View Full Version : I know I am overstocked but I like my fish
Okay, I got bit by the"need a bigger tank" November 2006. I have a 35 gallon tank that has the following fish in it: 2 bloodfins, 1 1/2 neons, 2 fruities, 1 pleco, 1 ghost shrimp, 2 glass cats, 1 stick pleco, 3 prisillas, 1 tri-colored shark(he's big), 1 albino cat (He's as big as a man thumb), 1 weather loch (6"), 3 lagoons (I am not sure if that is there name; pink, orange, neon yellow). I have lost my Angel (Buckeye) and a glass cat 1 week ago. My tank looks so empty with out Buckeye; he took up a large space in the tank. He had the lip thing that made them huge. He had survived for over 2 years in my care with them that way by hand feeding.
All the fish except for a few are tetra's With what I have in the tank could I continue to collect more small tetra's?
Mcdaphnia
05-16-2007, 5:39 AM
It sounds like a fluidized bed filter would be a good addition for this tank. FBF's are great for tanks that have a high population or rapidly changing one, such as fry tanks or display tanks.
I have a filter that is under my rock and a back tank filter for a 20 gallon tank that I had on my old 10 gallon tank. My rocks are about 2-4" think in my tank.
Reefscape
05-16-2007, 5:58 AM
I shall move this to the freshwater section...
Niko
Reefscape
05-16-2007, 6:04 AM
Moved !!!
Derringer
05-16-2007, 10:32 AM
How is the 1/2 neon getting by?
If you want to do small community fish, do them and get another tank for the larger fish or donate them.
daayda3
05-16-2007, 10:34 AM
Okay, I got bit by the"need a bigger tank" November 2006. I have a 35 gallon tank that has the following fish in it: 2 bloodfins, 1 1/2 neons, 2 fruities, 1 pleco, 1 ghost shrimp, 2 glass cats, 1 stick pleco, 3 prisillas, 1 tri-colored shark(he's big), 1 albino cat (He's as big as a man thumb), 1 weather loch (6"), 3 lagoons (I am not sure if that is there name; pink, orange, neon yellow). I have lost my Angel (Buckeye) and a glass cat 1 week ago. My tank looks so empty with out Buckeye; he took up a large space in the tank. He had the lip thing that made them huge. He had survived for over 2 years in my care with them that way by hand feeding.
All the fish except for a few are tetra's With what I have in the tank could I continue to collect more small tetra's?
One and one HALF neon? :huh:
Mabel
05-16-2007, 10:41 AM
my 1/2 neon...well I originally had 6 - 6months ago and now I only have 1 1/2 left. When I woke up yesterday and the 2nd one was missing an eye and it looked blackish. Today it is still alive but barley. My "lagoons" might actually be zebra dano's? I am not really sure but with what everyone says about those it sounds like my Pink, Yellow, and Orange ones are.
Coler
05-16-2007, 11:50 AM
I would try and see why you're losing fish (Angel & glass cat one week ago, now a neon) before you try and add more.
If you want to get some help with that question the following information would assist people try and work it out with you :
How much water are you changing weekly ?
How often do you gravel vac ?
Can you test (using a liquid test strip) for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate ?
What's your filtration ?
ct-death
05-16-2007, 12:28 PM
my 1/2 neon...well I originally had 6 - 6months ago and now I only have 1 1/2 left. When I woke up yesterday and the 2nd one was missing an eye and it looked blackish. Today it is still alive but barley. My "lagoons" might actually be zebra dano's? I am not really sure but with what everyone says about those it sounds like my Pink, Yellow, and Orange ones are.
I lost 2 neons via having one of their eyes sucked out of their heads by another agressive fish. The aggression I later found to be associated with overcrowding. Now that I have less fish, the agression is gone.
...and yes, I saw another fish suck the eye out of a neon tetra while feeding them! :eek:
It would be best to euthanize the little guy IMO... :(
Mabel
05-16-2007, 12:33 PM
How much water are you changing weekly ? The last water change was Saturday. I have a 35 gallon tank and I changed 15 gallons of water. I gravel vac'd it out and dug down into the bottom filter. Previously I did a gravel vac change 1 1/2 weeks ago and took out all most 10 gallons. I try and do the water changes ever week but somethimes it goes 2 weeks. I always use a gravel vac for the water changes.
Can you test (using a liquid test strip) for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate ?
I test weekley with a dip test for ammonia and the other is for GH (60-70), KH( 280), PH (8-9), Nitrate(0), and Nitrite (40 - 80)
What's your filtration ? My filtration is a back tank filter for 20-30 gallon tanks and an under gravel filter.
