My Stocking List

[cocomonkey24k]

I have a Fluval roma 200 litre tank. My stocking list has gone to pot due to taking some fish in that were gonna be thrown down the toilet if I didn't take them. I'm probably overstocked or just on par with being fully stocked. Here is the stock:

11 neon tetras
10 guppies male/female
3 silver sharks (these will be rehomed once they out grow my tank). 2" at the moment
2 platys
2 brush tail platys
2 pepper cory
2 spotted cory
2 plecs. (not common but very similar) 2" at the moment


Fish I took in before they were murdered lol
2 algae eaters
3 black mollies (angry little sods)
3 gouramis
1 shrimp. Funny little sod

I am currently setting up another tank to rehome the fish I have just taken in. I want more corys and more platies for my main tank.

Any advice will be welcome

Thanks scotty

 

[Ragtagcurtis]

I have a Fluval roma 200 litre tank. My stocking list has gone to pot due to taking some fish in that were gonna be thrown down the toilet if I didn't take them. I'm probably overstocked or just on par with being fully stocked. Here is the stock:

11 neon tetras
10 guppies male/female
3 silver sharks (these will be rehomed once they out grow my tank). 2" at the moment
2 platys
2 brush tail platys
2 pepper cory
2 spotted cory
2 plecs. (not common but very similar) 2" at the moment


Fish I took in before they were murdered lol
2 algae eaters
3 black mollies (angry little sods)
3 gouramis
1 shrimp. Funny little sod

I am currently setting up another tank to rehome the fish I have just taken in. I want more corys and more platies for my main tank.

Any advice will be welcome

Thanks scotty

Hey, just a few points I can make really as I'm by no means a fountain of knowledge.

The cory's should be in groups of atleast 6. I believe it's fine to mix different species of cory's but a minimum of six should be in there. The plec's I believe will grow far to big for the tanks as well as the Silver sharks. Now I know you mention that you will remove the sharks once they out grow the tank but even having them in there now can stunt the growth I believe and is not ideal. I would get them out asap. Worst comes to worst take them to your LFS. Granted you can't be guaranteed they will go to a better home but atleast you know you are doing the right thing by them.

 

[cocomonkey24k]

I want more corys maybe another 4 and I also want 3 female mollies but before I buy them I want to know how many more fish I can stock. I will also ask the LFS about taking the plecs and silver shark in as part exchange.

 

[cocomonkey24k]

No more info to help me out ??

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I have a Fluval roma 200 litre tank. My stocking list has gone to pot due to taking some fish in that were gonna be thrown down the toilet if I didn't take them. I'm probably overstocked or just on par with being fully stocked. Here is the stock:

11 neon tetras
10 guppies male/female
3 silver sharks (these will be rehomed once they out grow my tank). 2" at the moment
2 platys
2 brush tail platys
2 pepper cory
2 spotted cory
2 plecs. (not common but very similar) 2" at the moment


Fish I took in before they were murdered lol
2 algae eaters
3 black mollies (angry little sods)
3 gouramis
1 shrimp. Funny little sod

I am currently setting up another tank to rehome the fish I have just taken in. I want more corys and more platies for my main tank.

Any advice will be welcome

Thanks scotty

I like your stocking list... It's not too different from mine really (see sig.). Maybe add a peaceful, mid-water, large fish (6 inches or so) as a centerpiece, but what fish that would be... I don't know.

(The large fish might also help to cut down on the guppy fry, at least a bit. Otherwise you may be overwhelmed with guppies!)

 

[KittyKat]

11 neon tetras - ok
10 guppies male/female - 1:2 ratio is ok, otherwise get more females
3 silver sharks (these will be rehomed once they out grow my tank). 2" at the moment - schooling fish (keep 6+), will need a larger tank sooner than you think
4 platys - ok
2 pepper cory - keep at least 6
2 spotted cory - keep at least 6
2 plecs. (not common but very similar) 2" at the moment - they should have a larger tank once they get to about 4-5", if your tank is 3ft and they grow to 1+ ft

2 algae eaters - species?
3 black mollies (angry little sods) - they might be ok in the 200 litre, definitely need lots of females here
3 gouramis - species?
1 shrimp. Funny little sod - probably ok

 

[cocomonkey24k]

Thanks that's the sort of replies I was after. How many more fish can I put into the tank.

Algae eaters are Siamese flying fox x2. One is around 4-5" the other is small at around 2"

Gouramis are a peachy colour with 2 long antenners attached to there sides lol (best description I could give)

How many female mollies should I add to please they angry males ?

Also would I need to add 4 more of each speacies of cory or would it be ok to add 2 albino to take my total to 6

 

[cocomonkey24k]

The antenners actually come from underneath

 

[eaglesaquarium]

How many female mollies should I add to please they angry males ?

The rule is a minimum of 2 females per male.

 

[cocomonkey24k]

Thanks eagle How many more fish can I add to my aquarium though as I don't want to over stock it.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Thanks eagle How many more fish can I add to my aquarium though as I don't want to over stock it.

