I was wondering if my tank is too crowded for a 55 gallon long tank.?

Question

My fish include:

7 danios (mix of zebra and leopard long fin)
7 balloon mollies
5 gold pristella tetra
4 swordtails (2 red and 2 pineapple)
6 panda corycats
3 border loaches
2 bosemani rainbows
1 cremecicle molly

None of the fish will really grow that large though, I think the largest are the rainbow fish, which will grow to about 5".

It seems that the fish do have a lot of swimming space since it is a long tank, it is moderately planted with river pebbles and slates on the bottom, and I do keep up with water maintenance. I have a eheim 2128 canister filter. I just wanted opinions from others because I am fairly new with keeping fish. Any advice is great! Thank you!

Answer 1

That sounds like a nice set-up.

I would think you're approaching the stocking limit for your tank, but not necessarily overstocked (the "one inch rule" is more of a suggestion, and doesn't apply to many cases because there are far too many variables it doesn't consider). As you point out, most of your fish don't get that large, and other than the balloon mollies, you don't have any really heavy-bodied fish. And with a canister, you should have adequate filtration, and the live plants will help with nurtient control. So with good maintenance and periodic water tests and observation of fish behavior, you shouldn't have any major problems with the fish you have.

If you were to get other fish, I would suggest another rainbow - these will show their best color if they're in a group of 2 males to 1 female - these guys will put on their best coloration to attract the attention of the female when they have a "competitor".

Answer 2

The rule is 1 inch of fish / gallon

and that is 1 inch in any direction
one inch by one inch

so look at your fish and measure them

but if they are babies or young fish you would want to leave some room for them to grow

on google type in pet fish care and they have sites for this

I found a great site for any animal it has stuff writen by vets

they have a large fish section on any thing you want to know

it is
petplace.com

Answer 3

Sounds just about right, for a community tank.

Answer 4

I've heard a good rule is 1small fish per gallon ?