Is my tank overstocked?

[pnphappy]

I have a 20 gallon tank with the following fish in it:
5 Black Skirt Tetras
6 Serpae Tetras
6 Red-Eyed Tetras

I was planning to add some more tetras to it, but using the inch per fish to every gallon calculation, I'm way overstocked. Am I? I mean, they have been like this for a year now. My black skirts are three years old (started with 4 in a 5 gallon tank, bought two new ones for 20 gallon, one very old one died) with the others added a little over a year ago.

Am I able to add any new small fish? If so, then what?
Thanks.

[cocoa_pleco]

you may be able to get away with a few bottom feeders like kuhli loaches or shrimp

[gm72]

What kind of filtration are you using? What is your water changing schedule?

[pnphappy]

See I have a pretty basic overhead filter that came with the tank. I'm not consistent (Usually 10% every two weeks) on water changes so I'm not sure invertebrates will be too thrilled in the tank. The reason for this lack in consistence is because all the fish I raise are those that are difficult to kill, so I let it slide a little. I may look into bottom dwellers, but most of them need to be in groups and I have no room for them. If I do get shrimp, then yeah, I WILL do water changes more often. How often I change the water is based on the animals I have. I hope shrimp are hardy like my tetras.Thanks for you input.

[zackish]

See I have a pretty basic overhead filter that came with the tank. I'm not consistent (Usually 10% every two weeks) on water changes so I'm not sure invertebrates will be too thrilled in the tank. The reason for this lack in consistence is because all the fish I raise are those that are difficult to kill, so I let it slide a little. I may look into bottom dwellers, but most of them need to be in groups and I have no room for them. If I do get shrimp, then yeah, I WILL do water changes more often. How often I change the water is based on the animals I have. I hope shrimp are hardy like my tetras.Thanks for you input.


I think shrimp are pretty hearty and a few snails probably wouldn't hurt either. If you really want to add more fish I would say get a better filtration system and don't add too much more fish.

[pnphappy]

My 5 gallon is much more diverse than what I have right now. I had a snail for a year, and afterwards, all that was left was a shell. I'm pretty sure some fish made a good meal out of it when it was still alive. I've raised nothing but tetras so I am not sure if my current tetras would eat inverts. I would love to get shrimps, but only if my local stores have them. I will not add more fish until my tank is sparsely populated. I'm not getting rid of them. I'll look into shrimp and clams. If they don't fit, then I'll keep the status quo with the exception of a few hardy plants. Thanks.

[gm72]

With only a 10% change every 2 weeks you really aren't helping the nitrAtes. Surprised your fish are surviving. I wouldn't recommend you add anything given your filtration and maintenance schedules. As they are you need to make sure you stay understocked.

[pnphappy]

Well, my fish are pretty hardy. I've put them through worse times compared to what they are right now. I really can't get my self to change the water that much since the fish are healthy right now. It's not like I have a discus or any fish that requires excellent water quality. I can always alter my maintainence schedule based on more vulnerable specimens, and when I finish constructing my aquarium display table (I have mine on a counter right now) I may purchase a canister filter that I always wanted (I do not want a visible filter when I display my aquarium in the den). Then I will decide if I want other stuff. Most likely I will purchase another black skirt to have 6 of each species.

Edit: I can see what you mean when you said you are suprised my tank actually flourishes. I don't call myself an animal abuser, but I have never changed the water in the 5 gallon, which is probably why the snail died. The fish however, did not show any signs of stress and they have always displayed their full colors. All my purchase questions are of course hypothetical. The plants I want are not, but as for more animals, I may or may not get them. If I do, then no more than two inverts, or one fish (not both).

The reason I do not do so many water changes is because it is more work to obtain the freshwater than to change the water. What I do is I have a 3 gallon jug, and two 5 gallon jugs I use to get water from the machine in front of Kroger. When ever I do a water change, I have to go buy more water so we can have enough to drink. I already go once a week and go twice a week if I have to do a water change (I also have a 8 gallon betta bowl, which I do change the water weekly since it has no filter). I might solve this problem by letting tap water sit for a while to remove all the chlorine. This I know will not remove the heavy metals, ruling inverts out of the question.

Edit Again :P : Well, I have decided to rule out any oddities for right now (inverts, non tetra fish). I am not going to purchase any animal I do not think I can handle, even with the new filter. I hope a filter that is designed to filter 55 gallons of water won't screw my 20 gallon since the 55 gallon model is the smallest they have. Thanks for all of your help.

[Lady Hobbs]

17 fish in a 20 gallon tank is too much especially with your water changes being inconsistent. Fish that are surviving does not mean they are happy fish. It doesn't matter what kind of filter you have, water changes and gravel vac's are just necessary upkeep.

[pnphappy]

Right. Which means I will have to do water changes more often. That I can do since I'm going to use tap water. I already have a bucket of tap water outside and I am waiting for it to dechlorinate. As for sucking out the gravel, I may do that once every two weeks now.

I see that everyone is pretty big on water changes. I guess I'll have to do them more often then. that way I can accomodate another fish for a total of 18. Water change once a week? I hope that should do it rather than once every two weeks.

Taking care of these fish is getting to be much more work than taking care of my parakeets (other than changing their drinking water, adding food, and removing waste, they care for themselves), which I have 9 of :c3: .

[Lady Hobbs]

Fish pee in this water 24/7. And that many fish also depletes the tank of oxygen (like 20 people being stuck in an elevator for days and days.)

I would do 50% water changes and get a Penguin 350 for this tank. The filters that come with these tanks are never enough filtration.

[pnphappy]

That's a good way to put it. I never thought of it like that before. In fact, I kind of wished you never put it that way since it just grosses me out to even stare at the aquarium now, not to mention sticking my hand in it to scrub the sides.

Don't worry, I'll beef up to water changes.

Thanks to all for beating me into doing more water changes. The negative effects do not show up on these fish since they are so hardy, but they will when I get future aquariums :thumb: (I was going to do a marine aquarium, but have put that off until later, and I'm glad since marine fish are not hardy).

Before I never wanted to use tap water because I wanted to raise inverts (tap water = all sorts of metals). Now that I have ruled them out, I should have a good schedule. 50% will not be bad now since my outdoor tub holds 25gallons of tap water (No, I will not do a 125% water change).

I'll definitely look into a Penguin 350. It looks powerful enough. Is there a canister version of this filter?

Thanks.