bobo Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 Hiya, new to all this and I suspect I have an overstocked tank. I have three questions. It is a 60 litre tank and contains 5 neons, 5 harlequin tetras, two mollies (yellow female, white male), a opaline gouamis, 2 bristle nose cats, and a male siamese that I keep partitioned(all the smaller fish can go back and forth). (1) Now I have heard the bristle noses become quite large and I'll have to remove them at that point? What I really wanted to know: could I add another female Molly to divert that male molly's aggression. My current female is constantly chased by the male (lol). He doesn't bite her. (2) Would adding one more female molly make any real negative difference in this currently overstocked tank? The fish seem happy and healthy(tank has been up a couple of months), and I change approx 10L of water each week. (3) What are the pros and cons of plants? Currently I have several plants in the tanks, some of which are in good condition, others which need to be replaced. Should I have natural plants or artificial? Thanks in advance for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 Have you heard about the straw that broke the Camel's back? I would strongly recommend that you buy a bigger tank, rather than another fish. Your tank is VERY overstocked, and it will end in tears (yours, as well as the fish's). You can expect any outbreak of disease to destroy all of your fish in very quick time in a tank that size. I'd recommend you sell one or two Bristlenoses now (smaller ones are easier to sell than big). Live plants are a very good thing to have in a tank because they help balance out some of the waste products in the tank, and also promote populations of other useful (sometimes invisible) creatures in the tank - and they look nice. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scuba Sam Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 I'll try to answer some of your questions - 1/ Bristlenoses only grow to about ten centremetres. They are usually quite slow growing in my experience. They are usually placid so no problem to other fish even when fully grown. You maybe thinking of plecostomus catfish which can grow over a foot long - no such problem with bristlenoses. 2/ Most live bearers are happiest if more females than males. If you really like the mollies maybe move another fish on to another tank, or sell/swap - maybe the gourami goes so another molly can come in. 3/ Plants help. They use up nitrates, and generally improve water quality. Plastic plants are generally only useful as scenery - I would recommend sticking to real plants. Good luck getting things sorted - it looks like you might be at risk of a really common illness on here - Multi Tank Syndrome!! Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 Filtration plays a big part in whether your tank is overstocked or not as well. What you haven't mentioned is what filter your tank has. I have a 40L tank full of white convicts (aprox 40) and using a Clearview HOB (Hang on Back) filter and the fish are fine and I am doing water changes once every 2 weeks. This is what most would call overstocked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naz_Nomad Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 Like Wok said, filtration is the key. I sometimes overstock but then I massively over-filter and am fastidious with weekly cleans. However, I feel that whilst it is easy to compensate for overstocking in slightly larger tanks (Mine are 180 and 190 litres) a 40 litre tank would not be the best tank for overstocking as in smaller tanks it is harder to hide your mistakes. Unless you are really pushed for space, I would think about upgrading to a 60 litre tank and buy your extra Molly then. I do not recommend overstocking though, even though I have been guilty on occasion and probably am right now - but with smaller fish and a planned upgrade before it becomes a problem. Have a look here... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/so-how ... t1372.html or here... http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/p ... cle_id=125 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobo Posted February 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 thanks guys, i have no idea whether my filter is any good, it's an 'EHEIM', and it is a large box like contraption, containing foam inside, with an adjustable flow. can't really give any more info than that since I'm clueless cheers for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastables Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Sounds like a Eheim Pickup to me. One of these maybe? http://www.eheimasiapacific.com/English/pickup.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobo Posted February 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 thanks bastables, i'm pretty sure it is the middle one of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 If it is, then you really should start to reduce the population of your tank - you are at serious risk of disease doing it for you if you don't start yourself soon. Of course you can avoid that AND have a new fish if you buy a bigger tank and filter... go on, you know you want to.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastables Posted February 21, 2008 Report Share Posted February 21, 2008 thanks bastables, i'm pretty sure it is the middle one of those. Then buy the aquaball 2210 http://www.eheimasiapacific.com/English/aquaball.htm It has considerably more filter volume. when you get it replace the blue foam with eheim substrate pro or another small diameter bio media. Let it run for 4 weeks with the pickup then if you want you can remove the pickup. This should increase your tanks ability to handle the waste from the fish. Getting a bigger tank would also be a good idea the bristle nose should get up to about 10cm or so. He'll be fine as long as your filter can process his and everyone else waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobo Posted February 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2008 Then buy the aquaball 2210 http://www.eheimasiapacific.com/English/aquaball.htm It has considerably more filter volume. when you get it replace the blue foam with eheim substrate pro or another small diameter bio media. Let it run for 4 weeks with the pickup then if you want you can remove the pickup. This should increase your tanks ability to handle the waste from the fish. Getting a bigger tank would also be a good idea the bristle nose should get up to about 10cm or so. He'll be fine as long as your filter can process his and everyone else waste. thanks, I may get the new filter. Is the siamese fighter a concern with a stronger filter? I was under the, maybe erroneous, impression they aren't keen on strong currents? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobo Posted February 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2008 thanks guys, if i was too cut down, what would be an appropriate sized population? If I changed the two Bristlenoses, to smaller algae eaters, plus removed one of the schools (either neons or tetras), would that be more balanced? I take it I shouldn't remove two neons and two tetras because they are happy in larger groups? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastables Posted February 21, 2008 Report Share Posted February 21, 2008 It has a flow control like your current one so you can fine tune the flow to match your pickup. Or you can buy the spray bar extention sets that eheim sells (very expensive $50 to $60, the filters going to be $100) or just point the filter towards the glass. Thing is a larger tank is going to be under $100 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me love fishy Posted February 21, 2008 Report Share Posted February 21, 2008 I would probably increase filtration as others have said, but I think it would be okay to have two small schools, your siamese fighter and one of the bristlenose plecs. I wouldn't have an opaline gourami in a tank that size, when I first started out I have a 60 litre tank and had two golden gouramis and discovered they were really too big for the tank the hard way. One got really territorial and attacked any fish I added. plus they do grow to be reasonably big fish. I would probably also get rid of the mollies and add some female fighters instead, maybe 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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