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pocketsizedrhino

pocketsizedrhino

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Location
Kennesaw, Georgia, USA
I have a few live bearers (guppies and platies) in my 20 gallon long community tank. So far I have had room to keep the surviving babies but I am just slightly overstocked in the 20 gallon now. I keep up with the cleaning so the water is fine but I need to keep the baby population down!

I don't want a betta in that tank, I have a 5 gallon designated for one. The only fish I can think of is a gourami. Will they do well at population control? I have had some in there before but it was before there was a baby problem.

Any suggestions?
 
How many fish are in the tank now? What species, only livebearers?

Is the tank heavily planted or decorated? Usually the adults will eat any fry if there isn't too much cover for the babies to hide in.

A gourami would help, as would any of the dwarf cichlids(apistos, blue rams, etc). Depending on your current stocking levels a 20g is big enough for a pair or a single fish.

Or you could try some Barbs. Gold, Rosy or cherry barbs are more "peaceful" then say tiger barbs but still voracious eaters and should take care of the fry.

Or remove one of the sexes of your livebearers. Take out either the males or the females.
 
The platies were actually fry from my boyfriend's tank and I cannot tell the sexes apart. My 5 gallon isn't large enough to house the other sex in permanently. My male guppy just died but there are about 4-5 guppy fry in the tank right now.
The tank has 5 neon tetras, 3 zebra danios, 4 cory catfish, 3 glo lite tetras, 1 adult female guppy, and 5 growing platies... plus a bamboo shrimp, a few tiny ghost shrimp, and the guppy fry that I don't have a clear count on. Not terribly overstocked... but it is not planted. There were two large pieces of driftwood that I removed last cleaning to take some of the cover out. Now there are just a few dinky plastic plants and a lava rock.

I don't think I could fit a cichlid.. and I may end up planting that tank.. Are there any species of loach that don't get too big that would eat the fry?

Thanks for suggesting barbs. I will look them up and see if they are a good fit.
 
If you can find Cherry barbs they would be your best barb choice. They are less of a schooling fish and do well when kept in pairs. They are also pretty good algae eaters and do great eating hair algae and are even said to eat Black brush algae. The other species of barbs do best in schools.

I"m actually surprised you are getting lots of fry surviving with tetras, platies and cories and not too much cover to hide in. When I kept platies and endlers(like a guppy) I never had any fry survive(maybe 1-3 over the course of a year) when I left them in with the parents.

Sexing livebearers is super easy. All you have to do is look at their back anal fin. Females have a regular fin and the males have a pointy tube like fin(gonpodium). http://z.about.com/w/experts/Freshwater-Aquarium-3216/2009/01/Male-Versus-Female.jpg
 
Pocketsizedrhino that many fish should be in a 30 gal. tank but if you get a chiclid he not only will eat the young he will also kill a lot of your other fish. Ratio 1 inch of fish for every gallon.

Bill = otnorot
 
Valerie--I can't seem to find cherry barbs anywhere but I will keep an eye out for them--They're very pretty! Thanks for the link about sexing fish.

My female guppy died unexpectedly so I am down one fish (it's mean to say but it was kind of a good thing...).

I disagree, Bill... Based on reading I've done on fish forums: As long as the water quality is good and the fish are not physically cramped (believe me they ZOOM in there the tank is the same depth and length as a 30 gallon, being a 20 long tank) the amount of fish 'per inch' doesn't necessarily matter. Of course I wouldn't add much more than what is already in there and I agree I could use a few less fry growing in there. I ended up buying a male Gourami to help with population control and the man at Petco said that they would take some fry off my hands so I think I am going to give away the 5 platies (that I hadn't ever planned on having in there) and a few of the guppy fry.
That will bring the population down to a more appropriate number.

Thanks for the input and suggestions!
 
otnorot wrote:
Pocketsizedrhino that many fish should be in a 30 gal. tank but if you get a chiclid he not only will eat the young he will also kill a lot of your other fish. Ratio 1 inch of fish for every gallon.

Bill = otnorot
Click to expand...
The 1" per gallon rule isnt' a very good one and is a outdated, very general rule. Stocking limits depend on many factors, not just fish lenght. The 1"/gal rule is ok for small slim bodied fish(like a neon tetra) but doesn't really apply to anything bigger and doesn't take into account fish's temperament, activity levels, or tank conditions(filtration, water change schedule, plants etc.

Not all cichlids will eat/kill their tankmates. Cichlids is a HUGE category of fish. There are varying sizes and temperaments. Each species needs to be judged on its own whether it is right for a tank or not.

