How many tetras in a 150L tank?

[Colin_T]

The silver dollar and larger tetras such as the congo are only there temporarily. I'm holding them for a friend as her tank started leaking. She has gotten a new tank but it's only about halfway through cycling so they'll be with me for another 3-4 weeks.

You can give your friend half the filter media from your filter and it will cycle her tank instantly. Then she can have the fish back a day or two later.

Alternatively she can buy liquid bacterial supplements form most petshops and add it to the tank/ filter. These help speed the cycling process up.

I recommend double dosing the liquid bacterial supplement every day for a week, then pour the rest into the tank or put it in the fridge and use it on another tank later on.

Try to add the liquid bacterial supplements near the filter intake so the bacteria get sucked into the filter.

 

[lazarusthefishboy10]

Betta should not be kept with other fishes as they will kill/be killed (depending on how many tetras in the tank, and yes, my betta got bitten in a tail to almost death by tetras and guppies)
You can move the betta to tank atleast 3-5 gallons tank - the bigger, the better.

Female bettas are fine, and can definitely go with tetras. I have seen HEAPS of successful tanks with a female betta. They are quite peaceful. It is the male betta that kills other fish and are really aggressive. And Bluebubbles has a FEMALE better. Not to be rude or anything, just wanna point that out because it is true.

 

[Barry Tetra]

Female bettas are fine, and can definitely go with tetras. I have seen HEAPS of successful tanks with a female betta. They are quite peaceful. It is the male betta that kills other fish and are really aggressive. And Bluebubbles has a FEMALE better. Not to be rude or anything, just wanna point that out because it is true.

I mis read, I thought it was the male betta lol sorry

 

[Bluebubbles]

Hi Guys,
I just thought I would give you an update and on my tank and thank you all for your help. My tank is now the healthiest its ever been.

To start off I remeasured my tank and it turns out it's not 150l like I originally thought, it's only 100l.

It's now home to my original 19 neon tetras and 4 soon to be 6-8 white skirt tetras and 2 snails.
How many white skirt tetras do you guys think I should have all up 6 or 8? Or should I do something else like only 15 neons and 10 skirts or something? let me know.
Also, would it be ok for me to add my male and female peppermint bristle-nose plecos to this tank?

Rehomed Fish:
My other close to 40 tetras have been rehomed to many different people who are able to provide a loving home for them. I was so amazed at how many there were when I actually counted them and I am so ashamed that I let it get that overcrowded.
I also rehomed my female betta. She now has her own 10-gallon tank with her new owner which she enjoys very much. Lastly, my 2 dollar fish went back to their home at my friend's house in her MASSIVE new tank.

Cleaning and water conditions:
The tank now gets cleaned every weekend. 50% water change and gravel clean. Plus a shake of the plants to detach dead bits that I can take out.
I invested in a better filter with better media. The ammonia and nitrites stay 0 and the nitrates don't usually exceed 5.
I also bought a larger heater which is better suited for the tank I have. (Plus I accidentally fried the last one by running it out water. whoops my bad) I keep it around 25ºC and ph around 6.5
Although the water here is quite soft here I added a bubbler because why not. I'm sure the fish still benefit from it.

Thanks again everyone!
Please let me know if there are any more improvements I can make.

 

[utahfish]

Hi Guys,
I just thought I would give you an update and on my tank and thank you all for your help. My tank is now the healthiest its ever been.

To start off I remeasured my tank and it turns out it's not 150l like I originally thought, it's only 100l.

It's now home to my original 19 neon tetras and 4 soon to be 6-8 white skirt tetras and 2 snails.
How many white skirt tetras do you guys think I should have all up 6 or 8? Or should I do something else like only 15 neons and 10 skirts or something? let me know.
Also, would it be ok for me to add my male and female peppermint bristle-nose plecos to this tank?

Rehomed Fish:
My other close to 40 tetras have been rehomed to many different people who are able to provide a loving home for them. I was so amazed at how many there were when I actually counted them and I am so ashamed that I let it get that overcrowded.
I also rehomed my female betta. She now has her own 10-gallon tank with her new owner which she enjoys very much. Lastly, my 2 dollar fish went back to their home at my friend's house in her MASSIVE new tank.

