Overstocked Tank?

TanksRUs · Jul 18, 2011

Hi, in my 10 gallon tank I have 4 mollies, 2 Oto. Cats and 4 ADFs.
Is this overstocking?

PLEASE REPLY

KittyKat · Jul 19, 2011

Yes and no..
- mollies grow up to 6" so should have a 3 ft aquarium unless you know that you have one of the short bodied species (99% of those sold in shops are hybrids, I reckon), also, I expect you either have 3-4 females or none at all, if you have any at all, you are liable to have a population explosion
- Otos are social fish, so should be kept in groups of 6+, I personally think that an average 10 gallon is not big enough for them as they should have something with a 60*30 cm bottom area.. also, mollies are algae eaters too, so will compete directly with the Otos for the algae pellets you should be feeding them (unless every surface is coated in algae)
- I can't say much about the frogs.. I'm sure someone else can help better here, but 4 sounds like an awful lot for such a small tank

Athena · Jul 19, 2011

Providing you have a decent filter then, no, I don't think you are overstocked at all. The ADFs will be fine in a 2ft tank (the common recomendation is 1 gallon of water per frog - obviously you have some who will say 5 gallons per frog, but if your tank is well-filtered and maintained weekly then they will be fine (and yours is about 2 and half gallons per frog). They tend to stay in one place, huddled together most of the time and are so tiny that sometimes you will have trouble seeing where they are but when they venture out to forage for food they are very amusing to watch.

You do have to ensure that your water level is not too high as the frogs will struggle to swim up for air. They are not brilliant swimmers, and can die if unable to reach the surface. So, if your tank height is above 15 ins I would reduce the water level down a bit.

Also, knowing how greedy mollies can be with food, you will need a way of feeding your ADFs directly, otherwise they will starve. A turkey baster, or using tweezers to hand feed are all ways to do this.

PS - btw, Kat, I think it's extremely rare for a molly to reach 6". Even sailfins don't get that big, as far as I'm aware. My males reached about 4".

Regards, Athena

KittyKat · Jul 19, 2011

Athena said:
PS - btw, Kat, I think it's extremely rare for a molly to reach 6". Even sailfins don't get that big, as far as I'm aware. My males reached about 4".

I should have phrased that better: "they *may* grow up to.." I'll admit that most of mine were about 5" without tail, but I did have a few grow larger, to 6".. most rescues I picked up over the years did also grow to 4-5" mark. Still, with the exception of balloon mollies (which I would not keep anyway) or IDed species, I would still want at least a 36*12*12 inch aquarium for mollies, especially since about 1/3-1/2 molly species have been recorded as growing over 4" in the wild.