Overcrowded tank

[Serrateeth_2002]

I need to get upgrade my filter,my tank is overcrowded,
the tank specs
tank-50gal tank
filter-overhead filter with internal powerhead
filter media-original or synthetic cotton,rough sponge,bioballs,ceramic something,activated carbon
fish-2 clown loaches-one 4 inch another 6 inch
1 featherfin synodontis-6 inch,2 parrots-one 5 inch another 4 inch,one bgk-7 inch,a large school of barbs-1 to 2 inches,5 black skirt tetras-2 inch,5 cories-1 inch,5 some sort of sucker loaches-1 inch,1 angel-4inch.do i need to upgrade or do i need to change the whole concept?Is it way overcrowded or partially over crowded?

[JamisonBWolsh]

How many barbs in your "school"?

I would say partially overcrowded... Your ghost will get to 15 inches.
You got some finners in there. Do they bother the Ghost?
Also, you have some wide bodied fish...

Whats your nitrates reads?

[downloader]

how long have the fish been together like this?

[Serrateeth_2002]

few months,the school is 15 or more,the barbs are not fully grown.

[JamisonBWolsh]

You have 80+ inches of fish in a 50 gallon tank?.. Hows your nitrates?


Ps. Your going to LOVE your Black Ghost. You can hand train them to eat shrimp from your hand. I Hope you have a place for him to hide. They will live over 15 years, if well taken care of. Just makes sure none of those fin nippers nip at the ghost!

[Serrateeth_2002]

ok,i guess,there is a lot of plants.guess i need better filter media.

[JamisonBWolsh]

Get a fluidized bed filter- a REALLY GOOD filter to get BIo filtration. Add a emporor 400 and your off to a good start.

[Serrateeth_2002]

Call me dense,whats a fluidized bed filter?

[keely]

Overcrowded isn't necessarily x inches of fish in x gallons of water (to me anyway.) It's about whether living conditions are good, and whether you can keep them good indefinitely.

Signs you're overcrowded:

Fish are under stress from the population density... fish can't swim naturally without crashing into other fish who are trying to swim naturally, territorial fish do not have enough room to make their own little space or others cannot get far enough away from the territorial fish, fish are hiding because they have nowhere to go where they aren't being attacked, stuff like that. You could be overstocked with 20 inches of fish or fine with 80, it depends.

So many fish in the tank that it isn't visually pleasing to look at.

The maintenance you're willing to do isn't enough to keep water quality high... nitrates are a good measure of this in an unplanted tank at least. In any tank, you need to do enough water changes and vacuuming to keep crap from building up, nitrates, dissolved organics, sludge... if fish are prone to disease, especially finrot, popeye, cloudy eye, etc that show up when conditions are poor, that's a sign you're not doing enough to keep up with the fishload, no matter how heavy it is or isn't.

Another filter might not be the answer; larger more frequent water changes are a better attack on overcrowding than any filter.

Is your maintenance keeping up, are you willing to do more, and how healthy/happy do the fish seem? Hope that helps.

[Serrateeth_2002]

I guess it is not that bad since all the fishes are in good condition,for now,i blame on my dad for buying too many fishes which i didn't ask for.

[JamisonBWolsh]

You never mentioned at what your nitrates are??? Do you have a nitrate test kit?

A Fluidized bed filter is this:

a powerhead in a tank that blows the water to a slim (usually see through canistor that holds sand. The water goes through this sand and out the fluidized filter bed. Here is the KEY: The good bacteria lives on each individual grain of sand and you have the MOST good bacteria you can get! You will NEVER get any ammonia or nitrite problems

Your right on the inch per gallon rule. Its a tool to start with. Then you calculate how well you change the water, what type of fish.

[JSchmidt]

Unless you're having problems with ammonia/nitrites, you probably don't additional biofiltration. As long as your dad doesn't add any specimens, your bioload should increase slowly enough (as the fish grow) that the biofilter can keep up. A fluidized bed filter, although cool, probably won't give you the most bang for your filter buck.

I'd advise that you get another mechanical filter, one that is so easy to clean that you can do so several times a week. (Frequent cleaning of mech filtration in an overstocked tank is a must, IME.) A HOT Magnum with a sponge prefilter or an Aquaclear HOB filter loaded with sponges would do the trick. Removing crud before it breaks down will go farther than additional biofiltration.

Good luck,
Jim