30 Gallon Tank Is my 30gal tank Overstocked?

[AquAdave]

I have a 30 gallon tank with a hob filter that is sufficient for a 40gal tank . I have some live plants. I believe they are anubias . I have had the plant for over a year so it covers approx 1/4 of the bottom of the tank. In the tank I have , 1 Glo fish that is a tetra, 1 penguin tetra, 1 dwarf gourami , 2 Cory's, 1 small rainbow shark, ( it is temporary he's to small for my 125gal, he was getting picked on so I moved him till he is a little bigger) , 1 sailfin pleco ( approx 4 inches), and 6 Guppies. And please don't get on me about the rainbow I know this tank is to small for him but right now he's maybe 2" max and in my 125 tank the tiger barbs, and the silver dollars were roughing him up. I assume when he becomes more territorial he will be fine, but for now he just spends his time eating and swimming around and as far as I can tell he has not set up shop and claimed his area yet. Also I do water changes every 3-4 days, vacume substrate 2-3 times a month due to the waste produced by the pleco. So am I good with what I have stocked in the tank or should I consider a 5-10 gal tank for the Guppies . They are the latest addition

 

[A201]

Looks like you know what you're doing. I think you can handle the current stocki level.

 

[AquAdave]

Looks like you know what you're doing. I think you can handle the current stocki level.

OK thanks I am way under the inch per gal. But I won't lie I think that is a bad idea to go by in my case because my sailfin creates waste like a machine, so I figured I'm getting to the high end of what is good for a 30 gal. I tend to like the more fish look so I have many times found myself with a tank that is good when I stock it but a year later I have way too much in there. Probably the reason I now sit with 2 30gal , 2 5 gal , 125gal and 180 custom tank. But thanks for the help . I going to relax on buying fish everytime I go out of town ( I only have petsmart local for fish) so needless to say I don't buy many fish local

 

[AquAdave]

Hi I was trying to figure out if I'm over stocked on fish in my 30 gallon. I'm not a new fish keeper so I kindly ask that you don't explain the whole 1 inch rule or get on me about the fish that are in the tank. It's a transition tank so most of what's in it won't be in 6 months. With that out of the way. I have a 30g tank moderately planted with Anubis, java fern and water wisteria, I'm running a penguin 40hob and a sponge filter, the tank is established for over 2 years and has never crashed. Right at the moment I have 4 x-ray tetras, 2 very young tiger barbs and 2 full size green tiger barbs, a common pleco,That is about 1 1/2 inches, a red tail shark also about 1 1/2 inch, 2 bala sharks less than 3 inches. Is that good for now and can I move 3 platys into the tank as well. My experience tells me that due to the small size of the tiger barbs and all the fish that will get much bigger down the road that I'm good now and, can add the platys from another overstocked tank. I have a 160g tank the sharks and pleco will be going into when they are big enough to survive my 19 inch black ghost knife.

 

[bgarthe]

I am no expert with the Tiger Barbs and have only had a shoal of them for abt 7 months a year or two ago. From what I read, the thing I would focus on is that you have only 4 ( 2 small and 2 big) Tiger Barbs in a community tank even if it’s not permanent. Higher shoal numbers for TBs would likely head off potential fin nipping. ******* FL member A201 would be the Barb expert to ask about this imo.

Just curious (and I always ask this)….what is your tank temperature, pH, GH, and KH? Knowing these just help people give thorough more accurate suggestions.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

I know that you said you didnt want to know, Then for the sake of anyone who reads this, Your tiger barbs are likely to begin playing rough well before they are full grown, and they will stress out the other tank mates unless they are in a school of 9+ and unless they have plenty of room to swimm and use up that energy.
Exactly the same with the Bala sharks.
The tiny x-ray tetra will feel lost and scared and may not survive in this stressfull environment, same with platies. Temporary or not, keeping fish in large enough scools is important. And very active boisterous fish should be seporate from small delacate fish.

 

[kansas]

The sharks and the pleco are much to large for that tank and need to be rehomed.

 

[tinylostwine]

To elaborate in a year or two that common pleco will reach over a foot and the red tail shark is quite a bit better off and might even be able to remain in the tank as an adult as they only reach 6ish inch so it isn't too bad in a lightly populated tank but they will become more aggressive to fishes on teh bottom so you can't really keep them with cory and similar fishes.

I think kansas might be confusing red tail shark with red tail catfish which is another common fish that will grow huge and should never be sold to home aquarium (like common pleco).

Anyway I would get a larger school for the barbs and get rid of the common pleco quickly - as for the shark - they aren't bad fishes just be aware they don't play well with other bottom fishes.
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HOWEVER the bala shark will grow over a foot and is way too big for your aquarium so they also must go.
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Last but least some of your fishes are soft water fishes (most in fact) but the platy are a hardwater fish so someone has a bad environment....
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My quasi mistake - i missed that you are going to move the common pleco and bala shark to a 160. I will note that it is recommended that you keep the bala sharks in a group of 6+ though i don't know if it is required.
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Btw my black ghost knife never got close to 19 inches but she is only 4 years old.