Is my 37 g planted tank overstocked?

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but many here have tried to be nice about this and it's not sinking in. The truth is that it sounds like both you and your dad need to give up this hobby of torturing fish because neither of you knows what you're doing. You are not "fishkeeping", fishkeeping requires some effort on your part. You appear to be stocking a tank full of fish so you have something full of colorful "moving things" to feed and watch once in a while.

But you're simply too busy to be bothered with water testing, water changes, filter maintenance or even regular gravel cleaning. You don't seem to know what on Earth "water parameters" even means, yet you claim to be experienced at fishkeeping. Then you cite your dad's apparent inability to care for his own tank as your guide. You go on to make it sound like it's a special event just to do a water change. I'm actually shocked the fish are being fed, yet I suspect they are probably being over-fed or they are being fed the wrong foods as well, since you have NO CLUE what you're doing.

Please, for the sake of the fishes lives, rehome them all, store or sell the tank and just watch some tv in your little bit of spare time. Fishkeeping is not an "easy" novelty hobby that you can just ignore because it's not convenient for you. These are living animals and they deserve to be cared for properly by the people who choose to keep them. Your fish are not supposed to have any diseases if they are properly cared for. Since you seem very unwilling to listen to the good advice you've been given here, that you did ask for btw, your best course of action would be to quit this hobby for now. When you do have the time to spend on this time-demanding hobby, do some research online, get a good book or two about freshwater fish and how to properly set up a tank, maintain a tank, maintain water quality and care for the fish you choose. You would find the time to do this if you really do want to keep fish.

I have been keeping fish as pets since 1993. Before I ever started my first tank I began to build my own extensive home library of books on this hobby. I have books on many different subjects because I don't believe in jumping into a hobby like this blindly, I want what is best for the animals I will be taking care of. Over the years I have kept freshwater tanks, saltwater tanks and a large thriving reef tank. I succeeded in this hobby by seeking out the knowledge on how to do it. If you don't have the time right now to learn how to keep your fish happy and healthy, then you honestly don't need to have fish. It's that simple.

Best of luck to you and your fish.
 
Vincenia said:
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.
Click to expand...

I just don't even know where to begin, there are so many things done wrong in the above post. We have already given you advice and it hasn't quite sunk in. :headshake2: So I will end with a few things, but at least you promise to make changes and I applaud you for it:

1) You and your dad should not have fin rot or fungus in a healthy, well-cared for tank. It is not "normal" to need to medicate.
2) When you "pick up a few things" please be sure one is a cheap gravel vac, and the other is a liquid test kit so you can find out exactly what your parameters are. And don't be tempted to pour chemicals into the tank hoping to "clean" the water, it will not work.
3) Re-home most of your fish. Do NOT feel tempted to buy new ones, and certainly not a "few" fish as your previously did. ("a few more fish for the tank, the neons, cories, the large angelfish, bumblebee cats, and the pleco"...that's a LOT of fish, you must have had a massive ammonia spike) Also, new fish must be quarantined so you don't introduce disease into your tank. NO NEW FISH, AND REHOME MOST OF THE OTHERS.
4) Tell yourself you are going to perform weekly partial water changes and gravel vacs and STICK TO IT. But since you have not been doing gravel vacs, do them one section at a time instead of all at once---all that yuck is going to get stirred into the water and you don't want a massive ammonia spike from it.
 
Vincenia said:
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.
Click to expand...

When I started this hobby 6 years ago, I was familiar with some of the freshwater side since my dad had it (and saltwater) when I was a kid.

My dad hardly ever did water changes on his tank, and yes for salt water he was successful for about a year when ich broke out and killed almost everything in the tank.


I am still criticized by him for doing weekly water changes (or daily on my fry tanks), but the water changes work.


This is the most effective way to actually fix the problem inside of the tank, removing the solid wastes (with water) before they begin breaking down into ammonia and nirtates.


I have to say after reading all of the posts since I last looked at this that I do agree with the majority of the posts on here.


I have been in your shoes working 10 days a week (2 jobs sometimes 20 hours a day) and I forced myself to do my water changes in my tiny amount of time off work.


I know that you mean well by posting on here and the other posters are just trying to be able to provide you with the best answer to the questions you have asked.


I hope that you will be able to get your tank cleaned out and under control very soon.


Good luck!
 
