TuesdaysChild

Someone gave me a 20 gallon setup, fish and all a few months ago. Since then I have also added a couple of my own fish. While watching them yesterday I realized that the tank is overstocked.

There is some aggression going on too. One guppy is fighting with another. One of the mollies is trying to nip at the third guppies tail. That third guppies tail is now 1/3 gone as is also one of the Betta's tails. Will their tails grow back?

This is what's in the tank, listed in order of preference from most liked to least liked. Any suggestions as to which fish should go and which should stay based on tank size and compatibility would be greatly appreciated. Unkept fish will go to new homes or a local fish store.

4 female Betta's
3 guppies (f) (1 can go)
2 neon tetras
3 small black mollies (1m, 2f) (females can go)
2 Otto cats (not sure I have enough algae to keep them happy and they won't eat veggies or algae tabs)
1 panda cat
1 peppered? cat
2 zebra danios
1 upside-down cat
2 white mollies (m)

Thanks,

capekate

Hello Tuesdayschild and welcome to fishlore. Im glad to see that you are going to do something with those overstocked fish in your 20g. That is a great start for a successful tank.
First off, may I say that the first fish to move would be your female bettas. They should not be in a tank together and aggression will be if not already an issue. Your cory cats, the panda and peppered do not eat algae as far as I have experienced. They do however eat any food that has gone unnoticed at the bottom of your tank and a good clean up crew.
I would IMO keep all the cory cats, including the upside-down catfish.
Your otos will need some type of algae to survive, they love new tank syndrome "diatoms", the brown algae.
Your mollies can get to be around three inches. Even tho they are great fish, you may end up being over stocked if you kept them all.
If it were I in the situation I would keep them all except the Bettas which should be in another tank, and the mollies.
But thats just my personal opinion, and it will have to be up to you to decide which species you like the best.

Muffymouse

Hello and welcome to fishlore. Good for you for asking these questions and trying to come up with a good solution. About the only question you asked that Capekate didn't answer was about your bettas fin. and the answer is maybe. Depending on the type of damage done to it and how bad the damage really is (on a lvl really hard for us to see without special equiptment) even then if it does grow back, it will probably not look the same as the rest of the fin. It may be a different color or more likely not colored at all and it probably won't be as smooth and pretty looking as it was originally. On that one you will just have to get her into a calm no stress environment with some extra TLC and vitamins and wait and see.
I believe that the guppy's should grow back, mine always regrew their's once things had settled down.
Best wishes.

TuesdaysChild

Thanks so much for the suggestions. The mollies have already found a new home and should be leaving within a few days. I'm gong to find a way keep but seperate the betta's. They're my favorites so I can't part with them.

I just realized I posted on the wrong forum, sorry about that. I had too many windows open at once.