Cleaning and water conditions:
The tank now gets cleaned every weekend. 50% water change and gravel clean. Plus a shake of the plants to detach dead bits that I can take out.
I invested in a better filter with better media. The ammonia and nitrites stay 0 and the nitrates don't usually exceed 5.
I also bought a larger heater which is better suited for the tank I have. (Plus I accidentally fried the last one by running it out water. whoops my bad) I keep it around 25ºC and ph around 6.5
Although the water here is quite soft here I added a bubbler because why not. I'm sure the fish still benefit from it.

Thanks again everyone!
Please let me know if there are any more improvements I can make.

There is a consensus on this board among some posters that will refute this because they think its an outdated myth but in your particular case and in a lot of cases it applies. General rule especially with small community fish that stay around an inch like tetras and in your tank that is longer than 2 feet the 1 inch per gallon rule applies nicely. 100 liters is roughly 26 gallons. So applying the 1 inch per gallon rule to your 26 gallons you in application could have 26 inches of fish in your tank. Skirts get around 2 inches and have rounder fuller bodies. Fish with deeper bodies create more waste. As for the pleco BN pleco get around 5 inches but are really dirty fish that create alot of waste. This is where the inch per gallon doesnt really apply not because of size restrictions of tank but because of bioload created by plecos which is a lot.
19 tetras is already close to capacity and adding 6-8 skirts would put one at the limit or over adding a pleco would definitely stress the bioload and could lead to trouble.
Some might say well just do more water changes and thats true question is do you really want to do more water changes???

 

[Bluebubbles]

There is a consensus on this board among some posters that will refute this because they think its an outdated myth but in your particular case and in a lot of cases it applies. General rule especially with small community fish that stay around an inch like tetras and in your tank that is longer than 2 feet the 1 inch per gallon rule applies nicely. 100 liters is roughly 26 gallons. So applying the 1 inch per gallon rule to your 26 gallons you in application could have 26 inches of fish in your tank. Skirts get around 2 inches and have rounder fuller bodies. Fish with deeper bodies create more waste. As for the pleco BN pleco get around 5 inches but are really dirty fish that create alot of waste. This is where the inch per gallon doesnt really apply not because of size restrictions of tank but because of bioload created by plecos which is a lot.
19 tetras is already close to capacity and adding 6-8 skirts would put one at the limit or over adding a pleco would definitely stress the bioload and could lead to trouble.
Some might say well just do more water changes and thats true question is do you really want to do more water changes???

Thanks for your message

How many neon tetras and skirt tetras would you recommend with the male and female BN plecos and how often would I need to change the water? Would I need to change more of the water every weekend or change the water more often?

 

[utahfish]

Thanks for your message

How many neon tetras and skirt tetras would you recommend with the male and female BN plecos and how often would I need to change the water? Would I need to change more of the water every weekend or change the water more often?

More often.Its tough to telll when tanks are over stocked the bioloical filter struggles to keep up with the bioload and break the ammonia down to nitrate and when it does nitrate accumulates quicker in the tank. While nitrates arent as dangerous as ammonia or nitrite in excess nitrates above 20ppm can cause stress leading to disease and death. Ideally nitrates should be at zero but in a glass box in your house full of fish poop and pee thats not possible, the only way to remove those nitrates is water changes the more fish one has the quicker nitrates build up which leads to more frequent water changes or more frequent disease. I tend to kerp my tanks understocked because ive found doing so leads to less problems in the long and short run.
As for the plecos i wouldnt add 1 let alone 2. Not only are they nitrate producing machines but they are also territorial and your tank doesnt have the space to house 2. If one is wanting an algae eating fish go with ottocinclus that get about an inch, though they belong in groups of 6 or more.
Best algae eater ive found bang for buck is nerite snails. They are inexpensive stay small eat tons of algae dont reproduce in tank and dont create a ton of waste. Hope this was helpful.

 

[Bluebubbles]

Its tough to telll when tanks are over stocked the bioloical filter struggles to keep up with the bioload and break the ammonia down to nitrate and when it does nitrate accumulates quicker in the tank. While nitrates arent as dangerous as ammonia or nitrite in excess nitrates above 20ppm can cause stress leading to disease and death. Ideally nitrates should be at zero but in a glass box in your house full of fish poop and pee thats not possible, the only way to remove those nitrates is water changes the more fish one has the quicker nitrates build up which leads to more frequent water changes or more frequent disease. I tend to kerp my tanks understocked because ive found doing so leads to less problems in the long and short run.
As for the plecos i wouldnt add 1 let alone 2. Not only are they nitrate producing machines but they are also territorial and your tank doesnt have the space to house 2. If one is wanting an algae eating fish go with ottocinclus that get about an inch, though they belong in groups of 6 or more.
Best algae eater ive found bang for buck is nerite snails. They are inexpensive stay small eat tons of algae dont reproduce in tank and dont create a ton of waste. Hope this was helpful.

