Too Many Fish?

[Kiara]

Ok, so maybe you know my story, but I am going to repeat it anyway to get some input from everyone...

I recently purchased a 55g tank, wanting some fish. This is mostly my fault cuz I didn't read up on in and got them on impulse. So I set it up on Sunday, and the next day, I added ALL my fish. The girl at PETsMART said this was ok, (which I recently learned from here that it wasn't) up to this point I have lost my two silver dollars, but the rest of my fish seem to be doing fine. Then question is this, I'm wondering now if I have too many fish. I have 2 plecto something or other (alge eaters) I have 1 albino bala shark 1 bala shark 6 tiger barbs (3 albino and 3 green) I have 2 Blue Paradise Gourmets (sp?) and 2 catfish.

After reading here and reading up on the fish, I think this is too much, my petstore won't let me return them unless they are dead. I was wondering is the 1 in. per gal rule set in stone, or is there a chance for survival for my fish

Thanks in advanced

P.S. I will post some pics soon

 

[Durbkat]

That might not be to many but moniter your water stats and feed them a small amount once every 2 days and if water starts going bad do small water changes every other day. Never trust people at petsmart or superpetz or meijer or walmart because they just hire people that will be willing to take fish out of a tank and put it in a bag. And if I were you I would find out what her name is and complain, complain, complain to the manager and hopfully they will teach her a few things about giving people advice when they have no clue what their saying or maybe they'll give you refund of your money and take the fish back if you want them to.

 

[Ethos]

Thast why I think you should just shop Petco. Most little LFS are despret to get anymoney, so they'll do what it takes. Always do reaserch before you go somewhere. Except Petco.
I started out learning from petco...Thats where I leanerd half my stuff....lol....

 

[Durbkat]

Or if you go to a feeders supply ( if you have one near you) They have knowledgable people their to, thats where I started my hobby of fish keeping and how I got a A on my science project by using their fish and performing test on them. AndI learn alot of things from them.

 

[lljdma06]

Ok, so maybe you know my story, but I am going to repeat it anyway to get some input from everyone...

I recently purchased a 55g tank, wanting some fish. This is mostly my fault cuz I didn't read up on in and got them on impulse. So I set it up on Sunday, and the next day, I added ALL my fish. The girl at PETsMART said this was ok, (which I recently learned from here that it wasn't) up to this point I have lost my two silver dollars, but the rest of my fish seem to be doing fine. Then question is this, I'm wondering now if I have too many fish. I have 2 plecto something or other (alge eaters) I have 1 albino bala shark 1 bala shark 6 tiger barbs (3 albino and 3 green) I have 2 Blue Paradise Gourmets (sp?) and 2 catfish.

After reading here and reading up on the fish, I think this is too much, my petstore won't let me return them unless they are dead. I was wondering is the 1 in. per gal rule set in stone, or is there a chance for survival for my fish

Thanks in advanced

P.S. I will post some pics soon

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Why would they sell you a pleco if you just set up the tank? I'm not usually vocal, but that's just wrong. What's the pleco gonna eat? Did she sell you something to feed them, because a newly set up aquarium wouldn't have the algae to feed one, yet alone two.

Balas get big, like 13 inches big and like to be in schools. They can also be really sensitive to a lot of movement in the tank and outside of it, bumping into glass if startled.

I'm sorry, that girl did a number on you. I hope your fish do well, but you're probably gonna have to either get more tanks or will have to deal with moving fish in the future. I don't blame you. When I worked at PetSmart, I never sold anybody a set up like that. I asked patrons so many questions about their set ups and would refuse to sell fish if the set up wasn't kosher. I was fired after 3 weeks, as fish sales went down when I worked there, but I never got a returned dead fish on one of my sales, and people would actually cycle their tanks and add fish slowly at a time. Working there was one of the worst experiences of my life.

I wish you the best of Luck, you're gonna need it. Don't add anymore fish. The Petsmart I worked for allowed you to return fish if they were alive, as long as you had the receipt, and did it within 7 days, so I don't know what's up with that. I'd talk to a manager and see if you can return some fish, even for store credit.
I'm glad you're reading up now. Welcome to the hobby, though you are experiencing a sort of Baptism by Fire!

 

[rdd1952]

I would say your stock will be fine if you can get them through the cycling process. I disn't run the numbers but it sounds ok. Plecos are messy though so they count a little heavier toward the stocking limit.

As for pet stores giving bad info, it's hard to lump them all into one catagory. The Petsmart near where I work, for instance, is extremely good. I have been going in there for the last 8 months and know a couple people that work there pretty well. I tanked to one of them for about 15 minutes today. They keep their tanks very clean and do give good advice. Also, the small LFS are the same. Some are out to make a buck, don't tank care of their fish and give bad advice. Others do a great job. It just depends on where you are. You can just about look at the condition of the stores tanks and tell how good the store is. The key thing is finding a store you are comfortable with. Get to know the employees/owner.

 

[Kiara]

Oh boy am I in for it....I didn't know bala's had to be in schools...and I seriously doubt I can add more since I am already past my limit of inches. She gave me some algie thins to feed to the plecto's when I got them. She told me they grow according to their enviornment so that it would be ok, but didn't mention anything about bala's being in schools.

