Tank is Stocked

[rtbob]

I couldn't find surfactant free ammonia at Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Walgreens or my LFS.

What I did find was Tetra Safe Start. I added it and 20 minutes later added my fish.

I have a 35 gal hex with a Marineland Biowheel 200 (200gph) filter and two 10" air stones.

Tank was stocked on 7/20 with:

2 Angels, 1 Ballon Ram
4 Cories, 3 Sunburst Wagtail platys
3 Swordtails, 2 Hatchet Fish
3 Dwarf Gouramis, 1 Redtail Shark

The fish are all tiny (1/2"-3/4") I think I'm overstocked (advise, opinions please.)

I have a twenty gallon long I'm going to setup and off load some into it here in the next week or two.

My initial water analisys done on 7/20 remains unchanged today 7/22

PH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates no kit

The tank was initially set up on 7/16
The water was crystal clear before adding fish/safestart. It has now clouded up. I'm thinking from what I've read this is caused by the bacteria. Would that be correct?

Question on feeding and filtration.

Should I shut off the filter and the bubble stones when feeding?

So far one of the angels was found dead today, according to the LFS owner the angels are stressed when shipped and this isn't uncommon. I replaced it with a second ballon ram.

The rest of the fish all appear to be fine, all eating and after some initial hiding they are swimming about now.

 

[bassbonediva]

With the angelfish alone (once they're full-grown), you're 83% stocked...add everyone else and it drives you up to 186% stocked with only 52% filtration capacity with the filter you're running.
AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor

Take a look at all the warnings (in red) on AqAdvisor for your tank. Also, multiple dwarf gouramis isn't a good idea, as unless you are ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE you have one male and one female, they will constantly fight. Most, if not all, of the DGs you buy at the LFS are males.

 

[rtbob]

Thank you for the advise. I used the calculator a few days ago, seen what the angels did when added. The wifey just had to have them. Two of the gourami's are buddies while the third is a loner.

Like I stated above the fish will be divided up into another tank soon.

Thanks again

 

[bassbonediva]

I'd leave the angels in the hex tank and move anything that'll stay small (the livebearers and the loner gourami for sure) into the 29gal long. The angels might be okay in your hex, even when they get bigger, but just keep in mind that they get to be 6" long and about 10" tall. I am putting a pair in my 55gal when I get it set back up and with just those two fish, my 55gal would be 44% stocked.

 

[littletankbigworld]

Definitely get rid of the red-tail shark. They can become very aggressive and need at least a 55 gallon tank. Please buy a liquid test kit and test your water every day. Never trust the bacteria-in-a-bottle. I'm unsure about Tetra Safe Start, but bottles like that usually must be refrigerated before you buy them. Cycling a tank takes a couple of weeks to a month (except the established media method is quicker), so it is important that you use a liquid test kit to test the water every day until you receive 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and less than 20 ppm nitrate. Do a water change if any of the readings are high. To neutralize ammonia, you can use a water conditioner like Prime.