Twinz

Hi, well I finally found a 55 gallon on craigslist and picked it up yesterday. It was full of lots of fish. I set it up last night and transferred all my fish from my 29 gallon and used the filter media from my 29 gallon. Well the tank had like 30-40 guppies, so I took all that I could catch to the LFS. There are lots of tiny babies left that i could not catch. The 55 gallon also came with 2 kuhli loaches, 5 harlequin rasboras, 2 neons, and a pleco. I added all my fish which is 6 black skirts, 3 platys, 4 cories, and three danios. Any suggestions on whether I should rehome some more of these fish or are there fish I should add? Are all these fish compatible? I know I'm probably overstocked right now but any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Lucy

Hi Twinz, congrats on your 'new' 55. Personally, I find that size tank quite intimidating. lol How did you transport all those fish? Wow! It must have been quite a job.

I counted up to 47" of fish, not including the loaches and the pleco
because i didn't know what kind you had, although, I believe loaches can get up to 16" from what I've read.
I also didn't include the guppies because I don't know how many you have.
So, yeah, you are probably overstocked.

Is there a reason you didn't want to keep the 29g running?

Did you keep the new filter wet and warm during transport? You could have lost quite a bit of bacteria during the move.

I would test the water daily, if bacteria was lost, it's going to take a while for the bacteria living on your used filter media to catch up with such a huge bio load addition.

It would have been a good idea to keep your existing fish separate from the new ones for a couple of weeks because you don't know the history of the new tank and it's occupants.

I hope this helps, good luck and post some pics when you get the chance.

Coryd55

Kuhli loaches get like 4 inches max. Since they have such a small bioload they count for less when you are adding up bioload.

I would either take out the danios and get more neons or take out the neons and get more danios. So you make the shoals a good size and the fish are happier.

I would also either take out the kuhlis and add more cories or take out the cories and add more kuhlis. Once again they will be happier with more.

Harlequins seem fine.

If it is a common pleco then I would also get rid of him and get a smaller species (4-6") like gold nugget, L107, L333, etc.

If you get the pleco out and the rest of the guppy fry then you should be very full on stocking but I wouldn't say overstocked.

Twinz

The guy I bought it from had almost all the water out when I got there and then we put all the fish in a cooler I brought. It was quite the job but as soon as I got home I tore down the 29 gallon and transferred everybody. I have the whisper filter for the 55 for up to 60 gallons and the filter media from my whisper in the 29 fit in one side of the new filter and then I used a new filter in the other side. I had to tear down the 29 because that is where the 55 was going and I am going to sell the 29. I was thinking about rehoming the kuhli loaches, the pleco, and maybe the neons. I will have to wait for the guppies to get bigger because they are so small I can't catch them. I definately want more cories! Here's a picture any suggestions on my decorations.

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Lucy

That's beautiful!