Have I Overstocked?

[jme369]

I now have 2 otos, 4 cherry shrimps, 6 sparkling gouramis and 2 feathertail rainbowfish. The people at my LFS said it'd be fine but I get the impression from reading around that its not. Im doing weekly water changes of round 30%.

Edit- left out an important little detail here . 23l fluval edge

 

[Fishy friend2]

How big is the tank?

 

[jme369]

How big is the tank?

23l sorry, ive edited.

 

[Fishy friend2]

To be honest. Nothing that you have is suitable for that tank.... Exept the shrimp, if I were you I would get a Betta and 2 or 3 endlers Instead of what you have

 

[jme369]

Why would they be unsuitable? Bettas grow to larger sizes than any of my current fish, for example.

 

[Fishy friend2]

It's just my opinion, I would never keep sparkling gouramis in a tank that size. I would never keep otos in a tank of that size and I would never keep feather tails in a tank of that size, IMO you are limited to what you can have in anything less than 10 gallons, and there are only certain species of fish that can live comfortably in a 25 liter. So TBH the fish that you currently have are not those fish

And plus size doesn't matter in some cases..... For example a fish that is super active but only an inch long still deserves a tank a little bit larger than a fish that is not as active but 2 inches long

 

[This Old Spouse]

Rule #1. Never believe what the people at the LFS tell you.

Rule #2. Never believe what the people at the LFS tell you.

Rule #3. While you're cycling your tank, 50% daily water changes are necessary with a fish-in cycle.

Rule #4. Never believe what the people at the LFS tell you.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Rule #1. Never believe what the people at the LFS tell you.

Rule #2. Never believe what the people at the LFS tell you.

Rule #3. While you're cycling your tank, 50% daily water changes are necessary with a fish-in cycle.

Rule #4. Never believe what the people at the LFS tell you.

Good "rules"

 

[Fishy friend2]

Oh yeah and you know that little rule that most LFS's follow.... The inch per gallon rule. I personaly dont follow this rule.... But.... how does this sound
6 1 inch fish
And 4 2 inch fish
So that is 14 inches of fish in a 6 gallon tank

 

[Dan-CR4]

I now have 2 otos, 4 cherry shrimps, 6 sparkling gouramis and 2 feathertail rainbowfish. The people at my LFS said it'd be fine but I get the impression from reading around that its not. Im doing weekly water changes of round 30%.

Edit- left out an important little detail here . 23l fluval edge

Im no expert so I used an online calculator for your tank and this is what it said.....

Warning: Oto is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 2 inches.
Warning: Featherfin Rainbowfish is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 1.8 inches.
Warning: When Sparkling Gourami starts to breed, they may become too aggressive to co-exist with Featherfin Rainbowfish.
Warning: At least 5 x Featherfin Rainbowfish are recommended in a group.

Your aquarium stocking level is 141%.

 

[MBOU]

Personally, I think your stocking is just fine!

I kept a Fluval Edge and they are AWFUL for siamese fighters, i'd rather keep them in a jar with daily water changes than make one suffer the fluval edge again.

They are air breathers and really unintelligent, they go to the top and find they cant get air and panic...

Dont get me wrong, I love te Fluval Edge and had one... Kept mine sub tropical, tropical and marine and so long as you do good water changes... its fine!

-Oto will be ok, just make sure they get enough algae as there wont be a huge ammount in that size tank

-Featherfin/Threadfin Rainbows will be fine, they dont get too big, smaller than neons! And personally found that whilst reasonably active, they loose weight and struggle to hold weight when they are too active in larger tanks.

-Cherry shrimp will be perfect! So long as you take out babies sometimes to controll numbers... they take up no space

-Sparkling Gouramis are *perfect* for this tank, small and quiet fish that dont like to move about much and would rather hang about and dodge in and out of plants or decor... the chances of them breeding? Very very slim at most...

Personally, if anything, I would add one more Threadfin Rainbow.


EDIT: That stocking calculator gives out worse advise than the average teenager working a weekend job in a certain large chain store here in the UK.

 

[Fishy friend2]

I always thought that you needed a minimum of 4 otos

 

[Fishy friend2]

Hmmm. I didn't know a 5 gallon tank could have that many fish..... I personally would NEVER have that many fish in a 5 gallon tank..... But that is just me.

 

[BettaAds]

Personally I think its bad researching before hand to put so many fish of differing varieties in such a small tank.
You may have the best intentions but as said above.. never listen to the staff in the certain large chain store, they work with very little knowledge of what they look after/sell.

My advice would be to return the majority of them to the store and make a complaint about any store advice given.

All the best.

 

[This Old Spouse]

+1

That's the first bit of good advice I've seen on this thread.