My kids know not to go near the glass, I told them the fishies would get ouchies if they touched the glass, so they like to sit in front of it to watch them, but won't go near the glass, in fact my son yelled at me when I was cleaning the tank because he thought I was going to hurt them

I can't afford to get anymore tanks atm. Will they be ok until I can get another? Are the bala's going to be ok without a school? Or is it even possible to leave them all in one tank? And if I can't keep them all in one how would you recommend that I seperate them? Maybe leave the Bala's (and add more of course) and one plecto in the 55g and get a smaller for the other bala's and the Gourmi's and barbs and catfish? What size should I get?

I know it's a lot of questions, but thanks for the help, I just want to get this right without any more casualties. Thanks

 

[kimbowee]

I did the same thing when I first started too. I learned quickly not to take advice from the petshop and research everything first. The next month or so is not going to be easy. Your tank is going to go through the nitrogen cycle.

Here are a couple of tips I learned the hard way, LOL.

1) Get yourself a water testing kit, preferably the Master testing kit. Don't rely on the petstore to test your water. Often they will tell you that you must get a chemical to adjust something or other OR they will tell you everything is fine. You want as little chemicals in the water as possible.

2) Add an airstone and lower the temp to about 76 degrees. This will help get more oxygen to the fish.

3) Only feed a small amount every other day. Don't worry they won't starve.

4) Do daily water changes of about 25-30% to keep the amounts of ammonia & nitrites down. Make sure you are treating the water to remove chlorine & chloramines.

I would also take the plecos back to Petsmart. They produce a huge amount of ammonia. They sold me a plec for my 20 gal & I had to return it because it grew too large for my tank. They did take it back alive, just ask to speak to the manager.

Also, do you know anyone who has an aquarium? If you do you can ask to borrow either a decoration from their tank or some gravel in a stocking which would help. If they do you must keep it wet until you can put it in your tank.

Sorry for the long post. Just passing along some of the same advice I received when I was stuck in the same boat. Hope it helps & good luck.

 

[andywg]

I would look at returning the balas pretty sharpish, they prefer shoals and need a lot of swimming space. After a month or two they'll need a 4 foot tank and within a year they'll need 6 feet. So if you can't get extra tanks I would return the balas. Also, due to their adult size and oxygen requirements you have to be careful about including balas in the inch per gallon rule.

Try and get an ID on the pleco. Common and sailfin plecs benefit from larger tanks than 55 gallons but you may have a smaller growing one that can happily live out its life in the 55.

Just out of interest, what are the catfish? As catfish sold in shops tend to have an adult size ranging from 1" to 4 feet.

 

[lljdma06]

I would look at returning the balas pretty sharpish, they prefer shoals and need a lot of swimming space. After a month or two they'll need a 4 foot tank and within a year they'll need 6 feet. So if you can't get extra tanks I would return the balas. Also, due to their adult size and oxygen requirements you have to be careful about including balas in the inch per gallon rule.

Try and get an ID on the pleco. Common and sailfin plecs benefit from larger tanks than 55 gallons but you may have a smaller growing one that can happily live out its life in the 55.

Just out of interest, what are the catfish? As catfish sold in shops tend to have an adult size ranging from 1" to 4 feet.

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I agree, return the balas if you can, and possibly the plecos if you can. Now, if your research turns out that you have a clown pleco, they stay smaller, so one of those might be ok. But I've never seen clown plecos sold there, only the common, which gets huge and poops really big! Petsmart should let you get at least store credit. You can raise a stink with the manager, that usually gets the job done. Be really direct and tell them exactly what happened. Don't be afraid to point fingers, and make a slight scene. They will accomodate you to shut you up rather than attract attention. There is a great website for catfish, if you need help IDing them if your catfish are corydoras.

http/www.nettaigyo.com/corydoras/encyc/index-e.html

I also endorse the water test kits and have a large number of them. It looks like a laboratory in my apartment. Be warned however, if you use Amquel to condition the water, the master test kit's from Aquarium pharmecuticals Ammonia test will often give positive results for ammonia, especially if you've just put Amquel in. Amquel converts harmful ammonia into ammonium, which is harmless, but it tests positive when used with test kits that use Nessler reagents, which the Aquarium pharmecuticals test uses. A way to get around that is to wait a few days after you've added Amquel to test the water for ammonia, or buy another test for ammonia that's compatible with Amquel. I've found ways to work around it, but it can be tricky.

Good luck to you and I hope that your fish prosper!

 

[rdd1952]

Since you got the fish at Petsmart you should be able to return them depending on how long you have had them. I actually talked to the lady in my local PS yesterday for a while and she said they would take fish back if they had been bought in the last 14 days (don't know if that is just this store or all stores).

If they won't take them back, check the Yellow Pages and see if you can find a smaller LFS. Most of the time the individually owned stores have quarantine tanks where they can put a fish that is returned just to make sure it isn't diseased. You may not get credit for it though but at least you would have your problems solved. I think the reason some places won't take them back is because of the possiblity that the fish may have picked up a disease while they were in an outside tank and they don't have the ability to quarantine them.

 

[Kazman]

Hi,

I don't mean to add any more to your dilema but I would just like to add keep an eye on the Paradise Gouramis, you should be ok if they are two females or even a male and a female but two males can be very aggressive towards each other. You should be able to sex them quite easily as the male tends to have a lot more pronounced stripes down his side and a lot longer tail. They are lovely fish, esp the blue ones and great to watch but I would keep an eye on the agression levels if they're both male. Good luck. x