36 replies to this topic

[Cabo5ag3]

Hey all, I'm back again! Please don't try to judge too much!

My girlfriend and I love our fish, she has a community tank in her room, but I swear it's waaaaaaaay over stocked, definitely looks it. Growth of the fish is obviously stunted lol

It's 160L and contains as follows:

6-7 clown loaches (varying in sizes)

8 silver Dollars (varying in sizes, 4 of them are quite large and over 2 years old, 2 of them extremely small, maybe 1cm, and 2 averagely sized ones)

4 Small Barb Odessas

6 Medium Angel Fish

2 Bristelnose Catfish

1 Red tailed Shark

Now, a tank upgrade for this aquarium isn't possible at this stage, so my question is, A is it overstocked (obviously so) and if so by how much, and B, what fish would need to be removed to put it at a standard and safe amount of fish in the tank, what are the options, I'd love to see these guys grow bigger and flourish, possibly breed, but we'll see.

Also, the silver dollars have taken to attacking each other lately, chasing each other around, biting chunks out of each others fins etc, this behavior was never the case (even when they've been in smaller tanks together!) So what could this relate too?

Water conditions never have any problems apart from the occasional small rise in Ammonia which happens around the time I go to clean it (once a week/fortnight)

Thank you so much for your help in advance

[Bowdy]

Filtration ??

[Cabo5ag3]

It's just a blue planet aquarium with the standard built in one, plus it has an internal Ehiem filter, I plan on putting my E-Jet 908F in it aswell once I get my new tank and filters etc

Basically, her option is to remove fish lol

[the pulpican man]

Chuck a picture up! if you can, i also think we need info on the filtration as bowdy suggested.

Test ammonia and Nitrates, if its high ammonia levels, that'll lean towards the tank being overstocked, unless she hasn't done water changes haha, i've never seen silver dollars that small.. perhaps your thinking about some sort of tetra, like Black Widow Tetras?

[Cabo5ag3]

Hey guys

I was looking at the inchs on tape measure fml, I mean around 3cm

I have a few photos here are some we took a couple weeks ago:







these photo's don't show the additional filter I put in, it's not big, so probably doesn't make a whole heap of an impact really

[the pulpican man]

Looks fairly fine to me haha, personally i'd take 2 or 3 silver dollars out, the bigger ones, but the water looks nice and clear, fish look healthy can't see any stunted looking fish there

Edited by the pulpican man, 08 May 2011 - 05:12 PM.

[Cabo5ag3]

Water looks clear, but the fish haven't grown at all since we've had them, and she's far too attached to those silver dollars to get rid of them hahaha

[the pulpican man]

how long has she had them for?
what are they being fed?

i think some silver dollars need to go, they get too big for that tank and there's so many of them haha
just go ninja and scoop some out when she's not looking hehe.
they do look healthy, and not showing any signs of stunt, signs of stunt are easy to find, usually the eyes and fins of the fish look to big for the size of the fishes body, or you get visual deformities such as the case with your oscar.

either way, i think probably 3 or 4 fish need to go, give them more space

good luck!

[Cabo5ag3]

4 of the silver dollars are from her previous aquarium which she's had for over 2 years now (the biggest ones), so she's very attached, as for the others, I could possibly move them to my new tank, but I don't know how they do in small groups? And the little ones would have no chance obviously, but I heard they can be good tank mates with Oscars

Oh I always go Ninja...WIN!

I want her to get rid of the barbs but she wont budge on that hahaha very difficult

[walks]

Getya water checked, most fish shops do it for nuthin, just take a jar in, and keep ya water changes up, 20% water change each week and you'll be fine I Rekon ;-)

[Cabo5ag3]

We regularly test the water and every time we've taken it in it's been fine, aside from the occasional small rise in ammonia which is the case when time comes around to cleaning

We feed them a mixture of pellets, flakes and frozen brine shrimp, we tried my freeze dried shrimp the other day and the silver dollars loved it

I'm still wondering why the silver dollars are tearing each other apart, how do they do in small groups? and also how big do they get? Do they go OK with Oscars? I heard they can be good tank mates

[choombies]

A healthy tank shouldnt ever really have any ammonia readings something is not right!

[theonetruepath]

The silver dollars will be too big in a group of 8 when they get full sized. Full sized is 15cm+. No problem growing a group of 8 until then, in other words wait for the smaller ones to be oscar-proof before shifting them.

The clown loaches are also far too big when full grown, because they get to 40 to 50cm long and pretty chunky. However it's hard to keep them alive that long so see how you go. As the bigger ones get too big you can decide between scaling up tanks and getting rid of them. It's always easy to find a home for a big clown.

Aim at 1cm per 2 litres, ie max 80cm of fish. Any more and you have to change water so often to keep them healthy it's just not worth it.

[tranced]

silver dollars will be good with the oscars in a large tank, if they wont fit in their mouth of course

[Bowdy]

Red hook's even better.

[Cabo5ag3]

I really like the look of red hooks, price tags are a pain haha

Well obviously the small rise of ammonia would be from the amount of fish

How do Silver Dollars do in small groups? I could move half of them to my Oscar Tank and Shift the Barbs somewhere if I can convince the missus haha

Does anyone know why the silver dollars are chasing each other around and biting each others fins off etc, Targeting the Dorsal Fins

[the pulpican man]

A healthy tank shouldnt ever really have any ammonia readings something is not right!

even i get ammonia in my tank if i leave a too bigger gap between water changes and my tanks been running for months without a fatality.. and my eheim wet/dry is supposed to help with ammonia, you can't just leave a tank and expect no ammonia.. its the water changes that get rid of the ammonia and nirates.

Edited by the pulpican man, 08 May 2011 - 09:34 PM.

[Cabo5ag3]

Exactly, hence why I said around when I go to clean it

[dazzabozza]

its the water changes that get rid of the ammonia and nirates.

Water changing to lower ammonia is only when your biological filtration can't keep up. Either due to not enough filter media capacity, over-stocking, excess food, a death or a drop in beneficial bacteria (chlorine/improper filter cleaning, low-temps etc).

Daz

[the pulpican man]

Wow really? so if you leave an established tank without water changes.. it'll only be the nitrates that cause problems?
Guess you learn something new every day thanks daz!
i guess that means my tank is either slightly over stocked, or my fish like to dig up small ammonia pockets
either way, i'd never not change my water at least once a fortnight!