Overfeeding?

[puppyjess123]

Am i overfeeding my fish?
I have 5 neons (getting 10 more soon)
6 guppies 2 m and 4 f
2 common plecs
2 silver sharks
2 blue gourmais
2 swordtails
About 10ish fry

As well is my 55 gallon overstocked or not? If not how many more fish could i get and which types?

Okay this is How i feed them.
Morning feed- (7o) 2 small pinches of flakes eat in around 2 minutes. Hikari first bites tinie tiny pinch.
Lunch feed- (12o) 2 catfish pellets for sharks. 2 tropical fish pellets for gourmais. Hikari first bites.
2nd feed- (3o) 2 small pinches of flakes. 2 catfish pellets. Hikari
Evening feed- (9o) 1 algae wafer for 2 common plecs. Hikari

Once a week they get brine shrimp instead of flakes then the next its bloodworm and so on.

Thanks

 

[minxfishy]

Well for your stocking, I would say that even one common plec is probably too much, they can grow very big and required a 6ft tank minimum, same with the sharks (balas) they like to be in shoals also.

For the feeding, hard to say, as long as they eat most of it within about 3 minutes, then you should be fine, maybe 3x a day.

 

[puppyjess123]

My LFS said it was fine. So they are wrong

 

[Genesis]

My LFS said it was fine. So they are wrong

Yes, they are.
Many shops consider the money more than they consider the fish, they will tell you something is "fine" so you will buy it regardless of its size, and they get money for it.
I suggest you take at least one back and ask for store credit for it.

 

[puppyjess123]

Okay i might give it to my next door neighbour though

Also what is store credit?

 

[chesterscot]

yeah you might have a problem with the plecs just summat to think about
scot

 

[bluemermaid]

I have two common Plecs and I bought a bigger tank instead of getting rid they are so fun to watch and have lovely personalities..... but as they get bigger and older boy do they poo so you might want to think are you willing to spend hours a week playing with fish poo?

I give my fish a day once every two weeks where they skip a meal and give the tank a good hunt this seems to amuse some of them..... clown loach wins all the time boy can he dig for leftovers.

 

[puppyjess123]

Will it kill them if they are in a tank thats two small for them>

 

[Athena]

When you say yours is a 55gallon tank what are the measurements? 55 gallon could mean it is short in length but tall in height or a long and narrow tank - it makes a difference when you are dealing with fish that grow large. Ideally you will want a tank that is at least 6ft in length for those fish.

If it is just 1ft in depth then you might have a problem once the silver sharks reach adult size as they can grow up to 14inches, apparently. So turning around in the tank could be a problem for them eventually.

Your tank doesn't appear to be overstocked at the moment (assuming it's a 6ft+ in length tank) but once those plecs and sharks are fully grown you might need to rehouse something. Doesn't mean you have to rush out and rehouse from now - it can take a few years for a fish to reach their full adult size. You will then have to judge at that time whether the fish have enough room to manoevre/have their own territory/not putting a strain on your filter abilities (dependent on what other fish are in with them at that point in time, too) etc.

Athena

 

[puppyjess123]

4ft long. And 30cm wide and 45-50 cm depth

 

[Athena]

Sorry, confused - is the height 30cm or 45-50cm?

Either way, a 4ft long tank won't be big enough once those fish reach full size...

 

[puppyjess123]

Height is 45-50cm. Not even for one of them?

 

[minxfishy]

At adult size a common plec can reach up to 18 - 24" (I believe) so that doesnt leave much space to turn around in. Whilst still small you have nothing to worry about, but by 11" you will want to start thinking about re-homing and re-homing at that size is sometimes difficult to do.

 

[puppyjess123]

This is the black one. I am not sure which types theya re so can you tell me?

Heres the orange ot sure what he is either i was just asuming they were common plecos.

 

[Athena]

Hi - not sure if its just me getting confused here - but that tank in the photo is not 4ft long...or is this a separate tank that you have just for the plec? Surely you don't have all those fish in that small tank?

As pointed out already above, fish that grow to those proportions of a foot or over will not be able to manoevre inside a tank that is only 1ft in depth (which yours is). I had a friend who did exactly this - bought a plec, had it for a few years and finally the poor thing could not move in the tank, if it went forwards it could only shuffle-swim backwards - it was unable to physically turn around and swim back the other way! Most of the time it just sat there looking miserable in the tank. Anyway, she found another home for it in the end.

Athena