The fry is going to be rehomed soon. Well over the years, I do/did take better care of my fish then my dad did for his a few years ago and well I manage to keep some of the old fish I had for the old tank, but a few have died off. Not all the fish I have in my tank are colorful. Some of my fish are 3 years old and I slowly added mayb about 2-3 at a time, not 5 or 6 fish at a time. I pick out fish carefully, I check the tanks to see if any are sick, if fish have ich, a fungus or a lot of dead the whole section isn't worth it. I haven't bought any new fish in awhile, the fry took up the space the angels need to swim without hitting their fins on the gravel and tearing them.



What some people said in this forum kind of upset me quite a bit.
 
cicrush13 said:
When I started this hobby 6 years ago, I was familiar with some of the freshwater side since my dad had it (and saltwater) when I was a kid.

My dad hardly ever did water changes on his tank, and yes for salt water he was successful for about a year when ich broke out and killed almost everything in the tank.


I am still criticized by him for doing weekly water changes (or daily on my fry tanks), but the water changes work.


This is the most effective way to actually fix the problem inside of the tank, removing the solid wastes (with water) before they begin breaking down into ammonia and nirtates.


I have to say after reading all of the posts since I last looked at this that I do agree with the majority of the posts on here.


I have been in your shoes working 10 days a week (2 jobs sometimes 20 hours a day) and I forced myself to do my water changes in my tiny amount of time off work.


I know that you mean well by posting on here and the other posters are just trying to be able to provide you with the best answer to the questions you have asked.


I hope that you will be able to get your tank cleaned out and under control very soon.


Good luck!
Click to expand...

I been trying to get everything under control in the tank, after I rehome some of the fry the rest of the fry are going to a petstore, may take the pleco there to, but not sure if they will take such a large pleco. The fish are my only pets I have and most of them I raised. :[

I do have a disabilty, it takes awhile for me to do something. :[
 
Well it sounds like you have read the posts and understand that you have an issue with the tank. From your recent posts, seems you are going to take care of the tank and make sure the fish will have the space they need.

Sometimes it is important to be blunt with people as we are responding virtually and it isn't always easy to see how the person is reacting.

Good luck with your tank. Continue to ask questions as that is the way we all learn. Just be sure that when you ask a question, you are ready for the answer, whether good or bad.

Amy
 
Right now I'm waiting on my aunt to reply back to me, she does want some of my swordtails for her school tank, her filter broke though. She has to let me know when she gets a new one. I'm going to do a water change for my tank after I get back from petco. I'm going to buy a ten gallon tank for my bettas that I have in my room, I just wish that petco had dividers for 10g tanks. I try my best to keep my fish happy, but sometimes it's not easy, besides caring for my fish I'm stuck with dealing with my brother ball python.
 
@ Vincenia, I'm sorry if you were upset by the posts here, but that is not anyone's intention at all. This is a fishkeeping board and we are all here to help educate when we can and to be educated when we need help. We are here because we truly care about the health of our fish pets first and foremost. Everyone here has made mistakes, but you need to be willing to listen to good advice, learn, and then try to do better. It really sounded as if you were being belligerent and were simply ignoring everyone who attempted to answer your question about your overstocked tank. Overstocking is a very common mistake that people make but it's correctable. Overstocking a tank will cause dirty water and that leads to fish stress and then diseases and then possibly/probably death to the fish.

I'm glad that you are trying to resolve your tank's bad situation. I'm only suggesting that you do some reading by the experts on this hobby if you want to keep your fish pets happy. If you are able to take a few minutes a day to do a little reading about your types of fish and their required living conditions and how to maintain your tank...honestly your efforts will be greatly rewarded because you will then have very healthy and happy fish to enjoy spending time with. Fish can be wonderful pets to have and it's not always going to feel like a huge chore to take care of them. Once maintenance becomes a routine for you it will go by much quicker.

Best of luck to you. :)
 
I have a book that has the types of fish I have in the tank. I just have to many swordtail fry to handle, 9 of them are going to a new home Sunday. Going to do a water change when I come home from work today, since I got tired out from switching a 5g to a 10g in my room so many trips up and down stairs. The finrot seemed to have cleared up, but I did lose one of my old neons. I do change the carbon once a month in my filter and I realized I add about 4 gallons of clean water to the tank every few days since the water gets low after awhile.
 
Just remember to do weekly gravel vacs, because all that fish poop etc. accumulates in it. Just doing partial water changes or adding fresh water that evaporates won't eliminate it. And my 37 gallon tank never loses anywhere near 4 gallons of water to evaporation in just a few days, are you sure you don't mean weeks instead of days? Don't take this the wrong way, but it still seems like you just don't have the time/energy for keeping fish. You are still making excuses as to why you haven't done a water change.

Vincenia said:
Going to do a water change when I come home from work today, since I got tired out from switching a 5g to a 10g in my room so many trips up and down stairs.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom