I know what your saying but tbh i don't agree with the whole this fish shouldn't go with that fish thing because certain fish have different behaviours so some get along more fine than others obviously depending on the fish too , like i wouldn't be daft enough to put two male fighters in the same tank. I do agree with overstocking thing but i think it's fine for now. Anyway took my water to be tested and apparently the water is all fine apart from the PH , that was high. Do you know what could cause this? plus is it would could be making the fish ill? They actually all look a lot better recently , all swimming like there usual selves again , just weird that one fighter fish died and i don't get why.
When you say the water was fine what exact readings did you get?
Many LFS workers will have a range of "fine" results that are actually not OK, just not considered by them to warrant an emergency. Given that many LFS workers don't keep fish to a high standard themselves and don't have a great deal of knowledge, it can be the case that when they say "fine" they don't actually know what they are talking about.
How high was the pH? Many fish can tolerate pH of 8 and even 9 (although above that gets dangerous). It's not high or low pH you really need to worry about - it's a pH that changes. In a healthy tank the pH stays stable and constant. Has your pH changed?
Your tank is overstocked. End of. It's clearly not OK for now because you have sick fish. In a healthy tank with all fish isolated for a month before going into the tank, regular tank maintainence and excellent water quality there is very rarely disease and premature death. if you don't isolate fish before they come into the tank, this can spread disease. If you don't do regular water changes (in your tank you'd be looking at at least 25% a week, I'd probably do 40%), then the pH and mineral content of the water can swing. In overstocked tanks you get stressed fish (and trust me, it's hard to tell if fish are stressed unless you know a species exceptionally well). Stressed fish lead to bullying, which opens fish up to infections and more stress. Stressed fish also have lower immune systems so it hardly takes anything to make them sick or kill them. Stressed fish also don't tend to grow properly or exhibit normal behaviour for their species. To keep all those fish into adult hood you are looking at a 150 gallon tank, or even bigger. That's not a small upgrade - can you manage it? What happens if you can't? If you have to move or you run out of money? This is another problem with overstocked tanks - if the **** hits the fan, the fish are screwed.
Same happens when you house unsuitable fish. They may seem to get on OK but you don't know what is happening when the lights go out. We have a duty to err on the side of caution with animals in our care, not just pack the tank full on the basis that everything
seems fine.
What do you achieve with such a heavily stocked tank? Certainly not a tank full of truly vibrant, healthy fish who all have their own space, plenty of hiding places and such. You may think it looks fine but what inexperienced people think is fine and what fish think is fine are usually two totally different things.
Why is it always the relative newbies who think that breaking the wisdom of generations of fishkeepers is a smart thing to do. We've all learnt the hard way and it seems you are starting down that road too.
Again, sorry for being snappy but as I said in another thread - we can only even have this exchange of opinions because we are talking about fish. If you were keeping two horses in the same stable or your dog chained up outside your house 24/7 it wouldn't be a case of "well, I think this and that". More than just the crazy fish people would be in disagreement with you. The poor fish though - they always get a rough deal. Would you keep 4 hamsters in a 2 foot by 1 foot cage just because no-one had been killed yet? Nope.
Fish are living creatures too and when the **** hits the fan, you can't just go "oops" and make the nice vet sort it all out. When the **** hits the fan, they die and most of the time, it's the owner's mistake they are paying for.
EDIT - just done the math. You have a minimum of 135 inches of adult fish in that tank. Could be far higher if your angels, plec and shark get bigger than average. And that's assuming they all get on as adults.
It only takes a second for one fish to turn on another, or 8 hours while you are asleep. Keeping an eye on things when doing something risky means f-all. Just sayin'.
