Is my 37 g planted tank overstocked?

I think she knew she was overstocked but was hoping we would tell her her tank is fine. You're not going to get any enabling in this forum...the health and well-being of the fish come first. We are very willing to forgive mistakes that newbies make, there is a lot of misinformation out there that pet stores and aquarium companies dish out and most of us have been there. But when you say you're not a newbie and knowledgeable people give you advice and you fight us on it...

As for the fin rot, you should never "usually" have it. Damage to fins can occur when you have nippy tankmates or more commonly with long flowing fins, but a fish's appendage should NEVER "usually" rot away. Do you know what trench foot is? It is the rotting away of your feet from standing in filthy wet conditions for too long. Imagine that happening to your hands or feet. Imagine the pain. For your tank to be experiencing enough fin rot for you to use the term "usually" means that your water is probably disgusting. And since cories are bottom-dwellers, it is probably that much worse for them since all the waste generally sinks to the bottom and accumulates in the gravel. How often do you vacuum your tank? How often do you change the water? With that many fish in there (even discounting the swordtail fry) You really should be changing at least 50% of your water 2-3 times a week, ESPECIALLY considering you only have one crummy HOB filter...

People have tried to give you helpful suggestions and all you did was make excuses. But there is NO excuse for allowing your fish to suffer as they have. How can you, as a fishkeeper, even be close to okay with what you are doing to those poor animals. I feel bad if I can only get in one water change a week and all of my tanks are over-filtered and understocked. I just cant be comfortable leaving them for too long in water that they have used as a bathroom and living space without keeping it pristine for them.
 
I work 5-6 days a week and I hardly have time to do water changes. I said I usally DON'T get fin rot, haven't got it on my fish in a year. The fry going going to a new home soon, after that, taking the rest to a small petstore, but may keep one or 3 of the female fry. The Marineland filter fits up to a 45 gallon tank, plus I have no room for another filter on the tank. I no longer have a gravel vac, since the one I had broke on me when I moved.
 
If you don't have 20 minutes and $10 for a gravel vac to do a water change (once a week on a normally stocked tank) and vac the gravel, then you shouldn't have the aquarium.

You could keep the angels, and the tetras and cories, even some of the livebearers if you keep their numbers in check, but the larger catfish are just way too much for the tank.
 
All I'm reading is more excuses. You need to take responsibility for the lives that are in your care.

I work 5-6 days a week and I hardly have time to do water changes.
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If you dont have time to properly care for your fish you should consider rehoming most of them. I work 45-80 hours a week and I still make time to care properly for my 7 fish tanks with water changes at least once a week, usually twice. Water changes take all of a half hour. If you have time to sit and read this forum you have time to care for your fish. It isnt THEIR fault and they shouldnt have to suffer for it. Keeping an understocked tank will make things much easier.

The Marineland filter fits up to a 45 gallon tank, plus I have no room for another filter on the tank.
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It is widely known to most hobbyists that you should have at least twice the filtration capacity of the number of gallons of your tank. So for a 37 gallon tank you should have at least 74 gallons of filtration. Therefore a filter up to 45 gallons is not enough for a 37 gallon tank, especially if you never change the water. As for not having room on the back of your tank for another filter, there has been at least one other person to point out that a canister filter takes up virtually no space on the back of your tank and will greatly help to keep your tank clean.

I no longer have a gravel vac, since the one I had broke on me when I moved
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How can you work so much that you dont have time to care for your fish yet not be able to afford a simple gravel vac? You dont NEED a python, the cheap $10 ones still do the job, it just isnt as easy. This is the dumbest excuse I've ever heard. If you are completely unwilling to spend time and money on your fish, why do you even HAVE them? If you dont have time to care for them, you certainly dont have time to enjoy them.

I think the best advice anyone can ever give someone like you is to get yourself out of the hobby before you do more harm. At least until you have the time, maturity, and inclination to treat the animals in your care properly.
 
The guppes are all male and they are larger then most I seen, I'm surprised my angelfish hasn't eaten them. If I get anymore fry in the tank, I may not raise them like I did with these, but I thought most would of died off, but most survived. What should I do if I have more fry in the tank, let the larger fish snack on them or save them? I have a breeder net for them.


But is it normal for the fry of a koi swordtail to turn all orange, they had the koi coloring for 2 weeks and then they changed colors.
 
*sigh*..you cannot help the unwilling...
 
I think it's time to wash our hands of this and just ignore Vincenia.
 
My tank was well stocked till I got all of the fry, I may place my pleco into the pond after it clears up or see if my dad would take him. I may also give my dad the spotted reacheal catfish since he has 2 striped ones in his tank. I do feed my fish everyday up to twice a day with a little bit of brine shrimp.

But when I was younger my dad had a 55g that he never ever did water changes on it or changed the carbon in the filter for 5 whole years till the pleco he had in the tank became very sick and died from a fungus. I had a 30g at that time and I did 25% water changes once a week till I had a nasty aglae bloom, which my whole tank turned green, the water was green, I took all of my fish out of the tank, drained the tank, refilled it then drained it again. Not so fun.
Then I moved,my dad sent me to my grandparents, left my tank behind, all of my fish died, including my 6 year old south american bumble bee cat.
I did get a new tank 2 years after that, which I did water changes up to 30% every week or so. But when I first had it stocked, I had a bad outbreak of ich, 9 out of 10 of my fish died, the pleco that is in my 37g now was the only surviver of that outbreak. Did a 75% water change after the outbreak, waited a week and got a few more fish for the tank, the neons, cories, the large angelfish, bumblebee cats, and the pleco [did had cherry barbs but they died of old age, and 3 giant danios which got nasty when I moved them, I gave those away] were the what I had in the 30g, till I moved them to the 37g.

I'm going to do a 45-50% water change on the 37g to clear up the water, after a trip to petco to pick up a few things. I could do the water changes to my 37g when I have off of work. The fin rot started healing up on the one swordtail, her tail is growing back slowly. The fungus been in my tank for 4 days, been treated for 3 days. I didn't over dose on the meds, which my dad normaly does for his 72g.


This is me taking the advice, mind you.
 
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I apologize for being a bit harsh earlier, but have you seriously considered at least getting a larger tank? Your bio-load has got to be off the charts and no amount of filtration will consistently filter the water without working your fish over. I work 40+ hours a week with full-time college and still manage weekly 50% water changes on my 100g freshwater and 40g saltwater by the way. No one is attacking you personally, just worried about the fish...I'm leaving this post because it's been out of hand for about two days now. Good luck, and I hope you listen to us about this situation.
 
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