Mabel
05-16-2007, 12:36 PM
THAT SOUNDS GROSS!!!! I saw a silver Doller that was the size of a grapfruit cut in 1/2 that survived a fish taking it's eye out. I will probably go home tonight and take it out and flush it unless the other fish eat it.
Kuhlifan
05-16-2007, 12:41 PM
Having live plants would help. It gives the fish a natural place to hide/hang out and helps filter the water.
My five gallon now has about 100 or more fish in it. Two guppy spawnings back to back. Sheesh.
Flying_Diamond
05-16-2007, 2:59 PM
THAT SOUNDS GROSS!!!! I saw a silver Doller that was the size of a grapfruit cut in 1/2 that survived a fish taking it's eye out. I will probably go home tonight and take it out and flush it unless the other fish eat it.
You don't plan to flush it while it's alive do you?
Well... okay I guess I could just leave it in there until the other fish eat it?
Flying_Diamond
05-16-2007, 9:05 PM
Well... okay I guess I could just leave it in there until the other fish eat it?
No, if you want to humanely euthanize it, take it out, and cut it's head off, or fill up a bowl of water, put it in the freezer, and once the top of the water starts to freeze and turn ice, take the fish out and put it in. Flushing a fish is the most inhumane thing to do, they will live for a long time in the sewer before being poisoned to death. It's extremely painful for them.
Okay, I got bit by the"need a bigger tank" November 2006. I have a 35 gallon tank that has the following fish in it: 2 bloodfins, 1 1/2 neons, 2 fruities, 1 pleco, 1 ghost shrimp, 2 glass cats, 1 stick pleco, 3 prisillas, 1 tri-colored shark(he's big), 1 albino cat (He's as big as a man thumb), 1 weather loch (6"), 3 lagoons (I am not sure if that is there name; pink, orange, neon yellow). I have lost my Angel (Buckeye) and a glass cat 1 week ago. My tank looks so empty with out Buckeye; he took up a large space in the tank. He had the lip thing that made them huge. He had survived for over 2 years in my care with them that way by hand feeding.
Ok, you're right. You're WAAAY overstocked for a 35 gallon tank. Here are some fish problems I've noticed...
1. The pleco. Can get to be well over 1 foot long, and produces a LOT of bioload into the tank. Take him back to wherever you got him, or sell him. He can not stay in your tank.
2. Your 'weather' loach, more commonly known as the Dojo loach, can also get to a max of 1 foot, and also won't fit in your tank. Take him back to the fish store or sell him/give him away to someone who has adequate room.
3. 'Fruities' aren't the name of your fish, it's probably a catchy name that your lfs gave to the fish to sell them, to help properly identify them, do you have a picture of a 'Fruity'?
4. Your bloodfin tetras AND neon tetras need to be kept in schools of at least six.
5. I assume your albino cat is a corydora? If it is, they also like having some buds, so get 2 more albinos.
6. Your 'Stick Pleco' is more commonly known as a Farlowella cat, and it gets to 7 inches. I reccomend taking back to the store or giving it away too, as you have too many other things going on in your tank, and you won't have room if you up all the schools.
7. Your glass cats will get to 6 inches. That's a foot between the two. Too much for your tank with everything else. Take them back too.
8. I don't know what kind of shark you have, because that's not the proper name, but if it's as big as the dojo loach, it will probably get well bigger, and you should take it back as well.
9. Your 'lagoons' probably are a type of danio, dyed. They school as well. 6+ fish.
I couldn't find any info on the prisella, maybe someone else could help with that...
Up your tetra/danio schools to 8 each, to start with. They will thank you later. Only do this once you get rid of the rest of the fish as stated above.. If you want to keep the tetras, you can't get an angel, they will eat them, and that was probably the cause of death of most of your tetras...
All the fish except for a few are tetra's With what I have in the tank could I continue to collect more small tetra's?
No. You cannot get ANY more fish until you resolve the above problems. Once you get them resolved, come back and you can probably get a couple nice spotlight fish after upping the schools. Hope I didn't mess any of that up, and I hope you get the idea, I don't think I forgot anything...
musho3210
05-16-2007, 9:10 PM
How much water are you changing weekly ? The last water change was Saturday. I have a 35 gallon tank and I changed 15 gallons of water. I gravel vac'd it out and dug down into the bottom filter. Previously I did a gravel vac change 1 1/2 weeks ago and took out all most 10 gallons. I try and do the water changes ever week but somethimes it goes 2 weeks. I always use a gravel vac for the water changes.
Can you test (using a liquid test strip) for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate ?
I test weekley with a dip test for ammonia and the other is for GH (60-70), KH( 280), PH (8-9), Nitrate(0), and Nitrite (40 - 80)
What's your filtration ? My filtration is a back tank filter for 20-30 gallon tanks and an under gravel filter.
i think you got nitrite and nitrate mixed up, that is an alarmingly high nitrite level and most test kits dont go that high.
