Overstocked tank?

Question

i have a five gallon aquarium, lightly planted, filter with bio wheel, i do 25% water changes twice a week, i have had all these fish for about two months now and they all seem very active and healthy, but when put up against the 1 inch per gallon rule it seems very overcrowded
2 neon tetras, 3 glow light tetras, 3 white clouds, 3 cory catfish,
7 ghost shrimp, 1 mystery snail.
if they are all healthy would it be okay to add an african dwarf frog and a small pleco?

thanks for all the input, i will definitely not be getting a pleco

Answer 1

The inch per gallon rule is crap. As you learn more about fish, you will find that the only real rule about stocking is to research the fish you want before you get them to find fish that will fit in your tank and are compatible with each other.

In your case, you do have some stocking problems. For starters, white clouds are coldwater and need temps in the upper 60's to low 70's. The other fish are tropical and need temps within 3 degrees of 80. Those fish are all schooling fish that need minimum 5-6 of the same species together. The cories will get too big to keep more than 2, so get rid of them(unless they are pygmy or dwarf cories, in that case they are fine). Then choose 1 of either the neons, glowlights, or white clouds(only if you get rid of the cories) and up the school to 6, then you will be fine and you might be able to get a dwarf frog. There are no plecos small enough for your tank, even if all you had in the tank was a pleco.

Answer 2

I agree with several of the previous posts that you are somewhat over stocked. I would also say that the 1 inch rule is one of the worst fictions ever inflicted on the hobby. It has not merit and no place in aquarium keeping at all.

Personally, I would say no big time to both the frog and the pleco. You have no room for either of them. I would also suggest you remove the 3 white clouds as they would really do better at a lower temperature than the other fishes, taken as a group. This would relly help to insure your continued sucess with the small tank.

MM

Answer 3

What you have are small fish and, while the 1 inch of fish per 1 gallon of water most often does not apply to tropicals, in this case, because your fish are small and will stay small, it can apply somewhat. That said, even at that, you have 30 inches of fish. This is a serious overcrowding situation. Your twice weekly water changes could account for their apparent health, but I would not add one millimeter of new fish, let alone a pleco. Even at their smallest, plecos reach 4 inches and are one of those fish that the 1 inch rule does not apply and, as an adult fish, need 30 gallons of water for the smallest alone. Instead of focusing your money on getting more fish, I would suggest you focus it on getting a larger tank.

Answer 4

WOW! That is a lot of fish!

Good job on the water changes.

You really shouldn't add anything- you should be thinking about getting a larger tank.

The Pleco cannot go in there- they get to be HUGE.

If you do get a larger tank- Be really careful it you put a frog and a pleco in the same tank. They are both very territorial and on the bottom a lot. They will fight.

Answer 5

Just for your info. the one inch to one gallon rule was made up for dummies for fish keeping. A good excuse for uneducated fish department retailers to tell customers how many fish they could keep in a tank. Unfortunately this rule is a bunch of hog wash.

Different fish requrie differnt amounts of space. For example two oscars being 1" are not the same as let's say guppies at 1".

Schooling fish need less total water than single fish. Just because "sources" say a minimum tank size of let's say 20 gallon does not mean each fish needs 20 gallons. Especially schoolers.

Your tank is very small for so many fish, however if they are healthy and happy and the water quality is fine, good for you...just remember they will grow.

I would not add anything to this tank and honestly you may consider a larger tank. Good job in keeping them heathy.

Answer 6

your frog would eat any thing small like the neons, defiantly the shrimp, and probably try to eat the other fish. your mystery snail depending on what it turns out to be, a Briggs, or a Cana, briggs get as big as a golf ball and canna's get as big as a soft ball.
you can not go by the inch per gallon rule except for when dealing with the smalller species like your tetras. I would not add anything to your tank. I would invest in a larger tank!! If you can't invest in a larger tank then if one dies off, don't replace it. Your tank is too overstocked.

Answer 7

No Plecostomus would do well in a system that small,even if it were the only fish.However the frog would be happy to help with your overstocking problem. By the way neons should be kept in groups of 6 or more.With systems this small there is no margin of error,if you miss a water change or two it's all over. If you must be away from the water change schedule stop feeding two or three days before and maybe you could miss a change or two without suffering losses.

Answer 8

You're starting to push the limits of your system, and definitely don't put a pleco in a five gallon. Even most of the smaller ones will get too big for that tank. Ottocinclus are good algae eaters, but I still wouldn't reccoment putting any more fish in your tank.

Answer 9

While the one-inch-per-gallon rule is widely used in the aquarium world, you also have to take into consideration what the mature size of each is going to be.

Answer 10

Neons do better in lots of 5 or more, and corys do better in lots of three or more. The tank you have will support three corys... Also one set of the schooling fish up to 6...

A bushy nose pleco wil only reach about 5 inches in length. But in that small of a tank, you would have to feed it algae discs regularly as well. I found out they do like Malaysian Bog wood. They suck the nutrients right out of it! (straight from a breeder)