Am I to crowded?

[cougargirl50]

Here is what I have in my tank. I have a 20 gallon tank. Now please don't yell at me.

6 platys
6 zebra danios
1 dalmatian mollie

I had my tank where everything was were it was supposed to be. NitrItes were at 0 Ammonia was at 0 Nitrates has a reading of 5.0, and my PH said 7.2 (still fighting the fish store about that one) they are saying its 7.8 I added 3 of the danios and the dalmatian mollie yesterday. And when I did a water change this morning and checked my waters my NitrItes went to .25 and my Nitrates went to 10. Is that because I added the fish? Or because I have to many.

I know PLATYS are baby makers. I plan on just letting the other fish eat them. And what doesn't get eaten I plan on taking them out of the tank.

 

[FroggyFox]

The jump in nitrites is probably because you added the new fish...it should go away in a couple days. Your bacteria just needs to catch up to the increased bioload.

That is probably overstocked for a 20G...livebearers are pretty messy...although danios are pretty clean. I think as long as you keep up with water changes and keep an eye on that nitrate level you should be ok. If you just have way too many fish in the tank and the bacteria/filtration can't keep up with the bioload, you'll start noticing fish being stressed out (changes in their behavior), high nitrate levels, cloudy water, more algae etc etc so just keep your eyes peeled for behavior changes and water quality issues.

 

[cougargirl50]

That is probably overstocked for a 20G

What would you suggest taking out then??????

 

[Iggy]

Like Froggy said, your on the high-side of full, but it's probably manageable without removing any fish.

Give the tank a week or so for it to adjust to the new bio-load, and your readings should return to 0pmm Am/Ni

I suggest looking at live-plants as your next step (if you don't already have them), it add a new dimension to tank-keeping, instead of just adding more fish for variety, you can use plants.

 

[bravefish90]

I would agree with Iggy, High side of full, but I would definately get some live plants, trust me youll love them, not only are they beautiful additions to a tank but they will help with your nitrogen cycle.

 

[dethjam316]

it is definitely manageable with sufficient water changes, and some planets would certainly help. i don't think that stocking is that bad at all...i'm not saying run out and buy more fish, but as long as you do good mainenance and don't let the platys breed out of control, i would argue that you're not even really overstocked. none of your fish are huge waste producers and all of them stay reasonably small. only the mollie isn't a good fit.

 

[cougargirl50]

Well since I have originally posted this, I have had 1 fish die. One of my red wag platys have passed on. It hasn't really acted right since I brought it home 2 weeks ago. It was kinda a loner and the last couple days it wouldn't eat anything. And today when I came home from my errands, she was dead. So i'm gonna take it back to the fish store.