OKAY!!!!
I Know that you think your opinion about the "human thing" is important and you do bring up very valid points. I didn't get to Flush the fish because it was sucked up into the filter when I got home. Sorry!
I will not be taking any of my fish anywhere. and if they get bigger I have a 55 gallon tank that I can set up and take care of them until they die. The Angel fish killed nothing because it's lips were so big, Jimmy Walker would have been envious. I hand fed Buckeye until he died. It still is traumatic to see the fish that you hand fed be sucked into the filter screen. He greeted me when I came home and anytime that I sat next to the tank. He was always a where of what went on outside the tank.
The fruities had a colored strip on their back and it has faded over the last 2 years. they are about the size of a 1/2 dollar, snow white and very beautiful. Kind of pikish in color too. The 3 colored fish are not painted and they will never loose there color. They are Pink, Yellow, and Orange. Very bright and they have very thin white strips horizontally. Unfortunately I really don't know what they are actually called.
I have gone through many pleco's. I grow the pleco's and then take them back to my LFS and get stuff or fish. I normally trade for a very small pleco and blood worms.
The shark is a tri-colored shark. His name is Jr., as in Dale Jr., Little E, you get the idea. The Weather Loach is Fred; Fred the Loach. All my smaller tetra's school together. :dance::dance:
i think you got nitrite and nitrate mixed up, that is an alarmingly high nitrite level and most test kits dont go that high.
I just tested the water and here is what I have:
GH: 0
KH: 180-240
PH: 8- 8.5
No2: 0 (Nitrite)
No3: 20-40 (Nitrate)
So what do you think?
FireDancer7905
05-16-2007, 10:37 PM
Your colorful Pink, Orange and Yellow fish are probably GloFish.
http://www.glofish.com/photos.asp
Mabel
05-16-2007, 10:41 PM
YES! that is exactly what they are and man are they nippy! Evan when I have my hand in moving stuff to do the water change they are in there just pecking away at me. It kind of tickles. HEHEHEHHE.
Thanks SO much!!!!
FireDancer7905
05-16-2007, 10:46 PM
You're welcome! Your "Fruities" are probably a fish usually sold as a "Mixed Fruit Tetra," which is a dyed/tatooed white skirt tetra or glass fish.
well, seems like you still have lots of fish in the tank for its size.
I wouldn't add anything, but I'm no expert.
btw paper test strips are generally thought to be very unreliable. You also need an ammonia test, much more than tests for hardness. API make a good liquid test kit that tests ammonia, nitriate, nitrate, Ph & high range Ph.
ct-death
05-17-2007, 6:19 AM
You may not like the answers you get here, but many of us place the fish first, not the poster... :(
At the least no more fish please, and start that 55G tank now. It will take a month or so to get it cycled without fish (or you can speed it up by using your current filter and other materials. <--Let us know, we can walk you thew it ;)
WinnipegDragon
05-17-2007, 1:35 PM
That 55g will be overstocked too. You might have enough fish there to overstock both tanks.
nickmcmechan
05-17-2007, 1:52 PM
i think theres another issue other than the total level of stocking and fish size.....most of the fish you have in there are social and like to kept in schools with their own kind to be happy
Flying_Diamond
05-17-2007, 2:11 PM
Your 55 gallon isn't big enough for all the fish you have either. You NEED to take back the fisht that I mentioned or they WILL inevitably die a painful death and live a short life. It's very bad for the fish to stunt their growth like that. I hate saying this, but you're being very stubborn. The fish are more important than what you 'like' because you need a lot more fish to keep the schools happy, but can't get them because you don't have the room. Trade the big fish in for some fish to up your schools, that would be the right thing to do.
nickmcmechan
05-17-2007, 3:02 PM
is it possible for you to purchase another tank?
Let's all go over what I have. I am sitting in front of my tank.
The following fish I have had the the numbers that you see for over 2 years In a 10 Gallon tank:
2 bloodfins
3 Percillas
2 Fruities( I need help with identifying these... the are white with a pinkies cast and the are the size of a 1/2 dollor are a ping pong ball cut in half
1 Albino Cat (size of a mans thumb)
1 Tri Colored Shark
1 Neon ( Over the past 2 years there was originally 3 then I bought 6 and now I am down to 1)
1 Pleco ( I get a new pleco every 6 to 8 months and switch the old one out)
Died: Buckeye - Brindled colored veiled Angel fish (3 years in my tank)
New Fish since Nov. 2006
3 Glo Fish P, Y, & O
1 Weather Loach
2 Glass Cats ( Used to have 3)
1 Stick Pleco ( He is 7" long and the size of a very skinny pencil)
1 Ghost Shrimp ( Had two one diapered)
All in all I have 19 living things in my 35 gallon Tank with an Under gravel filter and a rear tank filter. I do weekly to week and a half water vacuums and change to rear filter. I agree no more fish. I will not be getting ride of any of my fish and I will consider getting the 55 gallon in the house and find a spot where I can sit and watch my fish. Currently they are the "other" TV in the room and my chair is next to it. I just love sitting and watching the tank. All the tetra's are very interesting to watch.
