Overstocked?

[Bambi211]

Ive been worrying that my dad is overstocking his tank...

His tank size it 3ft

He has a....
1 pretty large Sucker fish
4 BIG Clown loaches
4 Zebra Dianos
3 Red barbs (pretty big)
1 Ruby Shark
1 Pakistani Loach
And 4 New swortails...

One of the swortails looks quite unhappy, look like one of its fins has been ripped abit, and hes struggling to breath at the bottom.

He's been doing regular water changes each day so?

Is it overstocked?
xx

 

[smegforbrains]

In a word, YES.


I'd remove the Ruby shark and the 4 Clown Loaches ASAP They all get very big, way too big for that tank.


can you be a bit more specific on the sizes of the rest?

 

[Corleone]

Depending on what the sucker fish is, it'll likely have to go. There's hundreds of things it could be. Since you describe it as large, I'm going to guess it's a big plec, which has to go.

I'm not up to snuff on loach species, but the Pakistani loach bears inspection, too.

The swordtail's problems likely come down to a mix of water quality and the normal stress of introduction. Since you emphasize the clown loaches' size, I'm going to guess this is less of a case of "I'll figure something out when they get bigger," and more a case of impending/in progress disaster.

Sorted down to the danios, barbs, and swordtails (possibly the non-clown loach), he might have a good starting point for stocking, provided the tank is cycled to support that much. What are the other dimensions and volume?

 

[Davo86]

As said we need IDs on some of these, but yes you are quite right that the tank is overstocked,
What are the other dimensions of the tank?

1 pretty large Sucker fish google "sailfin pleco", or "common pleco" and see if it one of these, both can reach 18inches ++
4 BIG Clown loaches Again these will most likely get much bigger, although they are slow growers
4 Zebra Dianos
3 Red barbs (pretty big) Google "Rosy Barbs" or "Tinfoil Barbs"
1 Ruby Shark May get pretty aggressive if the tank is only a 3x1x1 for example
1 Pakistani Loach ok but would benefit from being in a group although not advised until stocking is under control
And 4 New swortails...