Is my 40 litre tank overpopulated?

[confusedfishowner101]

Hi all I'm new to the fish forum and had a question that I badly need answered.
Is my fourth litre aquarium overpopulated?
I have the following
12 neon tetras
2 Khuli / coolie loaches
3 balloon Molly's
2 zebra danios
1 Cory Cat
Before anyone replys to this thread saying that danios need to be kept in a group of 6 or more I am aware of that. I am no longer interested in keeping danios any more but do not want to part with them so I decided to keep them in my 40 litre where they can live out there days.
I originally was not going to take the balloon Molly's aboard but the fish store staff member asked me if I could since they were the last three and of course I felt sad for them so I put them into my community tank. I fear now my love for animals has lead to an over crowded tank. What do you think?

 

[Essjay]

I feel it overstocked, and poorly stocked.

Neon tetras are soft water fish and mollies are hard water fish, so one or other will not be happy depending on the hardness of your water.
The tank is too small for mollies, even the deformed balloon varieties, so even if your water is hard I would rehome these.
There aren't enough kuhli loaches or cories, both need to be in groups of at least 6 but unless your cory is one of the dwarf species I would rehome the cory rather than get more.
I won't comment on the 2 danios, except to say for future reference that danios are very active, fast swimming fish and despite their small size they need a tank at least 3 ft/100cm long.

If you have soft water, the neons and more kuhli loaches should be fine.

 

[DutchMuch]

agree poorly and overstocked

 

[Byron]

I'm afraid I must add the third negative. But before I get into why...welcome to TFF. You will find lots of helpful informed aquarists here.

We need to know your water parameters for the source water (presumably tap water), namely GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) and pH. Selecting fish suited to your water parameters (which can differ very considerably depending where you live and where your water comes from) will always be easier to manage. The website of your municipal water authority may have this data posted.

Mollies need moderately hard or harder water, but a 40 liter (10 gallon) tank is too small for mollies no matter what the parameters. They should be removed, as this is not going to bode well down the road.

I understand about the two Zebra Danio, but given the behaviours as essjay stated, this can be a problem. Shoaling fish not in an adequate sized group will usually turn aggressive to some extent, so be on the lookout for this. Fin nipping by the danio of any of the other fish is certainly likely, and this not only damages the fish but causes severe stress. The smaller the tank, offering no escape, the worse this gets. If this does occur, you will have no choice but to remove the danios, even if it then means euthanizing them. You just cannot allow a fish to bully others and make them unhealthy too. This is why it is so important to research fish before acquiring them; it is kinder to all the fish in the long run.

The loaches and cories have been dealt with by essjay, so I need not repeat.

Byron.

 

[confusedfishowner101]

Thank you everyone, I will be giving the mollies away