Tank Stock Questions And Fry In Seperate Tank

[T1gger]

I have a 70 litre tank with the following fish in it. Can you please advise whether my tank is overstocked and how to rectify this.

I have the following fish:
2 peppered corydoras (unknown sex)
1 bronze corydora (sold as female but no babies yet)
1 male bristlenose catfish (think sex right maybe still to young to confirm)
1 female bristlenose catfish (think sex right maybe still to young to confirm)
8 neon tetras (unknown sex)
1 male platty
2 female platty
1 female swordtail
1 male swordtail
1 female lyre tail molly
3 male guppies (still young want to keep just 1. I just rehomed 3 pregnant females and 1 male)

I also have a 20 litre tank with 6 swordtail fry which I am going to grow out and sell but would like to keep one female if I can to go in the 70 litre tank as I lost the I think father and would like to keep some of his blood in the tank.

 

[BerryAttack]

i would say you are.its only 18 gallons.
i would say remove all swordtail.. they can get 4 inches i believe.. and are too big for your tank...
and cories are schooling fish and are best kept in groups of 6+ minimum. so i would rehome the bronze cory.. and bump up the number of peppered to 6.
for the catfish if i were you, rehome all platy then you can keep one... but i would rehome both and then you can keep the platties.
 
or you can bump up your tank to a 30-40 gallon and you don't need to rehome any.. but you'll need to cycle etc.

 

[Ninjouzata]

What are the dimensions of your tank? Will be making suggestions just going by the amount of water it holds, although depending on dimensions some of it could be different.
 
Peppered corys get too large for your tank, they also need groups of 6+. Would rehome these.
Bronze cory I'm not sure if these would be too big or not, but again need groups of 6+. Maybe rehome these, but it would be good to do that and possibly get some of the smaller variety of corys.
 
Bristlenoses get too big for your tank, would rehome these. You could maybe do a clown pleco instead.
 
Neon tetras are possibly fine, some would argue on the length of the tank though.
 
Platys not sure, AFAIK they need 20g (~75l) Possibly rehome
 
Swordtails get too big, would rehome these.
 
Mollys need a 30g, would rehome these.
 
Guppies are fine.
 
Sorry if that seems harsh at all

 

[T1gger]

My tank is 58cm long X 30cm wide and 42cm high. I was under the impression 1 litre per cm of fish. So I can have 70-75cm of fish
2 peppered corydoras 2x2cm=4cm, 1 bronze corydora =2cm,
1 male bristlenose catfish =4cm, 1 female bristlenose =4cm,
8 neon tetra 8x1cm=8cm, 1 male platty=2cm,
2 female platty 2X2cm= 4cm, 1 female swordtail = 3cm,
1 male swordtail =2cm, 1 female lyre tail molly = 3cm,
3 male guppies 3X1cm =3cm
I currently have a Total of 39cm.

I do know I will need to trade in my big bristlenoses when they grow any bigger, and that the Lyre tail will also outgrow the tank but thought my swordtails and platys were fully grown. Surely the fish wont breed if they're not happy. I cant afford a bigger tank both spacewise and pricewise and love my current tank. The fish are all peaceful with each other apart from the male platty and male swordtail but they seem pretty fairly matched as they both chase each other not just one chasing the other.
Also I was told a group of 3 corys is okay and they can be mixed corys

 

[Ninjouzata]

That is a general rule to be used, you still have to take into account the activity levels of the fish, their adult size, and if they need buddies or not.
 
Most corys can't be mixed, and they need to be kept in groups of 6+, you could take them back and get something smaller such as pygmy, hastatus, or habrosus.
What I mean by most is like albinos are just a different color variation (I think?) of the bronze, so you can mix those, but bronze and peppered do not.
*Edit* Again, what I mean, is they generally won't stick together. If your tank is big enough you certainly can house separate types together.
 
The swordtails are actually best kept in a trio IIRC, so you'd want 1M:2F, although I suppose if your female isn't getting harassed too much then it may be okay.
 
I'm using seriouslyfish to look at the adult sizes for you. A few of these I've actually heard get bigger than what it states.
 
Peppered corys get up to 7cm, although perhaps you have the salt and pepper (habrosus) which gets up to 3.5cm, bronze get up to 6.5cm
Bristlenose get up to 12.5cm, neon tetras get up to 3cm, platys get up to 5cm, swordtails 10cm, and guppies 6cm.
 
This adds up to.. 122.5cm  

 
Obviously no one is going to come to your house and make you take fish back or get a bigger tank, but we want to let you know what's best for your fish, and hope that you'll do something about it.
I hope you're not taking any offense to this. Also, obviously, someone please correct me if I'm wrong

 

[daizeUK]

I agree with Ninjouzata and the other comments.  The cm per litre rule is supposed to be used with the maximum size of the adult fish so a male platy is 5cm not 2cm etc.
 
