Could I add two more neons?

[Ravenes]

I have so far four neon tetras
Six cherry barbs
Six ember tetras
And six albino Cory catfish

Can I add 2 more neons to make a school?
The tank is a thirty gallon tall.

 

[Ichthys]

Six doesn’t make a school, it’s just a compromise. You have room for quite a few more.

 

[Ravenes]

Six doesn’t make a school, it’s just a compromise. You have room for quite a few more.

How many more?

 

[Ichthys]

You’ve easily got room for a dozen.

 

[Ravenes]

You’ve easily got room for a dozen.

So how do I get so much room? What about the inch per gallon

 

[joeyr188]

So how do I get so much room? What about the inch per gallon

That is more a rule fore Beginning in a way I would do what @Ichthys said

 

[JuiceBox52]

So how do I get so much room? What about the inch per gallon

Inch per gallon is rarely a good guideline for stocking

 

[Ravenes]

So how much neons could I get at most then?

 

[Ichthys]

So how do I get so much room? What about the inch per gallon

The inch per gallon myth? A 2” fish is the equivalent of eight 1” fish, which immediately blows the inch per gallon rule out of the water.

Your tank with decent filtration could house about twelve 2” fish. The inch per gallon rule is about right for 2” fish.

Twelve 2” fish is the equivalent of 96 1” fish (of the same shape). A mix of different species wouldn’t be so happy to be that crowded, but a shoaling species would be.

Neons, Embers and Cherry Barbs are very small fish. The more fish you have, the more water you’ll need to change, but you could comfortably house a dozen Neons and a dozen Embers. More Cherries too, although 6 is probably better for them since they spread themselves out and don’t really shoal much.

 

[Archerfish]

I have so far four neon tetras
Six cherry barbs
Six ember tetras
And six albino Cory catfish

Can I add 2 more neons to make a school?
The tank is a thirty gallon tall.

You have wisely chosen your selection of fish. Can you add two more neons? Perhaps, but how long has the tank been established? What type of filtration do you have? How often & large are your partial water exchanges? Do you have a good growth of live plants? When did you add the fishes? All at once or over a period of weeks?

 

[sparkypenguin]

Agree with all of above and as we do not know your level of experience I would also ask if you test your water parameters to ensure that they are suitable for the fish that you have and that your tank is cycled?

 

[Ravenes]

You have wisely chosen your selection of fish. Can you add two more neons? Perhaps, but how long has the tank been established? What type of filtration do you have? How often & large are your partial water exchanges? Do you have a good growth of live plants? When did you add the fishes? All at once or over a period of weeks?

I always water change weekly at least 30%
I have a Penn plan cascade filter forgot which number all I know is it’s at least triple digit in terms of gallons per hour. I’ve had the tank running for a good 4 years. I recently took out my white skirts and added the neon tetras and ember tetras. I have tons of live plants. I added the fish this week.

 

[Byron]

So far in this thread, the most important factor in stocking a tank has not even been mentioned. Many aquarists get hung up on numbers vs tank size, but this is not the most important aspect because it completely ignores the needs of the fish species.

All fish listed in post #1 are shoaling species. That means they need a decent-sized group, and 10 of each species would be minimum. There are scientific studies now that prove beyond any doubt that a group of ten will be less stressed than a group of five or six, less aggressive, and feed better. This shows that the number of fish in the species group does make a huge difference. And this translates into healthier fish, which means less of an impact on the biological system. So more fish actually means less negative impact.

When considering fish for a tank, keep this necessity in mind, and make sure you have enough of one species before considering another species, and so on. A group of 10 neons, 10 cherry barbs, 12 embers (these are much better with more), and 9-10 cories. This is absolute minimum if you want these fish to be healthy and well-balanced. Weekly water changes, plus your live plants, and not overfeeding 2ill allow you to provide this essential environment for the fish.

 

[connorlindeman]

So far in this thread, the most important factor in stocking a tank has not even been mentioned. Many aquarists get hung up on numbers vs tank size, but this is not the most important aspect because it completely ignores the needs of the fish species.

All fish listed in post #1 are shoaling species. That means they need a decent-sized group, and 10 of each species would be minimum. There are scientific studies now that prove beyond any doubt that a group of ten will be less stressed than a group of five or six, less aggressive, and feed better. This shows that the number of fish in the species group does make a huge difference. And this translates into healthier fish, which means less of an impact on the biological system. So more fish actually means less negative impact.

When considering fish for a tank, keep this necessity in mind, and make sure you have enough of one species before considering another species, and so on. A group of 10 neons, 10 cherry barbs, 12 embers (these are much better with more), and 9-10 cories. This is absolute minimum if you want these fish to be healthy and well-balanced. Weekly water changes, plus your live plants, and not overfeeding 2ill allow you to provide this essential environment for the fish.

Do you think that would be overstocked or not?

 

[Byron]

Do you think that would be overstocked or not?

No I don't, but I would make some provisos. The live plants including a good cover of floating plants ismandatory. As are substantial weekly water changes. And feed minimally.

But going one step farther, I would leave out the cherry barbs more for my own personal reason. Barbs in general do not go well with these other fish nor smaller tanks, but the cherry should work with my provisos as they are less aggressive and less active than barbs in general.