Flying_Diamond
05-17-2007, 7:44 PM
Ok, you kill your fish however you want, it's obvious no one's getting through to you. later.
chaibill
05-17-2007, 8:11 PM
1. OK someone I.D.ed the fruities they are White Skirt Tetras that are painted which is cruel how about i paint you.
2. i suggest when these fish die you buy a book on freshwater fish that fits in your pocket or you can carry into the Live Fish Store(LFS):read:
3. you trade in your Pleco huh and get some blood worms and another pleco. this is like the guy that buys a cow for $500.00, feeds it for a year then sells it for $500.00 and thinks he made $500.00. You should stop this. Buy a small pleco like a clown but they may need drift wood not sure. or get a small school of Otos they eat algae
4. You came to Us for help but you won't take any of our advice. then why bother coming here.
5. the tri color shark AKA Bala shark reaches 14 inches and should be in a 250gal tank take him back you could get some silver tetras or something to help with schools
6. get more Corys the cat fish that is thumb size they need to have company
7. you are not that attached to your fish as you said you take the plecos back when they get too big to take back the big stuff. Also the weather loach needs a sandy bottom for burrowing . And you need a larger filter
Thank You.
I am not, not listening; and everyones advise, I am taking into consideration. Just because I had chose to handle my tank differently than most of what I see in here, please understand that the SLEDGE Hammer effect doesn't work on everyone and not everyone is a "fish activist". I like my fish and I am learning that what my Local Fish Store might not have been telling has probably hindered my tank than helped me.
I will continue to post and I will continue to listen, but please don't beat my over the Head...it hurts:-)
hey woah there...you're not being beaten over the head...and its for you to decide how you want to keep fish, whether you want to observe certain conventions or not.
You just won't get approval or applause for it is all - probably the opposite.
Read around the site and you'll see its a great tool for learning. What you do with the information is up to you.
hey woah there...you're not being beaten over the head...and its for you to decide how you want to keep fish, whether you want to observe certain conventions or not.
You just won't get approval or applause for it is all - probably the opposite.
Read around the site and you'll see its a great tool for learning. What you do with the information is up to you.
Coler: I am specifically speaking about the post from the Flying_Diamond. :thud:
jjanoch
05-18-2007, 2:26 PM
I agree that his last post was not very helpful and didn't need to happen.
Setup your 55g when you can and start to split up your current fish. Once that is done you will be able to add a few to those types which prefer to swim in groups.
As for the pleco situation, while I find it strange to do it your way....it is your tank. As attached to your other fish you get, I guess the pleco doesn't do the same. But I still agree with you getting one of the "small" types and keep it for a few years. The constant taking back must get tiring at some point....let alone what you gonna do if you actually get attached to one of them these days.
Not beating you up...just offering some thoughts...either way enjoy your tank....and sounds like you do care about your fish, not every owner does!
Blueiz
05-18-2007, 4:23 PM
Good advice has been given rree, it is your choice whether you want to take it or not. The thread title says to me from the start, I know my tank is overstocked, but Im not looking for anyone to tell me this is what is wrong, Im looking for someone to tell me something else is wrong. It is apparent that you are not getting the answers you want to hear. My suggestion to you is to listen to experienced ppl, if help is what you came here for. If justification and another cause for your probs is what you came for, youre not going to get it.
Thanks,
Blue
Thanks!
I am having issues with my current tank which I just purchased in November. I do realize that the majority of my issues are due to overtocking and that I need to rectify the situation either way. The fish in my tank that I am most attached to currently is the Fred the Loach, Jr. the Tri-Colord Shark, My Glo Fish P Y & O, Stick Pleco and my ghost shrimp.
I could probably get ride of the rest of them. I am looking into getting a pit bull pleco to help with the brown alge on the stuff in the tank.
Flying_Diamond
05-18-2007, 7:33 PM
*omg* ok, Sorry if you thought I was beating you up, but you came here looking for advice, and you won't take any. I was just getting frustrated and I'm sorry.
If you have no problem taking the rest of the fish back, I suppose that would be better than nothing, and you could set up your 55 gallon and move the inhabitants around, but, rather than adding a pitbull pleco to the overstocking mess, couldn't you just scrub the algae off, or leave the lights on less often?