the mistake of taking my LFS advice and adding them all last weekend at once on the same day so I am going to wait till tomorrow or so to get more plants. However i need an algae/food eater like a Catfish. Also I would like snails and a few more fish?

Is my tank overstocked? What more can i get?

 

[Fishy friend2]

Hello! 20 gallon tropical tank.
I have:
6 Zebrafish (Danios)
4 Mollies
1 Male Betta

I made the mistake of taking my LFS advice and adding them all last weekend at once on the same day so I am going to wait till tomorrow or so to get more plants. However i need an algae/food eater like a Catfish. Also I would like snails and a few more fish?

Is my tank overstocked? What more can I get?

first of all your tank is not cycled so you cannot get any more fish at all and your stocking isn't very good. Sooooooo......

6 zebra danios- zebra danios aren't suitible for that tank as they require a 3 foot tank minimum, and are temperate fish so have to have temperatures of 72-74 as when they are in higher temperatures they tend to get sick, and die quicker.

Mollies- require hard alkaline water, and slightly brackish, which I'm guessing you can't provide, and they also need a larger tank than you have

Betta- the betta is fine

Most "algae eaters" don't actually eat algae and all they do is add to your bio load, so if you have an algae problem you are better off just doing the job yourself

 

[AdamHawk]

That's give or take 90 litres. I would say that it is a nice comfort ammont you have already. I would not get a catfish for the sake of eating algea as the case will be they prob won't eat as much as you may think. I would suggest some small snails. Catfish yes and no, pendant on substrate, maybe a small one would be ok if you really wanted one. Or a few Cory's.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Cories really don't help with algae in my personal experience,

 

[Dieses Madchen]

The best algae cleaner is your hand and scrubby pad. And there really arent many plecs that can be happy in a 20g tank, short of a Zebra plec, but thats a 250 dollar fish that requires experience. They are right about the danios, the tank really isn't suitable for them. Mollies, aside from being brackish, also need a female to male ratio of 2:1 at least, but the more ladies the better. Livebearer males will bully females to death for the sake of mating so you want plenty of ladies for him to divide his attentions. If you just want a fish for the bottom of your tank, then cories would be the way, although you will still need to keep up with your algae. BUT as it was stated, you really need to get your tank cycled first. Look at the link in my signature for fish-in cycling.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Oh and in my own experience, cories are another fish that do better in mature setups, when I setup my tank I added some Pygmy cories, and half of them died within a week. And you also need to provide things to feed them other than algae
Good luck, I hope you get your stocking sorted out and everything goes well from there

Are you another member that goes by a different name, your situation sounds exactly like that of another member,

 

[tropicallover]

Thanks! And Nope...Only have one account...

 

[Fishy friend2]

Hmmm, youre situation sends like that of another, sorry for referring you to as fishboy, I cod have sworn you were him, he had a 20 galln tank, with 6 zebras, 4 mollies, and 1 betta, use nutrafin, and stress zyme, said that he made the mistake of listening to the LFS. And if I may ask. How long has this tank been setup for

 

[tropicallover]

Dont worry about it. The reason I used the Stress Zyme and Nutrafin Cycle was becuase it came with my starter kit. My tank has been set up for only a few days. Since Friday. I feel horrible and like an idiot. I know to never take LFS's advice.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Oh, okay, and it's kinda weird...... That's when they setup there tank, and they made there last post 8 minutes before you joined

 

[MissT]

Hi, I have had my tank set up for 3 months, next to a window (although not in direct sunlight), with 4 Bristlenose plecs and I haven't seen a single spec of algae. I've no idea if your tank is big enough for Bristlenose, but they seem to do the job where algae is concerned! And they demolish the algae wafers/cucmber/green stuff I give, so I would guess my tank doesn't produce enough algae for them.
Not sure if that helps, but I fancied putting in my two pennies' worth!