Perfect? Overstocked? Or Room For More?

[Maxta]

Howdy again.

Would just like to know if my tanks understocked, overstocked or just right. We have a 190L tank downstairs, and in it we have:

• 7 Neon Tetras - 7 inch - tend to stay in the middle of the tank
• 10 Rasboras - 15 inch - tend to stay primarily at the top of the tank but do venture down now and then
• 2 Neon Blue Dwarf Gouramis - 4 inch - tend to stay near the middle and bottom of the tank, go up now and then
• 4 Cory Cats - 10 inch - love to go all over
• 2 Dalmation Mollies - 8 inch - tend to stay near the top of the tank but do come down now and then

Therefore a total of 44 inches in a 50 gallon tank. Therefore room for another 6 inch of fish if going by the 1 inch per gallon rule, correct? Bearing in mind those are the max sizes of the fish and wont neccessarily grow to that size.

All the fish get on well with each other and are no bother. The gouramis are nervous things, if something brushes past it by accident its off like a shot, and theyre actually sticking together alot more now - whereas when we first got them they swam around seperately. But nevertheless, a great set of fish. We havent lost a fish for a couple of weeks now which is good, we just added more tetras this week (waited 2 weeks after the addition of the cory's). And none of them show signs of stress or disease etc.

Was just wondering if we could get more fish, and if so what would be a great addition to the group above? Preferably a fish that stays at the bottom of the tank. Can either be one that grows to about 5/6 inch, or a few that make up 5/6 inches worth. Would a Clown Loach (Botia Maracanthus) be okay? Not the big variety that grow 30cm, the one that grows 15cm max - http/www.tropicalfish4u.co.uk/acatalog/Clown_Loach.html - because i think they have some of them in at my LFS.

Thanks

Maxta

 

[Betta91]

Sounds like your tank is perfectly stocked. I wouldn't get anything else. Even though the rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon, you also have to take into consideration the stress that it could cause your animals with so many tank inhabitants.

 

[DiscusAngel]

Personall i would add a Bristlnose plec to finish it off lovel plecs grow to 5" sometimes 6". and are good algea eaters

 

[Maxta]

Personally i dont like the bristlenoses, they look scary lol (stupid i know).

What about a Queen Albresque or Candy Striped? Even though theyre a bit expensive, id only pay that much for fish going in my tank.

Anyways, was thinking about a clown loach (15cm max) as my dad likes them too. Good suggestion though.

 

[DiscusAngel]

Nah them clown loaches get 12". dont get clown loaches you need a min of 6x2x2 to house them and the need to bein groups. th website you found is false infomation.

a Nice Bn - http/www.aquariumlife.net/profile-images...enose-pleco.jpg

L015 Candy Stripe Pleco - http/www.tropicalfish4u.co.uk/acatalog/L015_pc.jpg

L260 Queen Arabesque - http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...arabesque1.jpeg

 

[Maxta]

Oh right. I was wondering why some sites were saying they grow to 30cm and the site i was going to buy from said 15cm. Oh that starlight bristlenose looks cool.

 

[tetraqueen]

The Clown loaches add colour but I had two and added 3 more to get them to settle. They are all doing well and are almost like nattering fishwives and they are never alone. They always seem to go around and as I say chat to each other. Yes they are noisy eaters too. I would not get one on it's own. Mine were the about 5 cm and are now approx 13-15 cm and look as thick as a fat sausage so they need space and tunnels which use up water space too.
Plecs can also grow large too so I would be careful. What about ottos??
Anyways enjoy your tank.

 

[Captain Retardo]

Maybe instead of getting clown loaches (which are too big) you could get other loaches like: YoYo Loaches (Botia Almorhae) Zebra Loaches: (Botia Striata) Polka-Dot Loaches (Botia Kubotai) and there are many others. The 3 that I listed I think look very beatiful (even better than clowns) and get a max size of 4 inches, they must be in groups of 3 or more though.

P.S. I would say you could get more fish, IMO the inch rule sucks. Just use common sense when selecting fish and take into account aggresion, territory, and max size. I think the loaches that I listed will make a good addition because you don't have many bottom-dwellers (not that you need to though) and those loaches don't get very big.

 

[Maxta]

Yep. Il check them out but none of the two shops that i go to dont sell them. Im going to another different one soon where monkey suggested, so maybe they'll have any. Most shops just sell the more common fish, which sucks I quite like the Polka dot loaches, but wouldnt know where on earth to get them. Tropical fish for you sell the YoYo ones which are cool too.

 

[Tessla]

You've got a large enough tank that you can probably start to ignore the inch rule a bit, though I'd keep it running for a while still before adding any new fish as it is fairly new.

If you do add new fish, it's always best to add to existing groups if you have fish that like to have friends. This would be the case with your tetras, rasboras and corydoras. Otherwise, I'd add a few other bottom feeders since you seem to have quite a few top dwellers already.

Loaches have been mentioned, they're great community fish but anyone that tells you a clown loach will stay smaller than 12 inches is telling a lie. They can actually get quite a bit larger than 12 inches, a LFS near me has a really massive tank with five or so loaches over 14". I'd also avoid yo-yos as they get a bit too large (6") to keep in a suitable group considering your current stocking. Botia kubotai is a bit on the large side as well at 5". Botia striata (zebra loach), Acanthocobitis botia (zipper loach) and Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki (dwarf chain loach) all are 3" or less, you could easily keep a group of at least three or four. I've been able to find all three fairly easily, if you talk to someone at the shop you may be able to get them to order some, it wouldn't hurt to ask, and I haven't seen a LFS yet that has a hard time selling dwarf species of anything.

If you don't go with loaches, a queen arabesque, clown or similar sized pleco would do well in your tank, there really are too many smaller species to name, but they can be tricky to find. These are also a quick seller at most LFS, so there's a good possibility that they'll order some in if you ask.

 

[Maxta]

Those dwarf loaches look very nice. And Plecos, yes, i love them. Both of them look beautiful, would prefer the clown. How would a candy striped pleco figure in our tank? But we'd hate to pay £15 + £14 for delivery and end up losing it, especially since we lost a Pleco before. How long would you suggest before getting a Pleco? Weve had the tank about 6/7 weeks, and added some fish this week and lost none, and havent lost any for a few weeks.

I think a pleco would go rather well to finish off the tank.

 

[stang1]

Some people prefer to wait until the tank has matured a bit before adding Plecos. We didn't add one until our tank was 3 months old but when we set up our new one, they went in after a couple of weeks. They have all been fine and we feed them vegetables and algae wafers. Also need plenty of bogwood and caves.
People have differing opinions on when to add Plecos so it might be worth asking in the Pleco section.
We have a Candy Striped Pleco in our tank and he's beautiful. The only trouble is he doesn't come out very often, so we have to make the most of him when he does!

 

[Maxta]

Any chance of a picture of him stang? I havent seen many pics of peoples candy striped on here.

 

[stang1]

No problem, any excuse to show one of my Plecos off!

 

[Maxta]

You have a beautiful Pleco there mate. I may try and twist my dads arm to get one, after all he was going to pay £25 for a parot fish, why not pay a little extra for a a candy striped.