The standard rule is one inch of fish (adult size) per US gallon. You might well be fully stocked currently.

11 neon tetras = 22 inches
10 guppies male/female = 20 inches
3 silver sharks (these will be rehomed once they out grow my tank). 2" at the moment
2 platys = 4-6 inches
2 brush tail platys = 4-6 inches
2 pepper cory = 4-6 inches
2 spotted cory = 4-6 inches
2 plecs. (not common but very similar) 2" at the moment


Fish I took in before they were murdered lol
2 algae eaters = ?
3 black mollies (angry little sods) = 9 inches
3 gouramis = ? Dwarf or regular?
1 shrimp. Funny little sod = often overlooked as a part of the bioload, could be 1 inch.

(DISCLAIMER: I AM A NEWBIE TOO! So, everything I mention here is based on things I've read not experience! Please get confirmation before taking any action. And if someone contradicts everything I say based on their experience... disregard everything I say. )


Conservatively by my calculation, that's well over 70 inches of fish in about 53 gallons of water. You are probably already overstocked at the moment. (I'm sorry to say. )


I would take KK's advice and rehome the sharks and plecs. Then, you might want to consider rehoming some of the others... Having mollies, platies AND Guppies all of mixed gender means only one thing... FRY and lots of them!

As much as I like black mollies, it would probably better suit you (and them) to try to rehome them. The same could be said about the gouramis as well (if these are not dwarf species, they can be large and territorial). Perhaps you could trade them for some other stock at the LFS? I would try to get 2 more of either pepper or spotted cory to bring the total to 6. I understand that they will school together, but probably would be happier as all one species. If possible, could you trade in two of one species (or both) and restock with 6 of all the same species?


(I know that's a lot of swapping in and out of fish, so I would make sure you get a second, more qualified opinion before acting. I wish I could be more positive about the situation, and that I had more experience to draw on to help you out.)

 

[cocomonkey24k]

I am currently setting up a 125ltr tank. I will rehome some of my stock into that tank and trade In some of the others for more corys as they are great fish to watch. My sharks are going back to the LFS and my plecs will be traded for 2 that won't grow very big.

It's great to get some advice from people who care about fish. LFS only care about making money.

I will get my other tank setup and running by the weekend and get some of my fish rehomed also.

Thanks again scott

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I am currently setting up a 125ltr tank. I will rehome some of my stock into that tank and trade In some of the others for more corys as they are great fish to watch. My sharks are going back to the LFS and my plecs will be traded for 2 that won't grow very big.

It's great to get some advice from people who care about fish. LFS only care about making money.

I will get my other tank setup and running by the weekend and get some of my fish rehomed also.

Thanks again scott

Like I said, make sure you get a second opinion though before doing anything... I'm still on the steep end of the learning curve!

 

[cocomonkey24k]

All advice taken my sharks have gone along with my plecs both rehomed at the LFS. I replaced them with
2 bristlenose plecs
2 albino cory
2 false bandit cory
2 gold panchax
1 Featherfin catfish

My 125ltr tank is almost ready to house fish so all of my guppies and platys are being rehomed into that tank.

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds good. The guppies, mollys and platies are livebearers of course. Sometimes I think we get newcomers to the hobby who have virtually no idea of the difference of these livebearers to egglayers. The livebearers begin more or less right away having large numbers of babies, which is fun, but it does two things: it constantly keeps raising the bioload in your tank (causing you to repeatedly reach stocking, then overstocking levels relative to the filter) and of course it creates the work of you going out in to the world to find homes for all these new fish (unless you happen to somehow reach a balance of them being eaten.) Fry are deceptive in that even though they are small, they still represent a significant a growing bioload because they eat and metabolize at a furious rate.

So, just simple unawareness represents some beginners. Others are aware of this but having babies is an important part of their plan either because they want that to be their hobby or because they want their kids to experience this. The third group are not beginners but experienced breeders who have worked out relationships with people who will take the offspring.

Cory minimum numbers are interesting in that they are different from tetras I feel. Whereas tetras seem to just downright stress and have various behavioral changes or other problems when their group number falls below 6, the corys just stop being active or as active. I don't know that 6 is quite such a magic number with them but that maybe it's a more steady ramp-up where as you pass 6 and go higher you are more and more likely to at some point begin to see the playful nature they have in a group. In a sense you could say the same thing about tetras but it's different: they relax, seem to get more beautiful more of the time and have more times when their shoal gets tighter and more beautiful (many rasboras as well as tetras are this way.)

You also have an interesting thing going in that neons and mollies are kind of at the far ends of freshwater extremes, neons liking soft acid water and mollies often actually needing very hard water. Both these fish are in our general commercial shop world, so you can get by, I don't mean to say you can't, but in terms of what causes each fish to flourish and relish its environment, they are different. As with all fish, keeping the mineral content very steady is much more important though than being at any particular numerical hardness number. The safest and easiest way to stay steady is for your tank to be close to your tap water levels via a good habit of water changing.

~~waterdrop~~