Is This Too Many Fish In 55gallon?

[tameem]

So I had my family loose patience because they were not happy with the fish that I had in our fish tank and they took it upon themselves to get new fish! Can someone please tell me if the following bioload is acceptable or not? I'm concerned that they did not stock wisely, but, maybe I am over-reacting. I have been stressing over particularly the number of angel fish we have!

We have a 55 gallon tank, which has been divided using a divider.

On one side we have:

5 angel fish
4 mollies

the other side of the divider:
2 harlequin rasboras
10 neon tetras
3 cory cat fish
6 guppies
6 zebra danios

Thanks!

 

[Loony Fish]

it's pushing it a little...

 

[mwood2]

sounds like to much if I estimate. if you use the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule.

mollies are 4-5
angel are 5+ ( i think)

that combined with the others seems like a bit much.

 

[Sparnon]

Screw the one inch rule, it doesn't work.

Give us some stats and info, then we can tell you for sure.

What type of filter do you have?
What are your water stats? (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH)
How many gallons in each division, if not equal?
General health/behaviour of fish?
Height, depth, and length of tank?
How regularly do you change the water, and how much water do you change?
How regularly do you feed the fish, and how much?

 

[Tolak]

Screw the one inch rule, it doesn't work.

It does work for slim bodied fish with an adult size of no more than 3", for a newer, less experienced aquarist. It is a guideline not a rule.

With 5 angels you have a better than 90% chance of getting a pair. Keep an eye out for this, and for a shop or aquarist who would like a few potential breeder size angels. You might be a little better off switching the corys & danios with the mollys, the corys won't be bothered by angels that will get territorial as they mature, the danios are a bit quicker than mollys, and will be more able to avoid the angels.

As far as bio load, the pair of filters in your sig should have no problem with it. Just keep an eye on the angels, half a 55 gallon is fine for a breeding pair with a group of corys & a small school of danios. The other side will have your livebearers, when they breed, which guppys & mollys do pretty easily, the fry won't get eaten by the the angels.

 

[tameem]

So let me be more specific:

I am using two power filters
My tank is established, 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites
ph though is about 7.6. Someoem at the shop mentioned these might be too high for the guppies, i think.
The division is roughly equal, with a little more space for the 5 angels and mollies.
I tend to change about 13% of water weekly.
I tend to feed sparingly, couple times a day.
I just think we sholud have only 3 angels, not 5! But thats what they did when I came home.

 

[Tolak]

That pH is fine for guppys, even with 3 angels you have a 75% chance of a pair, 25% chance they are one sex. If that one sex is male you will more than likely end up with one angel. You actually are better off with 5, and trying for a compatible pair.

I would be changing 25% of the water weekly. As the angels mature make the last few gallons a few degrees cooler, this will induce pairing & spawning behavior, giving you a better idea which two to keep.

 

[tameem]

First off, I know nothing about breeding and rearing fish so I dont understand much of that.
I just observed the angels and I am seeing some agression between some of them already. If they get too close to each other, they go after each other.
The tank is split roughly 60/40 split, where the angels are mollies are in the 60% of the tank.
I keep telling my sister and mom to return 2 angels and just keep 3, but they dont want to.

There is nothing I can dat this point, they dont want to hear it.

 

[Tolak]

Angels are cichlids, and are usually classified as semi-aggressive. They will establish territories, and a pecking order, similar to a group of dogs. As they mature they will pick mates, pairs can get very aggressive towards other angels, or fish with longer fins that resemble angels. This is the reason for the switching of the mollys, which have more fin to them than the danios.

That is why having a pair with 3 angels total is one of the worst cases, the single odd fish out bears all the brunt of the aggression, and can get really torn up in a few hours. With 5 fish total, there are 3 fish besides the pair, aggression is spread among 3 fish, less damage to any one fish, and an easier situation to sort out.

Just because you have a pair that spawns doesn't mean you have to breed them, it does give you a very good chance of long term compatibility with the two. Any time I am trying for a pair I put at least 6 angels in a 29 gallon, or 8 in a 40 gallon. The pairs are apparent enough, with minimal damage to the unpaired fish.

 

[Ficious]

i dont know angels behavior very well but id say get rid of the molly from their side and add a couple of corys or small loaches. then leave the other side how it is give or take a few fish either way, and insuring you have good filtration i think youd be ok. im overstocked but my tank is fine as long as my filtration keeps going strong

 

[tameem]

Okay, not I am even more confused. We aren't taking into consideration spawing or anyting like that, ours is purely for aesthetics, so that was not a factor in our number of angel fish. The guy at the LFS recommended 1, or three. Would it be best to simply remove one and just have four? And remove the mollies (or platies, Im not sure what they are), and put them over with the smaller fish? And then move our three cories from one side into the side of the tank with the angel fish?

As long as the mollies or platies do not eat the neon tetras, or guppies.
I want to keep all this simple./

 

[Phage]

The guy from the store is wrong. From experience, I bought three angels, tiny things. As they matured two paired off and killed the third. I have those two currently with 5 zebra danios. They don't bother them at all. In the past, Ive had angels that ate all my neons. Wouldn't you like to give all your fish the full space instead of using a divider (more aesthetically pleasing)?

 

[Tolak]

Well, if you are planning on keeping certain species of fish long term you have to take more than bio load into consideration. I totally understand that you do not plan on breeding angels. Your angels do not understand this, and there is no way I know of to make them understand this.

You, being the more intelligent species, have to take this into consideration. There will be certain unavoidable behavior traits when they mature, I'm trying to tell you the best way to have angels that are compatible with each other, as well as the other fish you are keeping. Territorial aggression, pairing, and spawning are things that are well within the realm of possibilities when you are keeping angels, unless you keep one single angel in the tank by itself, with no other angels. Fish will not behave a certain way just because you want them to, though it would be nice if they did.

With 4 angels you have an 87.5% chance of a pair, meaning there will be two odd fish out. The mathematical probabilities are unavoidable, they are the same for any unsexed species. The problem with angels is that you can not determine sex 100% unless they are actively spawning.

Much like dogs of a certain breed, fish of a certain species may be more or less aggressive depending on the individual. You may have a group of five that grow to adulthood, and have no pairing or aggression issues, but the odds are against it, 4 fish, 3, 2, it doesn't matter.

Unless you see some aesthetic value in angels that are missing half their fins this does have to be taken into consideration. If you want it totally hassle free, with no aggression or territory issues, keep only one angel. Any more than that and you will more than likely have some aggression issues in half of a 55.

The platys/molly won't bother any of the other fish, I keep corys with angels in nearly every tank, they are good tankmates, as long as you keep the temperature towards the low end for angels. Angels do like it warmer, 78F+. 78F is towards the top end for most corys.

Sorry it doesn't get any easier with angels, they are going to be the sort of fish that they are going to be.

 

[Syphoniera]

This is where MTS comes in handy...

 

[Spishkey]

are your angels still small?? if so i would take out the divider, there is no need for it and will give all the fish more room to swim and more room to disperse the aggression. i have angels in with neons and tetras, they have grown up together so do not see them as food.

but if your angels are big then of course dont take out the divider!

also i wouldnt keep an odd number of angels, if two pair off they are likely to turn on the third and kill it.