Overstocked?

[Kay1123]

15 gallon tank with

2 Honey Gourami's
4 Bumblebee Gobies
2 Pink Danio
2 Yellow Danio
3 Halfbeaks

 

[ben1234]

15 gallon tank with

2 Honey Gourami's
4 Bumblebee Gobies
2 Pink Danio
2 Yellow Danio
3 Halfbeaks

If you take care of your water, I would say your not overstocked. I would say you are about as stocked as you should be.
Is there enough swimming room for the halfbeaks? Also gouramis can be territorial no matter there size.
Best Regards,
Benjamin

 

[Kay1123]

Yes, there should be enough room for them. The top of the tank it rather empty. No tall plants or floaters. The gourami's are actually very shy. They stay in the back corner most of the time.

As far as my current algea issue how would you suggest taking care of it? I don't really want to use a chemical and I have live plants.

 

[three-fingers]

What species are the halfbeaks and what are the actual dimensions of the tank?

Bioload wise you should just test the water right before your do your routine water change to see if your overstocked, but the halfbeaks may not be a good idea...

 

[Kay1123]

I've attempted to figure that out. I honestly can't tell.

I don't have a way of measuring it so I couldn't tell you what they actually are. It's a standard 15 gallon tank.

What to explain why they might not be a good idea?

 

[piper]

How can you have no way of measuring the tank !!! Ruler, tape measure !

An A4 sheet of paper is about 30cm or one foot, why dont you make an estimate using that. You must have a sheet A4 about.

 

[three-fingers]

I've attempted to figure that out. I honestly can't tell.

What were your test results before the water change then?

I don't have a way of measuring it so I couldn't tell you what they actually are. It's a standard 15 gallon tank.

24" x 13" x 13" sound right?

What to explain why they might not be a good idea?

I have no personal experience with halfbeaks yet (will probably buy some next time I can though ), but from what I've read they can be pretty feisty (aggressive, I've heard of them ripping each others mouths off while fighting) with each other, especially the males...unless it is a particularly small or placid species that you've got...I wouldn't reccomend them for a 15gallon.

 

[Kay1123]

What were your test results before the water change then?

My last water change was last Sunday. I do them weekly. So, since I have to do one tomorrow (don't have time today) this is what it's reading today.

Nitrite is at 20 ppm
Nitrate is at .5 ppm
GH is 300 and always has been
KH is 300ppm
pH is 8.4 ppm and always has been
and I'm going to say that Ammonia is reading between 0.0 and .3

24" x 13" x 13" sound right?

Yeah that sounds about right.

I have no personal experience with halfbeaks yet (will probably buy some next time I can though ), but from what I've read they can be pretty feisty (aggressive, I've heard of them ripping each others mouths off while fighting) with each other, especially the males...unless it is a particularly small or placid species that you've got...I wouldn't reccomend them for a 15gallon.

They are small. Other than a little chase now and then I've never had any problem with them. Had 2 for about 6 months now and just got the third.

 

[afishdude]

My last water change was last Sunday. I do them weekly. So, since I have to do one tomorrow (don't have time today) this is what it's reading today.

Nitrite is at 20 ppm
Nitrate is at .5 ppm
GH is 300 and always has been
KH is 300ppm
pH is 8.4 ppm and always has been
and I'm going to say that Ammonia is reading between 0.0 and .3

im assuming you mixed up the nitrite and nitrate right? as 20ppm of nitrite would kill anything that touched it.

 

[three-fingers]

My last water change was last Sunday. I do them weekly. So, since I have to do one tomorrow (don't have time today) this is what it's reading today.

Nitrite is at 20 ppm
Nitrate is at .5 ppm
GH is 300 and always has been
KH is 300ppm
pH is 8.4 ppm and always has been
and I'm going to say that Ammonia is reading between 0.0 and .3

Then yes, you are overstocked. You should have 0 nitrite at all times. I think (and hope) you have mixed up nitrate and nitrite, but even so .5ppm of nitrite means that your tank is overstocked because there is not enough bacteria to convert the nitrite into nitrate.

I hope your ammonia is at 0, because if it's at .3 then that's even worse for your fish than the nitrite.

At the very least, you need a new bigger filter for your tank, and then you should look into buying some tetra safestart.

Did you read up on cycling your tank? See here and here .

They are small. Other than a little chase now and then I've never had any problem with them. Had 2 for about 6 months now and just got the third.

Has this tank really been up and running for 6 months? How often do you clean your filter, and how do you go about this? Also, is there anything you have changed recently?

I'm going to stick with saying that halfbeaks really aren't suited to this tank, when they grow up (if the apparent current bad water conditions permit this), you will have big problems with them fighting in such a small tank.

 

[Kay1123]

It's been up for two years. Yes, I read the Nitrite and Nitrate wrong. Switch them around. I haven't cleaned my filter for a while, though I did just replace the biobag.

 

[n3ont3tra]

That's probably why you have nitrites.. Only replace the biobags if they are literally falling apart. And stuff another biobag in there about a week before you throw the old one out. That way all of the beneficial bacteria will colonize on the new biobag, so you won't start a cycle when you throw out the old filter.