Overstocked?

Okey I was talkin on another one of the 'fish fourms I frequent' (say that 10x fast) and a few of the people on their my told me my tank was severely overstocked after I put it in my signature :cry: :cry: so im seeking a second opinion.

20 Gallon:

6 Guppies
6 White Clouds
2 Dwarf Cories

All my ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte levels are under control but I do have another tank if I need pruning that badly. Any advice would be great.

 

If your fish are all full grown and you can keep your water parameters in check, then it's fine. However, technically (if you go by some of the "general rules") you are a bit overstocked. By the 1" rule, you have 26" of fish which is slightly overstocked, but I wouldn't call it severe. If your fish aren't full grown now, the fact that your water parameters are fine doesn't really mean much and you could run into problems later.

There are a couple other concerns about your tank. Your cories would really appreciate a couple more friends. It's possible to keep them in pairs (I only have 2 emerald cats), but they prefer larger groups. Not a big issue, but something to consider. Also, cloud minnows are actually cold water fish so they don't make the greatest tankmates for tropicals. As long as they're healthy, it's not a huge problem, but again, it's something to keep in mind.

-Chelle

 

Wow thanks for the advice! I had no idea that the clouds were cold water; petsmart usaly keeps tropicals and cold waters seperate. The Guppies are about 6 months old so they've gotta be near full grown, the white clouds are about a year old, (adopted them from one of my dads friends who moved and didnt want to transport them) and cories are still pretty small. I'm broke till i get a chance to cash my check but i was planning on getting some more cories anyway since their really awsome fish. Thanks again!

 

its is alittle overstocked but if u keep up w/ water changes then u will be fine.

 

Personally, I'd put the minnows in their own tank, then get at least 3 more cories when you get a chance.

And FWIW, full grown female guppies really can reach 2". I'd never seen them that large before so I always thought it was an exageration, but I have 2 in my pond that are 2" (not including their tails). :shock: And, yes, I know I'm being a bit of a hypocrite keeping guppies in my unheated pond, but it was either the pond or the oscars.

-Chelle

 

Thats what I was thinking, I could acutally put the minnows in my 10 gallon and then get the extra cories. Thanks again for all the help!

 

but, if you put them in your 10 gal then what about all those goldfish your bro put in there?

 

Im selling the last 3 this weekend.

 

id say that isnt over stocked.

if it was, you would be having probs with your tank, but it appears your filter is dealing fine with the fish, so i think its fine.

20gals can hold quite a bit.

 

I'd say your doing just fine. Doesn't sound overstocked at all to me But I've never put too much stock into the 1" per gallon "rule" anyway.

On the subject of giant guppies: I was at the lfs last week (buying my sick tetras) and I noticed they had one of their larger tanks just chock full of HUGE female guppies. I mean some of these things were close to three inches long :shock: !!!! I'd never seen such huge guppies before. There were probably about 20 of the huge ones and another 40 or so in smaller sizes, plus countless fry.

I asked the clerk if they actually were guppies and he said they took them from a customer who had all of them crammed into a tank smaller than the lfs one (probably 25 gallons or so). None of them looked very healthy either poor things But that served as my lesson of the week, guppies can get big.

 

6 inchs of fish over would make like no diffrence.