My 60Litre Bi-Orb Tank

[GemGem86]

Hi everyone

I have a 60litre Bi-Orb fish tank. The fish I have in here are:

1 x Dwarf Gourami
1 x Siamese Fighter Fish (that I LOVE as it shimmers pink!)
4 x Neon Tetras
Roughly 7 x Adult Platies (with a couple of babies in there too).

All of these fish have been getting on fine for ages and I have had no problems in the tank apart from my Gourami - but he is fighting fit now!!

Now, I would like advice on if you think I could have anything else in there? My reason for asking is when I set it up my local aquatic centre said that I can have upto 28 small fish in there - obviously with the fighter and Gourami I have a couple of bigger fish - do you think I should just leave it how it is due to how quickly platies tend to breed? Or what else would you suggest putting in there?

Thanks in advance.

Gemma

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Way overstocked for a standard shaped 60l, yeat alone a Biorb60l. Biorb's design means the surface area to volume ratio is poor, which not only limits the oxygen levels for the fish but also the vital bacteria that process the nitrite and ammonia.

I would rehome all but the Dwarf Gourami or the Betta (fighting fish) if you can only keep this Biorb, I suspect you like the Betta more, as both these fish can breathe air.

Alternatively, scour Ebay etc. for a bargain second hand tank and look for one that is at least 3-foot long. Bargains can be had, I won a 5x2x2 for £51 and a 4x1x1.25 for £25, plus I bought a 620T privately for £20 in the last couple of years.

 

[GemGem86]

Oh no
I feel awful now. I have had this tank since June 2011 and have stocked it in accordance to the advice from my aquatic centre

 

[GemGem86]

I forgot to add, thank you for the advice. I guess I am lucky in that I have never had any major problems then as you state it is 'overstocked'. I do feel awful now though, especially as I took the original advice from the people at the aquatic centre!

 

[sadguppy]

It's ok, don't feel too bad - a lot of people have made similar mistakes to begin with. I did!

Your platies will breed.... And breed.... And breed.... Although not all fry will survive it is likely that one or two from each batch might if you have enough hiding spots so I really wouldn't add any more fish as you are probably at your capacity already. I imagine you are quite attached to your fish by now and as they have seemed to survive this long, and through the cycling, maybe they will be ok. I am not an expert but if you have adequate filtration then there is no exact science to stocking tanks. But I would look into changing your tank for bigger one with more surface area if you want any more fish.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Sadly most fish stores will choose the extra fish sale over putting the brakes on a buyer's idea, we then naturally will be inclined to go back to buy more fish if something happens, which means even more sales (for a shop giving poor advice).

Like many fishkeepers, I went through phase in my early hobby days, where I kept adding new fish to my Rio240. Within several months, as the fish got bigger, some became very spiteful and caused a lot of stress in the tank. I then split the fish between a second hand 5x2x2 and the Rio240 and even then realised that I needed to rehome some fish like my 8 chunky ~15cm Weather Loaches who were bought as spindly ~6cm fish six months or so previous.

 

[sadguppy]

Sadly most fish stores will choose the extra fish sale over putting the brakes on a buyer's idea, we then naturally will be inclined to go back to buy more fish if something happens, which means even more sales (for a shop giving poor advice).

Like many fishkeepers, I went through phase in my early hobby days, where I kept adding new fish to my Rio240. Within several months, as the fish got bigger, some became very spiteful and caused a lot of stress in the tank. I then split the fish between a second hand 5x2x2 and the Rio240 and even then realised that I needed to rehome some fish like my 8 chunky ~15cm Weather Loaches who were bought as spindly ~6cm fish six months or so previous.

It's something we have all done - got overexcited and not considered that fish do GROW and BREED . By buying a few fish at a time and leaving at least a week, preferably more, between introducing fish you can usually avoid this trap but it is so hard when you go the LFS .

For instance, in just two months my Danios have doubled in size and now I have platy and guppy fry from my ladies' tank which I have realised I just can't help saving...This should be the last couple of batches from the original pregnancies and the fry are going in a spearate tank and being separated out as soon as I can sex them so hopefully not too many more babies! I don't have the heart to give them away or let them get munched so they will all need somewhere to go.

So TL;DR summary : I have gone from what I considered understocked to pretty much fully stocked in a few months. Although I now realise with these new additions I don't have room for all the fish I had originally planned, I am committed to the ones I have within their lifecycle and in a year or so when some of the original guppies start to die of old age I will then decide exactly who I want to replace them with. I can completely see how it could happen though - bear in mind that I started with just a 65l and a lot of the fish I have now were in that for the first few months!

 

[GemGem86]

Thank You all for your kind words

I have become attached to my fish for sure as I have never had any problems with 'stocking' - only real problems I have had is a couple of issues of white spot.

After reading what everyone has said, I am going to give away most of my fish. I have decided to keep my Gourami, Betta and 2 of my Platys.
My dad is in the process of setting up his old tank again, so in about 2-3 weeks he will be having the majority of my platys and neons for me, so atleast I will still see them!!

Thank you all for the help and advice.