Overfilled Tank

[TiffanyJayne]

Completely new to the site and to fish keeping, i've become addicted.

Far too much too quickly i know but in 4 months i now have 15 tanks ranging from 1 foot to 6 foot and everything from guppies and babies to pangasius catfish.

Most of the fish i have are either rescued from other local people who just cannot look after them or deformed/poorly fish i've tried to save because i know no one else will have them.

i currently have a 3.4 foot tank in my front room which was meant to be my 'tetra tank' simply to look and and admire however i have a horrible feeling (although my local fish shop says otherwise) that i have far too many fish in this tank.

i currently have:
4 Ram cichlids 2m 2f, 2 dwarf aqua frogs, 5 blue tetras, 4 glass cats, 2 corys, 5 (new breed) green and red tetras, 5 pristella? tetras
1 banjo catfish, 6 rummy nose tetras, 12 red line? tetras and 6 penguin tetras and 5 black neon tetras,1 unknown catfish,5 neon tetras
2 cooli loach

The seems happy healthy and other than a brief outburst of white spot on my 2 male rams i've had no problems/deaths or sick looking fish they seem to have plenty of space and swim very well together with very little nipping, the tank looks beautiful and not overcrowed as they are all pretty small fish (corys, catfish and rams to be removed within a few months for breeding) but when i write my lists down for a head count once a fortnight it seems an awful lot of fish in one tank.

i have another tank 2 foot across the room with 3 opaline gouramis, 6 red eye tetras, 2 corys and 3 black widow tetras who also seems very happy together but that tank has had a lot of problems/illness/dieses depsite being the only tank i bought brand new and let mature for a month and a half without fish help.

I don't wish to overcrowed (although i probably already have done) my first post so i won't post everything i have in every tank but would really like some opinions on these two tanks.

TiffanyJ

 

[MewMew42]

hey there! welcome =]

could you tell me how many litres you have in those tanks? or at least the dimensions? oh and the filtration system?

you really have got the bug!

 

[TiffanyJayne]

hey there! welcome =]

could you tell me how many litres you have in those tanks? or at least the dimensions? oh and the filtration system?

you really have got the bug!

Of course and thank you for the welcome.

The 3.4 foot is 51.4 galls/199.9 litres
The 2 foot is 79.4 litres/20.4 galls.

Both are jewul with fitted jewul filters, both moderatly planted with large air discs, bog wood and rock hiding places.

 

[Tolak]

Welcome to TFF! As long as you are doing large frequent water changes the 3.4' tank shouldn't be a problem. Corys do like to be in larger groups, and you would have better success with breeding having a larger group.

As far as the 2' tank, watch for any nipping from the black widows, the gouramis will most likely be the target. Keep an eye for any pairing behavior with the gouramis as well, as with many fish they may be peaceful as they mature, or they may get more aggressive. Keeping a divider handy is your best bet if you don't have another tank to separate the aggressive fish.

Any sort of decoration in the tank reduces water capacity. Unless you need the decorations for dividing territory or providing a hiding place they are not to your benefit in a tank that is heavily stocked. Substrate is a big space waster, as well as being a place for debris to hide. You can stock a tank well beyond what most hobbyists would consider average as long as you provide cleanliness as well as enough bio filtration.

 

[TiffanyJayne]

Welcome to TFF! As long as you are doing large frequent water changes the 3.4' tank shouldn't be a problem. Corys do like to be in larger groups, and you would have better success with breeding having a larger group.

As far as the 2' tank, watch for any nipping from the black widows, the gouramis will most likely be the target. Keep an eye for any pairing behavior with the gouramis as well, as with many fish they may be peaceful as they mature, or they may get more aggressive. Keeping a divider handy is your best bet if you don't have another tank to separate the aggressive fish.

Any sort of decoration in the tank reduces water capacity. Unless you need the decorations for dividing territory or providing a hiding place they are not to your benefit in a tank that is heavily stocked. Substrate is a big space waster, as well as being a place for debris to hide. You can stock a tank well beyond what most hobbyists would consider average as long as you provide cleanliness as well as enough bio filtration.

Thank you for your input, i do try to do regular water changes but i find i stress atleast 3 of the tanks out so it's not so worth it (tanks with 2/3 fish in)all other tanks are done once a fortnight with a gravel cleaner (although i have sand)and all tests are done once a week atleast 2 days before/after a water change unless in danger.
The gouramis are about 3 inches long and being opaline they are very playful and bouncy so the widows struggle to spot them, i have 2 females and a male and they seem to go well together since i moved my 3 pearl and dwarf honeys that are a little more fragile, i currently have 9 corys but ive spred them around to stop to much reproducing until i'm (my tanks) are ready for them, the bog wood in the 2 foot is staining my water quite badly is there something i can use to stop this? something to soak it in perhaps? none of the other tanks seem affected but tanks such as my cichlids and puffers need the wood i suppose if the tetras and cats all get along removing some the the wood/decor would give them more space?

 

[Tolak]

Water changes are the most important thing with heavy stocking, there is no reason large regular water changes should stress out your fish. I would and have stocked double that as my tanks are set up for large frequent water changes, no substrate, etc. 50% or more twice weekly is nothing new around here.

You can try boiling the wood, but for the most part it will continue to leech tannins. Few fish actually need it, I would save it for when you want to breed certain species.