My Tank

[Skeuer]

Hello there, im currently running a 54 ltr jewul tank. Its been running now for about a month. Its currently stocked with:

x7 Tiger barbs (3 of them green)
x2 Blue Gouramis
x2 Kribensis (juvenille)
x1 Red Tailed Black Shark (bout 4cm long)
x1 Pleco, not sure what spiecies, has gold spots on it, and im told it wont grow as long as most varities (2cm long)
x2 Clown loach (very small, i now realise i was meant to get a school of these)
x1 Other loach, not sure what type, asked for a pakistani loach which were in the same tnak but got given this one and didnt realise till i got home.

So... Too much? I might add all these fish are quite small at the moment, getting a new, bigger tank in the future is not completely out of the question but right now i dont have the money.

 

[meguro]

this tank will be chaos once the kribs mature. and even more so once the red tailed black shark (rtbs) matures. assuming u can keep the water stats perfect. so yes this particular 54L is very much overstocked.

to house all ur fish (minus the clown loaches) ur looking at a ~50g/180L or more, 4ft tank. a 5-6ft tank if u want to keep the clown loaches.

some small information on ur fish.
tiger barbs - very active fish, grow to around 7cm, notorious fin nippers (ur gourami might be in trouble), usually ok in schools of 6+ though
blue gourami - grow to around 15cm, can be aggressive, in smaller sized tanks its usually best to have 1 male max.
kribensis - aggressive when spawning and once they get going are rather prolific, other bottom dwellers are in danger during these times
rtbs - grows to around 15cm, will claim a large area as its territory and usually succeeds at defending it. best kept in 4ft or larger tanks
misc plec - needs to be identified, but most/all are peaceful
clown loach - best kept in groups of 5+ and can reach 25cm or more in size. best kept in 5ft or larger tanks
misc loach - needs to be identified

it would be better if u could return a number of these fish until u get the bigger tank. or to get the bigger tank sooner than ur currently anticipating.

coincidentally, how long have the fish been in the tank? how did u cycle the filter?

if u were advised on all these fish in that size tank by ur local fish shop (lfs) u've been sorely mislead

 

[Curiosity101]

Even if none of them are fully grown your tank is already probabaly overstocked (though only slightly atm), what are your nitrates getting to imbetween water changes? And how often are you doing changes?

Long term it's extremely overstocked and some of the fish literally just can't live in something that small. Have you looked up the fully grown sizes of your fish yet?
Incase you haven't (in brackets are rough guide to tank size for a single fish) and in Green are my comments:
Tiger barbs - 8cm (80-100l) The lower limit of 80l for these fish is only ok if it's a long tank 30"+ and in such a large group a much larger tank would be required for them to continue to co-exist peacfully with their tank mates once they're fully grown. I would suggest 125l min
Blue Gouramis - 15cm (200l) I'm guessing you mean the blue variety of the gold/three spot gourami? And not the powder blue dwarf gourami? Eitherways it's way too small for even a single blue and is only just big enough for a single dwarf. You will find agression issues between the two and possibly even towards tank mates if they stay in there
Kribensis - 10cm (80l) For them to co-exist with other fish you really need a bigger tank, if you have a male and female you'll have massive agression problems when they decide to spawn (which they will). If you have too males then in such cramped conditions they will fight amongst themselves aswell as with other fish.
Red Tailed Black Shark - 12cm (200l very min) These fish are NASTY when the get older. If not given a large enough territory then they WILL attack tank mates. I reckon you'd find that it'll regularly fight with the kribs but will also go for other fish, the gouramis seem like an obvious target.
Pleco - Does it look like either of the following:

This is an L001 also known as a gold spot pleco. 30cm (200l very min) Definitely need an upgrade for this fish it grows quite big and the bottom of you tank is very crowded atm.

This is an L18 Gold nugget pleco. 30-35cmcm (200l very min) As above

Clown loach - 30cm (400l for a proper group) These are MASSIVE fish once fully grown. They are slow growers compared to everything else in the tank but I still wouldn't keep them in that tank even as babies cause I'd be too worried it'd cause stunting issues. I'd suggest a min of 100l temp tank but tbh would probably just put them straight into something suitable

Other loach (really depends what it is) - Dwarf chain loach? Chinese algae eater? Polkadot loach? Zebra loach?

In your current situation (if an upgrade is a possibility) then I'd suggest you upgrade to a 200l long tank (as opposed to tall because you need a long rectangular footprint for your bottom dwellers).
If you upgrade in the near future (next few months) then I see nothing wrong with keeping:
x7 Tiger barbs
x1 Blue Gourami

And then picking only 2/3 species of the following
x2 Kribensis
x1 Red Tailed Black Shark
x1 Pleco
x1 Other loach

The clowns I'm afraid I have to suggest you re-home for definite unless you can upgrade them to something definitely suitable in the future(400l+) and give up all your other bottom dweller bar 1.
So say if you wanted the clowns (which need a bigger group as you said), then only keep 1 species of the following:
x2 Kribensis
x1 Red Tailed Black Shark
x1 Pleco
x1 Other loach

Hope this helps, and welcome/welcome back to TFF

 

[kizno1]

You are extremely overstocked IMO. The only fish that i think cn stay is the pair of kribs and you might get away with the 7 tiger barbs with them. Do you ave a pic of the plec?
Clown loaches get huge and need to be in groups
The gourami get to big
The RTBS will get to big and aggressive
And the plec with most likely get to big aswell.

So most of your stock will have to go at some point soon or it will all kick off.

 

[Verminator89]

Wayyyyyy over stocked. I suggest you take the advice of people here. Think of the poor fish, especially the clown loach

 

[Skeuer]

Wow.

First, thanks to everyone replying to the thread, the advice found on the forum is great!
Although i had an inkling that i had too many fish, i didnt realise quite to the extreme you lot think it is.

The fish seem happy enough at the moment, apart from my male gourami chasing the female around a fair bit.
Seems im going to have to give some away then. What i propose is giving back the two clown loaches, the female gourami and the shark? Would that be acceptable until i have enough time to save for a bigger tank? I have to save up for my holiday right now or my missis will kill me! But after august, i should be able to put some money together.

As to your questions, my fish have been in the tank for just over a month now, and stupidly (i know) i didnt do the kind of reasarch i shouldve (as you can probably tell) and didnt cycle the filter for anything longer than two days with a few plants in ><. I also dont have a test kit so couldnt tell you the nitrates. I do water changes as often as possible while being away from the house quite a lot, so like 2/3 times a week. My pleco looks like the gold nugget one, and the loach i cant find a picture of it on the internet anywhere! Its very light brown with darker bands along it? Also thin, not kinda bulky like clown loaches get. I know curiosity, you suggest not keeping the pleco and the loach, but the plec is sooo tiny i think he will be ok for the moment.

Thoughts?

 

[Curiosity101]

With the clowns, gourami and shark gone I see nothing wrong with upgrading the rest of the fish in a few months.

Did you google my loach possibilities..? Incase you missed them....Dwarf chain loach? Chinese algae eater? Polkadot loach? Zebra loach?
Or try to ID it yourself using http/www.loaches.com/species-index/pictorial-species-search-index

 

[Skeuer]

With the clowns, gourami and shark gone I see nothing wrong with upgrading the rest of the fish in a few months.

Did you google my loach possibilities..? Incase you missed them....Dwarf chain loach? Chinese algae eater? Polkadot loach? Zebra loach?
Or try to ID it yourself using http/www.loaches.com/species-index/pictorial-species-search-index

Hey there, i did google your loaches, and none of them were right. Looking on that website the closest match i could see is the Nemacheilus fasciatus although mine has only the tiniest tint of red in its tail, barely discernable, so im not too sure on this one.

 

[chesterjohn]

If your filter isn't matured, I'd suggest getting hold of some mature media or sell even more fish.

There's a lot of waste coming from that lot and they'll need a lot of big water changes.... daily

 

[Curiosity101]

Schistura mahnerti? Some of the younger specimens have less red...

And chester john is right... I though I'd read the tank had been up and running for a few months...not a month. It'll be nowhere near cycled yet so lots of daily 80% water changes will be neccesary with that many fish. I'd also really really recommend you get yourself a liquid test kit. You need one for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The API Master test kit has these plus low pH and high pH. Or you can buy them seperately.

 

[Skeuer]

It looks similar to that one, although the banding is somewhat more indistinct, and just bands not that crazy stuff up near his head. I may have to fork out for one of those test kits then theyre a bit pricey though, do you know anywhere that does them cheap?

Its a possibility i could get some very mature filter media from my dad, would this help? If not how long would it take for my tank to be properly cycled with the fish in?

 

[Curiosity101]

Oo if you could nab some off of him that'll speed your cycle up for a few days rather than probably a few weeks. Atm (hard to say without testing...) I reckon you'll have 3 weeks left and will still be showing low ammonia and off the scale nitrites.

Cheapest place for API master test kit is ebay. But like I said you can buy the tests seperately.

 

[Skeuer]

If i bought them serpeatly which ones do i need the most? And would this be cheaper than buying the whole kit? Ill try n get some of his filter media!

Have you any idea what to do with the fish i need to get rid of? I want them to go to a good home But i would also like a bit of money back/exchange as my LFS is kinda pricy!

 

[Curiosity101]

Try advertising on here in the classifieds and on www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk

N you need Ammonia and Nitrite ones the most. But even without them I'd suggest a large 80% water change today.

 

[meguro]

it usually takes 4-7 weeks to finish a cycle at a set amount of ammonia ppm concentration. his tank has been running for ~4 weeks. if he was to remove some fish and get some mature media it will probably be complete in under a week. allowing him to save his money on the test kits (although its still a good idea to have them). u should be able to exchange fish with ur lfs for store credit which could then be used on the appropriate test kits.

be careful when it comes to nitrite and nitrate. u want the test for nitrite along with ammonia as previously mentioned

edit: when doing water changes and rinsing out ur filter sponge, rinse it out in tank water if ur not already doing that. as opposed to tap water