Overstocked??

[New Boy]

In my 50 US gallon (190 litre, 38 Imp Gallons) I currently have quite a few young fish - I've been going by the rule that you find in most books which suggests I can have up to 50 inches (130 cm) of fish.

4 Blood Parrots - I know... I inherited them with the tank, about 3 inches each
2 bristlenose catfish - about 2 1/2 inches each
2 white spotted catfish (raphael cats?) - about 2 1/2 inches each
5 lions cove labs - about 2 inches each
5 tiger barbs - about 2 inches each

That makes a total of 42 inches of fish but obviously they are all going to grow. I'm plannig on getting a tank twice the size next March and I'm wondering whether they'll all be ok in the current tank 'til then? - Are they overstocked at the moment?? I have 1600 litres of filtration per hour and change 10% water weekly - don't really want to do more as my tap water has very high nitrate levels.

Thanks for any advice that anyone can give....esp whether the tank is currently overstocked....?

ps what does RO water stand for?

 

[Alien Anna]

I have a similar situation (an inherited 28 gal tank with 34 inches of fish in it at present). Provided you have good filtration and are prepared to do very regular water changes (I usually do twice a week), you should be OK.

The irony is that it was this tank that survived my holiday catastrophe best - I lost very few fish, whereas the two lightly stocked tanks were decimated.

 

[CFC]

They should all be fine till march and a 75g tank will be more than adequate for them then.
Two things that worry me are the lion cove labs and the b/parrots,arent the lion coves a african lake cichlid? Cichlids from the african lakes should not be mixed with any other fish other than those from their own lake.And 4 blood parrots is probably leading for trouble,they can be territorial (from the red devil in them) and as they grow each one is going to need a bigger territory which could lead to problems in the future.

 

[New Boy]

The lions cove (labidochromis caeruleus) are indeed african lake cichlids, they are not as aggressive as most africans though. I actually originally had two who fought all of the time and another forum dedicated purely to african mbuna suggested that I add three more so that the fighting is more spread out......since I added 3 more they haven't fought at all and two of the females have even tried to breed! I wouldn't be able to keep the more aggressive zebras etc in there.

The three main types of fish that I have can all be quite aggressive - the tiger barbs are pretty well known for it too but somehow all of those aggressive fish seem to gel quite well at the mo'. The catfish should be ok too 'cos of their spikes.

I'll keep an eye on the aggression as they all get bigger.

Thanks for the advice