how many more fish to add?

[drbrad25]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to the forum and first of all let me say what a great job you all do! I've had my tank (50 Gallon) for a few weeks now and everything is going peachy so far. I started off with 6 platies which had fry just a few days ago. I counted four and they seem to be fairing well. I've put 2 of them into a breeding net on the side of my tank (couldn't catch the other two as they are too small and fast!!).

My tank seems to be cycling well so i've added four bristlenose catfish today and they're chomping away at my algae and driftwood happily.

I'm trying to decide how many more fish to add and what varieties. I'd like some neon tetras so i thought i might add about 8 of them in a week or so time (heard eight is kind of the minimum to keep them happily schooling). I'm getting mighty sick of picking snails off my plants though so was thinking a pair of clown loaches would be a good investment (plus they have some quirky behaviour which i think would be quite cool). I also really like bettas (the siamese fighting fish) and I'd love to add a single male aswell.

Just wondering if this whole plan of mine is feasable or is it far too many fish for my tank. I'm obviously only going to add fish very slowly and monitor my water chemistry carefully before getting more fish.

 

[aberdeen aquarist]

try to add some chain loaches instead of clowns
they stay small and eat snails too

 

[ryan]

so you are saying-

10 platies at most
8 neons
2-4 clown loaches
4 bristlenose

well in a 50g tank this would be fine, i hav found that clown loaches grow according to tank size so don't worry about them getting to big. as for the neons platies and bristlenose they will all do fine and don't worry anout overstocking i would think you can add quite a few more to the collection you want.

 

[Morrgan]

well in a 50g tank this would be fine, i hav found that clown loaches grow according to tank size so don't worry about them getting to big.

Fish grow according to water and food quality, not the size of the tank. Feed them well and take good care about keeping the water quality good, and they will grow. Besides, stunting fish has bad consequences for their health, so keeping fish small is not something you should think of as an good thing.

A 50 gal is too small for clown loaches, not just because of their size, but their lively temperament as well. They like to swim around lots, and don't have the space for that in only a 50 gal once they've grown. I agree with aberdeen aquarist about considering chain loaches instead.