UKNovice!

Hi Everyone! Sorry for possibly asking a daft question but we are but mere novices when it comes to keeping fish, 18 months at the moment!!! We have a 40 litre tank with 15 fish and 1 shrimp! All are very happy in there and love their surroundings! Our Pleco is about 4" long, our question is will it grow into its surroundings, i.e will being in a small tank stunt its growth or will it just grow to its natural size? We don't have room for a bigger tank and don't want to get rid of the 'little' blighter! Please help!

Also, are snails bad for your tank? Please advise!!!

Thank you in anticipation of your thoughts and advise!!!

vin

If I'm not mistaken, your 40L is approx. 10 gallons.....If this is the case then your Pleco has already begun to outgrow his tank - provided he is not a dwarf Pleco....Even with that, the dwarf Plecos can get to be 5"-6" in length and are big waste producers. Common Plecos will grow to well over 12" in length and need to be in tanks in excess of 50g....with 15 fish, shrimp including pleco chances are that high your tank is well overstocked. Even removing the pleco you could still be overstocked. What other types of fish do you have?

UKNovice!

Hi Vin, at present we have 2no Rainbow Sharks, 4no Black Neon Tetras, 3no Glowlight Tetras, 2no Black Widows, 3no Guppys, 1no Pleco and 1no Shrimp! We buy all our fish from a Local Reputable Stockist and he did not see any problem with the amount of fish in our tank (numbers-wise)! The sharks and the pleco are the biggest boys/girls on the block. The tank isn't heavily planted either! How many fish should we have in the tank for its size? Does it depend on the siae of the fish you buy?

Thanks again!

vin

General rule of thumb is 2" of fish per gallon of water.....the size of the fish need to be taken into consideration as adults...So if you purchase a fish that is 1" long, but will grow to 2" as an adult, you take the 2" into consideration when stocking your tank.

As you stand now it would seem that your fish measure up to the following. I've taken all fish into account as adults:

Rainbow sharks: 2x6" = 12"
Black Neons: 4x1.5"= 6"
Glow lights: 3x2"= 6"
Black Widows: 2x2.5"=5"
Guppies: 3x2"=6
Pleco: anywhere from 5" to 12"+ depending upon variety.

Total: 35" - not including your pleco.

I'm afraid you're hugely overstocked. You may wish to think about a larger aquarium. Something in the 40 gallon range if you want to accommodate all of your fish except for perhaps the pleco.....Larger still if you want to keep him.

Ideally you would be able to keep up to 10" of fish in the tank you have now. Maybe 12" if you were dilligent about keeping up with water changes.

UKNovice!

Oh Well!!! Thanks for that Vin!!! Looks like I'm on the hunt for a bigger home for our fishy friends!!! Can't bare to part with them, It' my son's tank and he's bought all the fish, tank and all with his own saved money!!! We do clean the tank regularly, hoover the gravel, clean the glass, change/rinse the filter sponge and % water change so the tank is kept clean. Doesn't seem to get that dirty really considering the number of fish in there!

I'll keep you posted on this one!

Any advise on those snails? Good or bad for the tank?

Thanks again for your help!

vin

Apple snails and mystery snails are good algae eaters and will also eat leftover food. However, they are large waste producers as well and can put a strain on the bio load of the tank. I wouldn't get any more fish, snails, whatever until the tank situation is taken care of. Good Luck!