Can I add some more fish?

[chriswarr]

Hi, i've got a new (first) tank. Had it about 2 months, didn't have it cycled properly initially, added too many fish too soon. Have had quite a few fish die. Anyhoo, spoke to the bloke at the local fish shop, he set me straight, sold me test kits and got me changing the water more often. Have had it with 0 levels of Nitrite and Ammonia for the last 2 weeks. And my two remaining guppies seem to be really happy and thriving. Just wondering when would be a safe time to introduce some new fish to the tank. I'm keen to get the numbers up to keep the kids happy.

The tank is only 22L, I'm only planning to have 5 or 6 fish in it. Other details are it's tropical, gonna have guppies only, maybe a catfish, it's got one real plant in it, they get fed every second day.

Cheers,
Chris.

 

[punkrockfish]

i cannot convert for the life of me, but trusty google informs me that is roughly 6 gallons. are the guppies male and female? if so, you might be getting more fish soon, since they will breed like crazy. if the water checks out (have nitrates), then you should be ok, but since the tank is new keep an eye on everything. the only catfish i could think of for a tank that small would be an oto. they can be hard to keep, and do best in an established tank.

 

[chriswarr]

I haven't checked nitrates, i didn't get sold that test kit. I might check it out. And yeah, just going to have boys, I didn't want to have to deal with the questions my young sons would throw at me, like where did the babies come from? why are they eating them? you know what i mean

 

[MissFishy]

Sadly, your tank is already pretty much stocked with the two guppies. Think 1 gallon (you'll have to convert) of water per inch of fish head to tail that you keep in the tank. With two guppies, you've got 4 inches of fish already in the tank. Now you can clearly see why bigger is better. If you overstock, you face lots of fish loss again. If you're still not entirely clear on what actually happened in your tank to cycle it, I suggest taking a peek at the link in my signature. There's also some helpful tank stocking suggestions too. A fish tank is a great learning tool for children. It can teach patience, not buying more than you can handle (i.e. overstocking the tank), and learning to care for other living things. Welcome to the tank!