Am I overcrowding my fish tank?

Question

I have 6 fishes in a 10 gallon tank. 2 green tiger barbs, 2 albino tiger barbs, and 2 regular tiger barbs. I also have 3 fake plants in the back of the tank which leaves them a lot of space in the front, and since they school together they don't take much of the space. I don't have any problems with cloudiness or with algae, I take out 1/3 of the water every week and change the filter pad every 3 weeks, and the temp is around 78 F, is this ok?

I've had them for a month now and they seem to be doing fine.
Is the rule of 1 inch per gallon true?

I'm thinking of moving the to a 20 gallon tank, if I do can I add some more tiger barbs?

They're only 1 inch right now and I feed them once a day and only what they can eat in about 2 minutes.

Answer 1

Ultimately, bettachris is correct. But, if your fish are still very small (less than 2 inches) and you view your 10 gallon as a starter tank and realize that you will need to upgrade once your fish start exceeding maybe a couple inches in length, then your 10 gallon is fine for now. If they're larger than 2 inches already, you need to get your 20 gallon tank as soon as possible. Regarding your other comments, it sounds like you're doing a good job of care and maintenance. Just an fyi, in case you aren't testing the water. If you are testing, just ignore, but, if you aren't, water can "look" great, but actually not be good water for your fishes' best health. Testing your water ensures that you are maintaining the best water quality possible. Otherwise, like I said, you're doing a great job of maintenance!

Answer 2

tiger barbs can grow to about 3 inches each. with 6 of them in a 10, i think thats a little overstocked. they may have plenty of space now, but when they are mature, they wont.

you shouldnt change the filter pad. beneficial bacteria grows and lives on it, and changing it every couple weeks can start a mini-cycle and seriosuly stress out your fish. i recommend leaving the pad in there, and when it gets too clogged or dirty, rinse it out in old tank water (when doing a water change, swish it around in the old, dirty tank water). only change the pad when it starts to fall apart. put a new pad behind the old one for about a week, and by then the beneficial bacteria would have time to grow on the new one. then you can throw the old one out.

78F is a good temp.

the one inch per gallon rule never works out. the rule is to have one inch of full grown fish per one gallon of water. so lets take a commpn pleco. fully grown, can reach 24 inches. sicne common tanks do not come in 24 gallons, some would think the pleco would be ok in a 20 gallon. a 20 gallon tank is 24 inches long. the pleco would therefore become stunted and die prematurely and painfully. (stunting is when the fish's body stops growing, but the internal organs continue to grow).

i would highly recommend you move them to a 20 gallon long tank. a 20tall is 24 inches long, and a 20long is 30 inches long. these 2 inches increase oxygen in the water and give the fish more swimming room. i wouldnt get anymore barbs. you could get dwarf sucker fish if you would like more fish in the tank. but nothing over 3 inches, and no more than 3 fish. if you do choose to get more fish, youd have to increase the water changes and tank maintenance.

Answer 3

I think that if you are making a 33% water change every week and a filter pad replacement every 3 weeks you arent really letting the filter do it's job and aren't doing the fish any favors. That's a LOT of water to change in a filtered tank weekly. I understand that you aren't getting cloudy water and have no algae issues. While those are usually encouraging signs, I think in this case it is due to interrupting the nitrogen cycle every week-3 weeks. Your tank is in a constant state of recycle. The Ammonia and nitrite levels are likely spiking and crashing on a weekly basis and this cannot be good for the health of your fish. You have not provided us with any water parameter test values. Have you a test kit? If so, please post with ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, and gh, values.
If not, you might be surprised by the actual water quality of the 'clean looking' water in your tank.

All of this leads to the overcrouding question. Most ppl who have been in the hobby for a few years will agree that when trying to determine if there is an over-crowding situation, they will look closely at the water parameters to determine the success the nitrifying bacteria colonies have in neutralizing Ammonia and Nitrite. This will be assuming 10% water changes to rid the water of Nitrates (unless planted) and to maintain Gh and Kh levels (carbonate and calcium doesn't evaproate with the water). I would assume that if you changed 50% of the water every week you could add 6 more fish to the tank, but would that be good for the fish? Doubtful.

Change less water, and get a good master freshwater test kit from your LFS. Take readings often for a few weeks and get a REALLY good bead on your fishes water quality.
The bottom line is: Water quality is a more appropriate measure to determine overstocking than inches/gallons.

Answer 4

The one inch per gallon of water is a load of bull. The problem is that each Tiger Barb gets about 3 inches which means, when they are fully grown, there won't be a lot of room to swim. If you move to a 20 gallon tank, you could add another 2 Tiger Barb (species doesn't matter).

Nosoop4u

Answer 5

yes your overstocked, tiger barbs are not reallythat small of a barb, they will grow to about 3-5 inches.

The problem is the 1 inch per gallon rule has been outdated for many years.

Frankly it doesnt make sense, and in order to be a rule, it must apply for all cases, not just small fish.

For ex. i cant have a 60 inch siver arowana in a 60 gallon tank. the 60 gallon doesnt have enoug hroom for the fish o turn around.

So this rule has been outdatted for many years.

20 gallon would be good for what you have now, 6 tiger barbs sounds right.

You can also get a small catfish for the tiger barb tank as well.

Answer 6

It is very true about the one inch per gallon. You need to consider how big they can get. If you aren't having any problems with algae or cloudiness then i wouldn't worry about it. Just keep an eye on your PH and other levels.

Answer 7

Is the 32 gallon yours or your brothers? i'm uncertain in this. What length tank are your fish in staggering now? i could propose having a minimum of a 20-25 gallon aquarium with the fish you have. in case you think of you have overcrowded, i'm not sure why you saved paying for fish...

Answer 8

the one inch per gallon thing is true to an extent. there are fish that live in massive schools like guppies. depending on the fish and how agressive & tattatorial the fish are. but your tank is not overcrowded yet. might want to think about an air pump or maby some live plants. and about the 20 gallon... as long as your house is strong enough to support it no tank is too big in my openion. and ps your tamp is fine i keep mine on the warm side so my fish stay more active and ive heard that more that 20% is too much but i take about half and mine are fine

Answer 9

yes I have found the 1 inch per gallon theory to be true. And if you go to a 20 gallon, then yes you can get some more tiger barbs.

Answer 10

THE CLOUDINESS COULD BE BECAUSE OF THE WATER LEVEL AND THE PH LEVEL, WE HAVE FRESH WATER DISCUS FISH AND THEY HAVE TO HAVE THEIR WATER LEVEL AT THE RIGHT TEMPERATURE... A 10 GAL. TANK SHOULDN'T HAVE A LOT OF FISH IN IT BECAUSE A 10 GAL IS A STARTER TANK, SO YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO OVER CROWD YOUR TANK WITH A LOT OF FISH....