Overstocked?

[GouramiSamuels]

I havw 2 black skirt tetras and 2 red eye tetras and one dwarf gourami in my ten gallon is my tank overstocked?

 

[seangee]

To answer your question, probably not - as long as the tank is fully cycled and you do regular water changes.

The tetras should really be kept in groups of 6 or more (of each type) and your tank is not big enough to accommodate this. In addition the black skirts can be quite nippy so the gourami may struggle. The red eyes also like a lot of swimming space.

Useful sites for looking up details on individual breeds are seriouslyfish.com and animal-world.com.

 

[mikey11]

i would say no.....

if your tank is well maintained and cycled i would add two more tetras (of each kind)!!!

 

[fozziebear]

In my opinion, i would either go one of two ways, get another dwarf gourami of a different sex, and return the tetras, or return the gourami and get some more tetras of both kinds like mikey said.

the tetras really need to be in a group of 6 or more but if you had a reasonable amount of both they would mix OK in my opinion as they are both more rugged species, its not like having black skirts with neons as the red eyes are a bit more robust.

if you went absolutely overkill on this tank and put a huge external filter on it(rated for a 200-250L tank) and did large water changes once a week you could probably keep a pair of gouramis and a single shoal of 10 tetras if the tank is mature, but that is considered overstocking and you are kind of cheating the system at that point.

But this is all food for thought for yourself, the important thing is that you put in YOUR time, and do some VIGOROUS research on what is best for YOUR fish.

Regards, Gus.

 

[Essjay]

I'm sorry to have to tell you but it's not so much being overstocked as badly stocked.

As fozziebear mentioned, the tetras need to be in groups of at least 6 - and a bigger tank than 10 gallons.
Black skirts (aka black widows) need a 20 gallon tank, 24 inches long at the minimum. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/gymnocorymbus-ternetzi/
Red eyes need an even bigger tank with 36 inches being the minimum length. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/moenkhausia-sanctaefilomenae/ These fish grow to almost 3 inches and are active fish which need swimming room.
Even the gourami needs a 15 gallon, 24 inch long tank. And it is a sedate fish which won't appreciate sharing a tank with active fish like red eyes and black skirts.


I know this isn't what you want to hear but the best thing for your fish is either to rehome your current fish and replace them with fish suited to a 10 gallon tank; or to get a bigger tank at least 36 inches long and increase the numbers of the tetras to at least 6, and preferably at least 10 each.

 

[Byron]

Essjay got it in one. This is not going to work in the best interests of the fish, sorry. I don't know how long this may have been running, but in such situations the fish are under stress (severe stress from insufficient of their species, more stress from being confined to a tight space with no "friends" but with other not-so-friendly fish) and this can cause them to not react as they normally would. But this can change, literally overnight, and that usually spells death one by one.

 

[TekFish]

Sorry to say my guy, but I have to agree. These fish are usually too big and too active for a 10g. But fear not! A 10g is a good sized starter tank, and it can hold a lot. A Betta, certain small tetras and rasboras like Hyphessobrycon Elachys, Hyphessobrycon Amandae, Celestichthys Margaritatus and Boraras Brigittae would be suitable, just to name a few. There is also the option of a Dwarf Puffer (just one), or something a bit more uncommon like Scarlet Badis or an Elassoma sp. Endler's livebearers or guppies could also be an option if you have hard water, but make sure you only get males! Otherwise you'll have hundreds of them! Or you could keep shrimp if you like them!

I would:
1) Take the fish you have back if you can.
2) Buy some Boraras Brigittae, maybe 8-10 in a tank that size, and then keep them with Cherry Shrimp. Go full red mode.