My 55 Gallon Stock

[kuruptedseed]

Hey all

I have a 55 gal community tank with a moderate amount of floating/anchord plastic plants along with plenty of hiding places. I have 2 mechanical filters both being penguin biowheels 200/350.. Stats are almost perfect.. Nitrates run a bit high at 40, although it's 30 right out of the tap. I balance things with 2 10% water changes per week.. My tank has been established for almost 9 months with a water temp of 77-78. My inhabitants are:

-17 black neon tetras
-16 cardinal tetras
-12 golden pristella tetras
-8 von rio tetras
-4 albono cories
-2 spotted silver dollars
-1 betta
-1 common pleco (6in)

Do you think I am overstocked? Could I possibly add anything? Should I move anything to another tank? Opinions and ideas please

 

[drufly]

Imo you sound good with your stock only thing i would do is rehome the betta

 

[PRW1988]

Stock looks good I don't know why drufly thinks you should rehome the betta, I think it's in a good home already. In regards to your stock I'd add a few more fish. The cory catfish I'd add 2 more to make that 6, 4 to the von rios to make 12 and 1 black neon to make 18.

 

[trojannemo]

I don't know why drufly thinks you should rehome the betta, I think it's in a good home already.

tetras are popular fin-nippers, which are not a good combination with most bettas.

in terms of bio-load, if your stats are fine that's great for you, but you are severely overstocked. you have roughly 60 fish, which translates into roughly 120 inches of fish (or more) in 55 gallons (or less) of water. i don't see how anyone can say that is fine. even in a heavily planted tanked that's a lot of bioload, and you say you have all plastic plants...so how are your fish doing? does your tank look like a LFS holding tank?
i dont intend to be mean but it just sounds like a hell of a lot of fish.

lastly, that common pleco will grow to 12"+, and that tank is not big enough for him. not to mention he makes more waste than what he eats in algae so it's not a good tradeoff...

good luck with your tank, but i would highly recommed rehoming some of those fish...remember that just because your water parameters are "safe" doesn't mean your fish are happy.

 

[kuruptedseed]

Thanks for all the replies.. Just want to say that my tank looks fantastic nothing like local fish store at all.. Cardinals stay mostly behind/in and around the plants with golden pristella's occupying mostly the bottom front... von rio's are everywhere and my black neons stay towords the top or around plants.. Betta loves the top near surface with plants and the spotted sd's chill where ever... They all have plenty of room to swin.. I will say the pleco is looking uncomfortable as he has grown 2+ inches in last 3-4 months.. I will try and take a few photos of my tank for you all.. My plan is to buy a 110 or 125g around 1st of the year.. When people come over to visit they are amazed by it and want to sit and watch.. Not bragn just stating that it looks nothing like lfs.. It seems like a lot fish I know I have thought of taking the vonrio's out but I hate netting out fish... lol anyways ty for all the thoughts

 

[tyyrlym]

Some tetras are fin nippers.

The pleco is going to get big and when he does he'll be as much a bioload as all your tetras combined.

 

[ALW]

-2 spotted silver dollars

IMO need to be kept in groups of about 5!

 

[PRW1988]

I don't know why drufly thinks you should rehome the betta, I think it's in a good home already.

tetras are popular fin-nippers, which are not a good combination with most bettas.

Well this is true, most fin nippers, if kept in shoals large enough, will leave longer finned fish alone. For instance I had a school of 3 Angelfish in my 55gallon tank with about 16 Tiger barbs, the Angels never had their fins nipped.

I've also had a shoal of 8 red minor tetras with a betta and the bettas fins were fine.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Agree with the common plec might need to be rehoused...eventually it's going to get longer than your tank is wide.
Really don't know much about silver dollars so not going to comment there, and depending on the betta (some people do keep short finned varieties) it may or may not be happy in a tank with so many quick agile fish.

As for the "inch per gallon" rule (gag)...
- Are nitrate levels properly managed?
- Are the fish getting enough oxygen?
- Is proper swim space provided?
- Are all fish able to get a proper share of food?
- Are all the fish in good coloration, and able to display normal behavior?
If the answer to all of the above is yes...then you're good to go. The inch per gallon "rule" is such a rough guideline that it's almost worthless except for saving the inexperienced from killing off everything. Not that I advocate extreme overstocking...but there are so many variables in fishkeeping that it's hard to use that sort of guideline to tell someone if they are overstocked or not.

 

[trojannemo]

and depending on the betta (some people do keep short finned varieties) it may or may not be happy in a tank with so many quick agile fish.

i keep a white plakat male in my rainbow tank as well, so i'm well aware of short-finned varieties. however, it happens that the majority of people keep VT, CT, or HM bettas, all of which would be highly succeptible to fin nipping.

regarding the above post about large shoals, i haven't had that experience so i wouldnt know that exception. but as i hang around the betta boards a lot, it's just normally not recommended to keep them together.

As for the "inch per gallon" rule (gag)...
- Are nitrate levels properly managed?
- Are the fish getting enough oxygen?
- Is proper swim space provided?
- Are all fish able to get a proper share of food?
- Are all the fish in good coloration, and able to display normal behavior?
If the answer to all of the above is yes...then you're good to go. The inch per gallon "rule" is such a rough guideline that it's almost worthless except for saving the inexperienced from killing off everything. Not that I advocate extreme overstocking...but there are so many variables in fishkeeping that it's hard to use that sort of guideline to tell someone if they are overstocked or not.

i also overstock my tank slightly, but we're talking about more fish than gallons of water. it's different having 5x 4" fish in a 10 gallon tank and having 12x 2" fish. i'm more concerned about the amount of fish than the size they'll get to, if that makes sense.

i visited a lady near my house with a 30G tank with about 15-20 6"+ fish on it, including a 11" pleco, a 12" koi and two 8" angels, among others. water quality? great. but is it right to keep them like that? that's another question.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Well and that's why I made the comment about proper swim space. Cardinals, black neons, etc are such tiny fish that even when active and shoaling they should have plenty of swim room in a 55 gallon tank. Activity levels are an important aspect to deciding proper stocking. Keeping large active fish in a small tank is poor fishkeeping no matter how clean the water is.