Am I going to overstock my tank?

[Tenko]

I have a rio 180l tank and have been advised by my lfs that I can have 40-50 fish. I thought that was a bit of an over-estimate but as it's my first tank I'm not too sure.

I have the jewel compact h internal filter and fluval 204 external filter. I still haven't completely decided on what to stock but am considering the following. As you can tell from my sig I've already started.

8-10 guppies
3 catfish
9 cardinal tetras
9 silvertip tetras
2 angelfish
4 dwarf gouramis

The tank has about 10 plants, all ferns I think. Could I have more tetras/gouramis or is this list too much.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

That tank is about 4UK gallons bigger than my coldwater one and I personally think that would be ok as long as you are careful about water quality and carry out regualr general maintenance on your tank such as water changes. I don't know much about gouramis either.

The only thing I would mention is that you could soon have lots and lots of guppies. Or are you getting all the same sex? Also, what kind of catfish?

 

[Tenko]

The guppies are all male, not sure I'll be able to be as selective with the tetras though.

I plan to do a 20% change every week, at worst every 2 weeks. Hopefully that will be enough.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I doubt your tetra would breed, it's just that guppies are like water rabbits!!

I think you'd be better doing water changes every week and then you'd be ine. Or if you want get a really good filter, might cost you a bit to start with but are priceless in terms of how good they are and how much they'll keep your tank clean.

Or is it the kind if tank with one inbuilt?

 

[Tenko]

I have the jewel compact h internal filter and fluval 204 external filter. Weekly water changes wouldn't bother me too much, it's a bit of a hassle trying to clean the gravel though when the tank is heavily planted and decorated.

 

[Bol]

"I have a rio 180l tank and have been advised by my lfs that I can have 40-50 fish"

What he probably meant to say was "you can have 40-50 inches of fish". Of course, since most of your fish are tetras, and small ones at that, it's close to the same.

In my opinion, you're probably a bit overstocked with that list.

Personally, I'd suggest the following. I don't claim to be an expert at all, but have a little experience.

If you're going to add dwarf gouramis, add either one or four. With two or three, I have found that dominance struggles lead to having only one, in a fairly short time. Your experience may vary, of course.

Also, I had angels and a gourami in a tank with male guppies once. The guppies (and, more to the point, the guppies' tails) didn't last very long. I suspect the gourami, but who knows.

You might want to start a bit light on the tetras. Maybe get six of each to start. Then, if you find that it's not a problem, you could add a few more (or save the "space" for that fish you find three months from now that would be really neat to have ).

 

[Tenko]

Thanks

I'll be happy to keep to 8 guppies and 6 silvertip, I didn't know that dwarf gouramis could be territorial though, do you need to select specific genders though? I mean, would you have all male or all female gouramis, 1 male and the rest female, 2 pairs or what?

I checked up on all the fish I considered getting in library books, but found that they all concentrate on their natural behaviour and conditions in the wild instead of the information I wanted to know, such as how they behave in an aquarium.

 

[LoveMyOscar]

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I only started using a gravel cleaner a couple of weels ago and i have never had probels with water quality. Even when I had my goldfish and weather loach in my 16UK/19US tank which was heniously overstocked. I only have one now for my corys and Tenko won't ahve any of those.

 

[Magnolia_360]

I strongly advise against getting angels because they get tp be really big and very tall and I think they are agggressive. Good Luck with the tank.

 

[Tenko]

I have thought about the gravel cleaning issue. When I got the tank I bought a medium sized vacuum as the tank isn't small. Now I think I should have got a smaller one, something else to buy I suppose.

I know what you mean about the fish waste, my catfish are only an inch long and they seem to spend more time pooing than anything else. There are times it hangs from them longer than their entire body length before dropping off. I'm glad that doesn't happen to me!

I've heard that about angelfish too, although I've also been told that they should be okay towards the other fish provided they are introduced when young. Not sure how they'd react with gouramis though. I hope my lfs would be honest regarding the size the angels would grow to as a large one would be too large for my tank.

 

[angel_lover]

Are you putting real plants???My 55 is all real plants heavily decorated and I do water changes once a week and vaccum the gravel about once every 3-4 weeks and I have never ever had a problem with my water conditions and my plants are very healthy and growing well

Now when I vaccum the gravel i go in between all the plants and I dont dig really deep I just give it a little push this way it doeant disrupt my plants at all.Also every 2 months or so I do rearrange the plants a bit which I think the fish really enjoy because it gives them a change of scenery and gives me a nice change for my tank.Also at this time I can give it a deeper vaccum if I feel it necessary.

All your fish seem good except angels and gourmais.As you can see from my sig I have this combo and honestly that little gourmais picks on the angels non stop Hes really a little bugger and Im looking to get rid of him.I dont think they do well together.Angels are really gorgeaous and very smart fish,mine eat out of my hands but(yes there is always a but )as somebody mentioned they can get quite big and aggressive.Mine pick on each other all the time.Its just become normal but I think the gourmais causes alot of it

Anyhoo hope this helps

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Plants use amonia etc to grow.

Angels shoud be ok, I had 2 in my tank a little smaller than yours and they were fine and dandy. I got them when they were about 50p piece body-sized.

 

[CFC]

Plants use amonia etc to grow.

Ammonia is toxic to all aquatic life forms including plants, plants use nitrAtes as a food source but the ammount of nitrAtes used is dependent on lighting and co2 levels within the tank.

 

[Bol]

I didn't know that dwarf gouramis could be territorial though, do you need to select specific genders though? I mean, would you have all male or all female gouramis, 1 male and the rest female, 2 pairs or what?

Don't take this for gospel, but ...

From what people have told me (including a couple of what I would call knowledgeable LFS owners), it's often very difficult to determine the sex of dwarf gouramis. Moreso, because sometimes non-dominant males will fade their color, to look more like a female. Also, it seems that most dwarf gouramis readily available are males.

So, when I suggest "one or four", that's going under the assumption that you will most likely have all males. If you can be certain of the sex, a pair would probably do great. Also, it seems with most (all?) types of fish, it's generally recommended that the females outnumber the males (unless they're all males, of course).

Also, about plants and vacuuming....

What I generally do is, every third or fourth week, I'll use one hand to gently brush the surface of the gravel in heavily planted places, while holding the siphon near with the other hand (kind of like using a hand broom and dust pan). Gets most of the major waste up, without disturbing the plants too much.