New Tank - Any Comments

[DML_35]

got 20 us gal tank with a marineland penguin 150 (up to 30 us gal) and a fully submersable heater. stocked is 4 red tail sharks (i have been looking for an answer to a question about them, one has a grey body and light tail, thinking it is female because the greyish one and the darkest one always come together and do like a dance) 6 tiger barbs, 1 tinfoil barb, 2 blue gouramis, 4 emperor teteras, 3 bala sharks, 1 iridescent shark (accident LFS kept bala and irredescents together), 2 sailfin plecos. i am planning to get another larger tank (approx 72 us gal) within a year.

 

[Corleone]

You'll need that big tank sooner than that for a couple of those fish. Probably a bigger one than you plan on, and certainly sooner than you plan on. An order of magnitude bigger for the id shark.

Anyway, how did you cycle the tank, and do you monitor water stats? You've got a few serious issues, hopefully an immature tank isn't compounding them.

Iridescent shark should go back, ASAP. They grow roughly 3-4 feet long in captivity, and require immense tanks (on the order of 1000 gallons). Many of your fish will far outgrow this tank, but given sufficient space, this one will still eat most of them. They really don't belong in the hobby - what is sold is little more than fry of a black monster catfish that's normally farmed for food, not pets.

The black sharks probably aren't engaging in breeding behavior - when they become mature, they won't tolerate another member of the same species, male or female, or even a different species that looks too much like them, like a rainbow shark, in the tank. Males and females come together briefly for breeding and then separate again - you'll get serious territorial aggression issues (possibly spilling over onto other fish) before breeding behavior.

The sailfin plecos are most likely gibbiceps. These grow very large - 18-24 inches is a conservative estimate. The bala sharks will get 12-18 inches, and really need a bigger group, the tinfoil barb around 15 (and also should be kept in bigger groups).

The rest of your fish aren't too bad, and without the above problem fish, will still be a fairly respectable stocking level (some room for addition, but not for any one of the fish I mention), however there is one more problem. Tiger barbs are notorious nippers, and gouramis have long trailing feelers that are favorite targets for nippers.

Responsibility starts at home. I'm sure the pet store likely said these fish in these numbers would be fine together and fine in the size tank. However, a bit of research in good species books or the internet on their sizes, requirements, and compatibility, as well as setup and maintenance would have avoided much of the trouble that you're set up for. Pet stores aren't in the business of selling advise. Unfortunately, logic would lead you to trust what they say, which is a lesson all too many pet owners (not just fish, but rodent, bird, and reptile buyers) learn the hard way.