Looking for advice

6 posts

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


fish123
 
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2016 12:05 pm

Looking for advice

by fish123

I got a little carried away and now I think I have too many fish in my 20 gallon aquarium. I have 4 platies, 2 mollies, 3 neon tetras, 2 black skirt tetras, 1 pleco, 3 cories. I know the schooling fish should have more numbers too. So what I'm trying to do is split them up into two different tanks.

My first question is what size tank should the 2nd tank be?
Also, do you see any problems occurring from these fish remaining together? Does it matter which ones I split up?


tetrafan
 
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2016 7:03 pm

Re: Looking for advice

by tetrafan

I would probably get another 20 gallon and put the platies, mollies and pleco in that one.

It probably doesn't matter how you split them up as these fish are all peaceful, but maybe watch the tetras for fin nipping the live bearers.


_fins_
 
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 10:24 am

Re: Looking for advice

by _fins_

Is it a long or tall 20 gal? The long has a bigger footprint and that makes it a better choice for the fish you're keeping. But regardless, I think you're right that you'd be overstocked if you added to your schools of fish.


fish123
 
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2016 12:05 pm

Re: Looking for advice

by fish123

Thanks! Another 20 gallon sounds like a good idea. Do you know if I would have any room left over in either tank after upping the numbers for the schools?

And can you foresee any other problems occurring?


a201
 
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2017 6:21 pm

Re: Looking for advice

by a201

You didn't mention what size or type of filtration you use on your 20 gal. Tank or how much water you believe is displaced by gravel and decor. It is a good idea to buy a filter that is rated 2x your estimated water volume. As long as your tank has cycled; you clean your tank once a week changing 25% of the water, your current stocking level is fine and can be increased. Your listed live bearers are hardy and can tolerate less than perfect water. The black skirt tetras and cory cats are also in that category. Neons are fragile and are very sensitive to water quality.
If your Pleco is of the common variety, it grows very large very fast. It also generates a lot of waste, putting a huge burden on your filtration system. For little tanks small Pleco varieties such as the "bristlenose" work best. As for your schooling fish you could double their numbers and still be fine as long as proper filtration and tank matenence is performed. Having 6 neons is not exactly like raising 6 oscars.


reefer171
 
Posts: 52
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:53 pm

Re: Looking for advice

by reefer171

I feel like you would be a little overstocked if you had 6 cories and 6 of each kind of tetra, plus your current platy and molly numbers. That's if the platies and mollies don't breed, which they will if you have both sexes. I don't know what kind of pleco you have so I haven't calculated for that. It might be doable though. I've had overstocked tanks before and just made sure my filters were good and I did frequent enough water changes.

Looking for advice

6 posts

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