How many fish is too many

[sassy75]

I am a beginner with a 2 gallon tank. I have 4 mollies and 1 chinese alge eater. How many fish can a 2 gallon tank hold. I have already had 1 molly die and don't know why? Do I have too many fish?

 

[infant340]

i think ur good to go, no more fish.

 

[Alia]

Two gallons is very small. Many fishkeepers would not like to see you keep even one fish in a tank that size.

The "rule of thumb" is "one inch of fish, not including tails, per gallon". You have exceeded the "rule" already with 4 mollies, each of which may attain an adult size of 3" or more, in addition to being prolific breeders. The fact that one has already died may not be the result of overcrowding, however, I am more inclined to suspect that this is a new tank, complete with new tank syndrome. You will find lots of info about cycling and what you should have done that you didn't know in other areas of this forum. Please do avail yourself of that information and perhaps you can save your remaining fish.

There won't be much point, however, in saving them if you do not seriously consider buying a larger tank (at least a ten-gallon), and returning your algae eater to the store that sold it to you. That fish alone may grow to 6" or more (10-11" in the wild) and they are known to become territorial and aggressive. It is not recommended that they be kept in tanks less than 25-30 gallons. The store should have told you that.

If you are interested, here are some interesting profiles of algae eaters:
Algae Eaters

Get yourself a ten gallon tank, cycle it, and I don't see any problem with keeping 4 mollies. You probably won't have much algae unless you get live plants, and that is a whole nuther area. If you're really concerned about it, get an apple snail. They are always busy cleaning the glass. Just don't buy any more fish until you've done some research on this forum. And good luck!

Alia