Dwarf cichlids(apistos, rams etc) for example are great for a smaller community tank. They stay under 6" and mix fine with smaller community type fish. They usually aren't too aggressive unless they are breeding and even then don't do too much damage. As with any fish though, they will eat fry or anything fish that is small enough to fit into its mouth.
 
i have been keeping and raising discus off andon for 20 years. i have had aquariums for the better part of 30 years.currently i have a 125 gallon discus community tank with some tetras, corys, and loaches. if you have rocks in your tank that takes up some of the space as well.

i have always followed pretty closely the 1" of fish/gallon rule and believe there is valididity in it. having said that, like anything there are exceptions however, if you are going to push the limits of your microenvironment you will need to do more water changes (not that a 20 gallon tank is difficult to change). if one is keeping aggressive fish the 1"/gallon rule is very valid. i would not say it is outdated at all. discus are clearly one of the most difficult fish to keep in an aquarium and when they are younger the 1"/fish rule is not that important however, as they grow, mature and begin to mate it becomes very important. in my 125 gallon tank i would not keep more than 10 10" adults partly to save room for some other species and partly because they will get pretty territorial and could get injured fleeing away. if you read the discus forums everyone adheres to the 1"/gallon rule.

long winded way of saying if you are willing to do the extra work for extra community fish go for it. personally, i would not add barbs to that aquarium especially tigers. if you add tigers soon you will only have a barb tank. cherry's and other less aggressive barbs would be more suitable. additionally, i also believe that any fish you add (pleco aside) you should add in at least 3 of each species. good luck!

:)


 
Thank you Todd for the backup,I have had aquariums for 50 years at one time 30 tanks.I have shown fish all over Ont and the Canadian national exibition. My specialty was Killifish.

! inch of fish to one gallon of tank always gave me healthy colourful fish that won many trophys and ribbons.

Bill I'm 83
 
otnorot wrote:
Thank you Todd for the backup,I have had aquariums for 50 years at one time 30 tanks.I have shown fish all over Ont and the Canadian national exibition. My specialty was Killifish.

! inch of fish to one gallon of tank always gave me healthy colourful fish that won many trophys and ribbons.

Bill I'm 83
Click to expand...
interesting! 30 tanks argh, i hope you had an efficient system for changing the water. i have to do a 50% change in my tank twice a week and that is a pain. i take some flac on the discus forums for only doing it twice a week and only doing 50%. LOL i just cant do a 90% water change every day like some of those guys do, its too much. i chose to add a second canister filter and my fish seem quite happy.
 
We will have to agree to disagree on the "1"/gal" rule. Yes it has its place as a general guide when talking about small bodied community fish, but would you put a 10" oscar in a 10gal? Or even 2 5"african mbuna in a 10g? No, because that is inappropriate for those species but it follows the 1"/gal rule. 10 10"discus work in a 125g but 1 10"discus would not work in a 10g.

I was just trying to explain that using general "rules" isn't always a good idea as some newbies will take it at face value. The species you choose, their body mass, their feeding habits(plecos and goldfish produce much more waste then say neons of the same "# of inches")their temperament and even the tanks foot print come into play. A 75g and a 90g have the same footprint and when choosing fish that need territories(that have territories on the substrate) you can't fit more in a 90g then you would in a 75g. You can't fit as many bottom dwelling fish(ei. cichlids that claim gravel spaces) in a 60g hex as you could in a regular 60g. Or you could possible fit 2 pairs of cichlids(shellies for example) in a 20g long where in a 20g tall you could only have 1. The examples are endless.

I've seen the 1"/gal rule go wrong way too many times. Yes it does have its place but I think there is WAY more things involved in choosing your fish then body size vs tank size.
 
degrassi wrote:
We will have to agree to disagree on the "1"/gal" rule. Yes it has its place as a general guide when talking about small bodied community fish, but would you put a 10" oscar in a 10gal? Or even 2 5"african mbuna in a 10g? No, because that is inappropriate for those species but it follows the 1"/gal rule. 10 10"discus work in a 125g but 1 10"discus would not work in a 10g.

I was just trying to explain that using general "rules" isn't always a good idea as some newbies will take it at face value. The species you choose, their body mass, their feeding habits(plecos and goldfish produce much more waste then say neons of the same "# of inches")their temperament and even the tanks foot print come into play. A 75g and a 90g have the same footprint and when choosing fish that need territories(that have territories on the substrate) you can't fit more in a 90g then you would in a 75g. You can't fit as many bottom dwelling fish(ei. cichlids that claim gravel spaces) in a 60g hex as you could in a regular 60g. Or you could possible fit 2 pairs of cichlids(shellies for example) in a 20g long where in a 20g tall you could only have 1. The examples are endless.

I've seen the 1"/gal rule go wrong way too many times. Yes it does have its place but I think there is WAY more things involved in choosing your fish then body size vs tank size.
Click to expand...

i dont see how we disagreed. i think we are in sync. all i said was that there were applications for the general rule. :)



anyways back to the topic: did you decide on more fish?
 
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