Also agree the swordtails, mollies and bristlenose all grow too big for your aquarium.  Not sure about the neons and cories but the cories would like to be in a larger shoal which would use up most of your allocation.  The platies and guppies are fine.

Surely the fish wont breed if they're not happy.

 
Not always, fish have different triggers for breeding and some will breed specifically when their water quality is poor.  Your livebearers will breed prolifically since you have male and female platies and swordtails and there is also danger of cross-breeding between platies and swordtails.

 

[T1gger]

Is it true that plattys will breed with plattys and swordtail with swordtails through choice?

 

[T1gger]

Update:
Cramped conditions worsening but part resolution in progress.
Sold all 3 female guppies and 1 male so no more babies from them.
I had to add 7 swordtail grow outs into main tank (temporarily) they were chasing smaller fry
Swortail had another batch of fry with 7 remaining.
Platty had batch of 40 fry.
Lyretail molly passed on - not from disease
Purchased 50 litre tank as grow out tank

To clarify : guppies I still have 3 males to sell
Remaing fish unchanged

Can anyone tell me how to quickly cycle my new 50 litre tank? I read somewhere about using water from existing tank. If I do a 50% water change on my big tank I can put say 35 litres of that in how long should that cycle before adding fish? I want to do it right and not loose fish.

I aim to use 50 litre for fish to sell so guppies will go in there with first 7 swordtail fry, and as the babies get big enough I will add them. I will need to add cleaners so maybe I'll move either the bristlenoses or coydora. That should relieve some of the overstocking.

I can't bear to get rid of my fish they are pets and pets are for life. I just wish I could desex the fish like my other pets.

First thing to do is buy a filter and light for 50 litre and a heater for my 2nd 20 litre so I can get that cycled again and maybe i can put the 3 plattys in there with a bristlenose.

The stock of my 70 litre tank will then be 2 bristlenoses, 2 swordtails and 8 neon tetras. Do people think that is a better set up?

 

[Ninjouzata]

Can you give a new list of each fish and how many there are of them? Sorry it's a little hard to follow for me ^^'
50 liters is not big enough for the corys or the bristlenose and of course not the swordtails either but the fry would be fine I'd think.
I think two BN's in the 70 liter might be a bit much but perhaps it's fine as long as you keep up on your water changes.
 
As for the cycling your other tank, the water holds virtually no bacteria, it's on the surfaces. You can take up to 1/3 of the filter media from your cycled tank and put it in there to jump start it.
This will not 100% cycle the tank but will help it along.
 
Hopefully someone else will come along soon as I'm not of much help Sorry!

 

[daizeUK]

I can't bear to get rid of my fish they are pets and pets are for life. 

 
I  used to feel the same about my pet goldfish when I was a little girl.  The poor thing ended up living for 20 years in a tiny tank far too small for it and it was utterly miserable.
 
Loving our pets makes us happy but doing the right thing for our pets is what makes our pets happy.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

1 bronze corydora (sold as female but no babies yet)

 
It may be a female but you'll need a male bronze cory in there to make some babies as they can't do it on their own! Also, as noted Corys are far happier in groups of 5+
 

I can't bear to get rid of my fish they are pets and pets are for life. I just wish I could desex the fish like my other pets.

You just need to have a think about what you're doing. You sound like you've "desex"ed your other animals to prevent them from breeding but you seem to be doing all you can to encourage your fish to breed.
 
Moving the babies around and letting them "grow out" is just encouraging more and worsening the problem. You'll end up with lots more livebearers who in turn will just have lots more.
 
Personally, when I've kept livebearers (my daughter has some now in her tank and we're doing the same) I've just left the babies in the tank to fend for themselves and let nature take its course. This means the population keeps itself under control with some babies making it and some not, just as in the wild.
 
I think you need to reduce your livebearer numbers down to just one type and only a few of that type and then leave them in the tank to look after themselves. Either that or get rid of the livebearers completely and replace them with something that is harder to breed and won't cause you the same difficulties. 
 
My daughter's tank is 90l and has 3 male guppies and 6 females with around 10 babies as well as 5 bronze corys. I'm not going to add any more to it as I think this is about right and has room for the fish and babies to grow. 
 
With this in mind I think you need to review your fish numbers and reduce accordingly.

 

[T1gger]

Hi there,

I am getting better slowly. My 70 litre now contains the following:
1 male swordtail
1 female swordtail
8 neon tetras
Pair of bristlenoses
2 small peppered corys
1 neon size swordtail
Platty fry approximately 10 - will be rehomed once large enough
1 mini molly

My 20 litre contains:
3 bristlenose fry
4 swordtail fry
10 molly fry.

My 50 litre has:
2 plattys

The corydoras will be moving here with the platty fry I'm growing out to sell.

I have 170 litre still to set up and will move the swordtails and bristlenose pair in and probably half the neons.

Solution suggestions would be most welcome