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Hey all. Was wondering if I'd be able to add any more fish with my current stocking situation. I have a 30g regular aquarium. Here is my current setup:
2 angels - currently about 1 1/2 inches long, 2 inches tall
5 danios - currently about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long
1 gourami - currently about 1 1/2 inches
1 pleco - about 4 inches long
3 cories - about an inch long
3 rainbow sharks - about 1 1/2 inches long

I already know the pleco will eventually outgrow the tank, so I will deal with that later down the road. Was looking for any suggestions. I was thinking about maybe adding a few more cories, or a few swordtails. Thanks in advance!

I would not add anymore fish to that tank. In fact, you should probably get rid of some fish.

Red-Tail Black Sharks, especially three of them, are not suitable fish a 30 gallon tank. For long term maintenance, even just one shark will need a tank of 55 gallons or more.

The angels will get about 6" long and can be aggressive, so that takes up a pretty good chunk of your bioload right there. The pleco is going to outgrow the tank in about six months.

If I were you, I would get rid of the sharks and get a few more corys. Then your tank will be fully stocked.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

That tank is going to be packed in the near future and I think the pleco is one of the least of your worries. Just the angels will take up nearly all the top levels. My 1 angel looked cramped in a 29g when he got full size and a 30g is only slightly longer. If your gourami is a 3 spot(blue, opaline, gold, etc) then it's also going to take up a good portion of the top and fights could break out. Angels generally don't get along unless they are a breeding pair or in a huge tank. If they are a breeding pair then when they spawn in that small of tank they'll probably kill everything in there. If by some chance they don't then they may fight with the gourami over cramped quarters.

Rainbow sharks are listed as agressive and in fact the profile on this site says too agressive for beginners. Which means they will likely fight each other, tear up the angels and gouramis, and eat anything smaller as they grow. One might be possible if you got rid of at least 1 angel but otherwise it's not going to work very well.

Cories also like to be kept in schools so you need at least 2 more but peferably 3. Problem is that tank is already well overstocked and the cories may just be shark snacks eventually.

You need a 55-75g or return 1 angel and the sharks. If you keep all the sharks you would probably be better off with at least a 75g if that's even big enough and if you keep all those fish I'd be looking at a 90g to avoid agression and territory issues. I would do something about that tank in the next month or 2 or you may start seeing problems.

Just to concur with the above and add some other notes ...

Rainbow or Red-Finned Sharks, epalzeorhynchus frenatus, look cute when they're small, and people buy them because they are known algae eaters. However, even as juveniles they are feisty, and can become even more problematic than some medium sized Cichlids as they grow older, because they become strongly territorial and have LARGE space demands. The trouble with these fishes is that they don't restrict their territorial instincts to conspecifics - while other Rainbow Sharks or Red Tailed Black Sharks would be the principal focus of aggression, they will take on a surprising range of other fishes as well. Three in a 30 gallon is a time bomb ticking away just waiting to detonate even without the other fishes to contend with.

The Plec could be problematic too. While some Plec species exist that are a modest size, the one that tends to occupy dealer aquaria is the Common Plec - this is a juggernaut of a fish when fully grown, and its growth rate will startle you if you haven't seen it before! It's not unheard of for these fishes to reach 12 inches in length in a fairly short space of time, and full size for these fishes is around 18 inches. A fish that size will have trouble simply fitting in a 30 gallon! Plus, the bioload that fish will generate as it grows will be truly frightening to behold - it'll be an ammonia and excrement factory of near-industrial proportions, needing at the very least a 150 gallon aquarium, preferably a good deal larger, and top quality power filtration to handle the copious wastes it produces.

Angel Fishes need a 55 to be truly happy. Your problem with these fishes, apart from the fact that as Cichlids, they possess the strong territorial instincts for which the entire Family is renowned, is their unusual body morphology. They require tall tanks to prevent fin cramping as they grow, and take it from me, Angel Fishes can grow to spectacular sizes - as a teenager I had a breeding male that was over 9 inches tall! He was a beauty, and went a long way toward explaining why people love these fishes, but a 30 gallon is going to be too small eventually to keep Angel Fishes and suitable companions of other species.

My recommendations are as follows:

[1] Rehouse the Rainbow Sharks and the Plec as a matter of priority. Those four fishes alone will demand a 150 gallon to themselves in less than a year. That figure is NOT an exaggeration - this photo should tell you all you need to know about what you're looking at size wise for the Plec if you have any doubts about it needing a 150!

[2] Rehouse the Angels. Angels are going to be too big for your 30.

[3] Let us know the identity of your Gouramni as a matter of urgency, because quite a few of the common species, such as blue, pearl, opaline etc., are 5 inch fishes. The problem here being that if you want a decent community in that 30, a chunky Gourami is going to limit your options enormously even AFTER you've rehoused the fishes above.

[4] Also, I want to know what Danios you have. If you have Zebra or Pearl Danios, you're OK with those in a 30. However, given your penchant for picking big fishes thus far, I want to be assured that you haven't bought a shoal of Giant Danios - these fishes reach 5 inches. Again, 5 of those is too much for a 30. Let us know your species again as a matter of urgency so that proper planning can be put in force.

[5] Once all the large and troublesome fishes have been rehoused in more appropriate quarters (or passed on to someone with a big aquarium who knows what they're taking on), bring your Cory school to 6 fishes. Corys like to be in groups, and the more of them you have, space allowing, the merrier.

[6] Once you have 6 Corys, the next step is to bring your Danio school (if they're Zebras or another small species) up to 8, preferably 10.

[7] Once that is done, you have space for a few more fishes, but remember, stick to SMALL species! Something like a group of 8 Rosy Tetras would make a nice contrast with the Danios. Once you have those in, however, you're close to the limit. For algae eaters, you can then add 4 Otocinclus catfishes, which will stay small (around 1.5 inches) and won't place a massive bioloading on your aquarium.

So, your final stocking would look like this if you followed my recommendations:

• 10 Zebra Danios/Pearl Danios

• 8 Rosy Retras or similar (you've about 60 species of Tetra to choose from!)

• 6 Corys

• 4 Otocinclus

That should provide you with a trouble free population of nice fishes that will live comfortably in a 30.


You'll find that this

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Rainbows do not eat algea. I have 3 in my 150g tank and they never touched it, I had algea all over the place for months. A month ago, I got my chinese high fin shark, zebra pleco and tiger pleco. And now all the algea is gone.

but yes, in a tank that small, two of those sharks will die eventually from agression and no where to hide. If that is common pleco, then yes. he will outgrow that quickly. Which is why I alot more spent money on ones that will not grow as large.

alot of the growth size all depends on how much and what you feed the fish. as far as adding more? more like everybody else is saying and just replacing.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

Rainbows do not eat algea

Yes actually they generally do eat algae.
However, not in the amount that other fish will
eat. They prefer meaty foods over algae and will
only browse some small amounts of algae.
And some individuals may not eat algae at all,
each one has its own likes and dislikes.

As for Jmaglich,
I concur with everyone.
I say remove the sharks and the pleco.
Then add 3 more cories of the same kind,
as they are schooling fish and should be kept
in large groups of their own kind.
That would still be overstocked a bit,
but would work much more so than what you already have.


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