Thanks this is very helpful.
with this information I am not putting my BN's in this tank. I'm just going to leave it for the tetras. I already have 19 neon tetras in there and 4 skirt tetras. I know that tetras do better in groups of at least 6 though so I want to get some more skirts. How many more do you recommend? or is my tank already fully stocked with the tetras I have?

 

[utahfish]

Thanks this is very helpful.
with this information I am not putting my BN's in this tank. I'm just going to leave it for the tetras. I already have 19 neon tetras in there and 4 skirt tetras. I know that tetras do better in groups of at least 6 though so I want to get some more skirts. How many more do you recommend? or is my tank already fully stocked with the tetras I have?

Id get 2 more skirts to round out your skirt shoal. 19 neons is about 19 inches of fish, skirts get around 2 inches each with 6 would be around 12 inches of fish which would be around 31 inches of fish in about 26 gallons which is slightly over. Just keep up with weekly water changes and you should be golden

 

[Bluebubbles]

Awesome! Thanks so much! I think I'm going to swap 5 of my neons for skirts (if my maths is correct) so I'll have 14 neons and 6 skirts. Which should make it fully stocked but not overstocked, right?

 

[utahfish]

Awesome! Thanks so much! I think I'm going to swap 5 of my neons for skirts (if my maths is correct) so I'll have 14 neons and 6 skirts. Which should make it fully stocked but not overstocked, right?

Sounds awesome!

 

[Bluebubbles]

Sounds awesome!

Thank you so much for all your help and time!! My fish and I really appreciate it

 

[Byron]

We are now considering a 100 liter (25 gallon) tank, but we still have not had the dimensions. Assuming this tank is not minimum 36 inches (90 cm) in length, it is not large enough for White Skirt Tetras. They need more space as they are much more active than your neon tetra for example. And they need more than six...this species (the black or white are the same natural species) is feisty, and fin nipping is not uncommon. Thus it needs a larger group, say 8-9 absolute minimum. But there is not sufficient space here for that, given their size, so you should look at other tetras.

If you get less active tetras to complement the neon tetras you already have (and 19 is a good number) you will be able to have more of them. I think I tried to explain earlier in this thread that stocking is much more involveed than simpply fish mass to water volume. And this is one reason the inch/per/gallon or similar ideas do not work. Example, consider cardinal tetras and rummynose tetras...both fish willmax out at roughly the same mass/water ratio, but you can have far more cardinals in a given tank than you can rummynose. The other aspects of their inherent behaviours dictate the numbers.

 

[Byron]

Awesome! Thanks so much! I think I'm going to swap 5 of my neons for skirts (if my maths is correct) so I'll have 14 neons and 6 skirts. Which should make it fully stocked but not overstocked, right?

This is not in the best interests of the fish. I just posted in response to an earlier post, and this post appeared. You are better leaving the 19 neon tetras together--they will be healthier. And there is no space in this tank for the Skirt Tetras anyway, but they need more to begin with.

 

[utahfish]

This is not in the best interests of the fish. I just posted in response to an earlier post, and this post appeared. You are better leaving the 19 neon tetras together--they will be healthier. And there is no space in this tank for the Skirt Tetras anyway, but they need more to begin with.

I get what you are saying here trust me i do but if it were just about best interest of the fish they wouldnt be in a glass box in our house, for instance in the wild neons live in shoals of 100s yet in my 20 gallon i only have 10, sure 10 is better than 6 and way better than 3 but whats best for the fish is for it to be in a river in the amazon in a shoal of 100 neons. Part of fish keeping is making concessions on whats best for us and whats best for the fish and we usually win out because whats best for the fish isnt being kept in a glass box in our house. Having said that Byron is correct about the skirts they require more room in a larger shoal than your tank can provide. Personally i dont like skirts theyre nippy little jerks and i didnt want to insert my bias into the posters experience by telling the poster not to get skirts. Having said that looks like you got this handled byron. Have fun.