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rite, my mum has a 28 US Gal. tank, which ahs bin set up 4 bout 4 or 5 years, in the tank, she has:
1 fully grown Angelfish (P.scalare)
1 clown loach~50mm
1 SAE~85mm
1 sailfin pleco~85mm
1 Peppered cory.~40mm
2 female swordtails(mum and daughter) mum~55mm, daughter~40mm
2 Bronchis Splendans(short bodied catfish)~50mm
3 cherry barbs(1F/2M)~35mm
3 gold barbs~40mm
5 fully grown black neons
5 black phantoms(2F/3M)~20-30mm

is this a good set up, or r there ne really major problems?

smilingpiranha

The Clown Loach, Gold Barbs & the Peppered Corydoras like to stay in schools & a minimum of 5/6 each is needed.
I also think that the tank is overstocked & to add the schooling fish, you need to take some fish back to the LFS.


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smilingpiranha,

Firstly i think it's overstocked.
Secondly the Clown loach, the sailfin and the Angel (others may disagree with me on the angel) should be moved into a larger tank.
The barbs and corys also need to be kept in schools of about 6+ as they're schooling fish.

well, in a couple of months, me and my mum r gonna put sum money 2gether 2 get a 6ft x 2ft x 3ft tank, and they will probably b moved in2 that, along wif my clown loach in my tank.
that wud free space 4 her 2 add the fish she needs 2, 2 make up the numbers

smilingpiranha

p.s., i was wunderin, wot size tank wud b needed 2 house 2 rtbs?, (along wif plenty of places 4 them 2 hide, caves etc.)

p.s., i was wunderin, wot size tank wud b needed 2 house 2 rtbs?

Some might disaggree with me on this but I would say large, as in at least 6-7 feet or so.... even then you would have to watch them VERY closely and carefully for signs of aggression and be willing to separate them if anything happened. They grow to be fairly large (specimens that are about 8" long have been observed) so you need a decent sized aquarium for even one, then you need even more space to ensure that the rtbs aren't going to see each other all the time, and will have enough space to establish adequate territory. I think even with a lot of hiding places you would end up with one being more dominant and forcing the other into submission - not cool. I wouldn't attempt it in any size of tank personally just because I don't see any point in doing so. The benefits of keeping more than one rtbs in a tank just don't outweigh the risk involved, unless you're insane and are (seriously) trying to spawn them.

Think of it this way: you are basically asking how large a tank would need to be to house 2 male bettas. There is no definite answer, fairly high risk, and really no benefit to keeping more than one in the same tank. There are exceptions to every rule, and one rtbs may be less aggressive with lookalikes than others, but there is only one way to find out.... do you really need to go there?

fank u very much gold digger, i fink i'll only put 1 in then