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The lady at petstore has givin me some bad advice or so im told! I've got a 20 hex tank with a penguin 150 filter good up to 30gal. I've got
2- bolivian rams
1-golden killi
2-silver tipped tetra
2-neon tetra
2- glo-light tetra
I am told i need atleast 6 of each tetra, and the pet store told me they'd be ok with just pairs? 6 of each would over load my filter and give me a huge bioload wouldn't it? And make tank hard to care for???????? I was also told tetras only put out about half the waste of other fishys? WHAT SHOULD I DO???????????????

your full now, as hex tanks dont give you the same surface area as a regular tank would. So i wouldnt push it.

Remember that the number 6 is just a guideline. They can live just fine by themselves or small numbers. While the more the better you are fine the way you are now. Now need to push it.

Non hex 30 gal would appear to be the solution, either that or take back a couple of species and replace them with extra numbers of a remaining species. Bigger numbers of fewer species is perhaps a more sensible way to stock that particular tank.

The bioload of that 20 with a penguin 150 isnt at limit yet,mostly thanks to the small size of the species, but the oxygenation limit might have been reached thanks to the small surface area of a hex, you can overcome this to a degree with venturi aeration and aerators that are seriously productive on microbubbles like a smaller model hydor ario, and hope you never get a powercut that lasts more than an hour or two.

Some tetras wane badly without company, others hang in there, to some degree it depends on the individual,not all fail at low numbers, but there is a risk.

The metabolic rates of tetras are completely average, thusly so is their average bioload, fortunately though, most arent very big.

This is not a crisis situation , but there are things that can be done to improve things. Personally rather than put fish through the mill of transit and going back to the shop, if you have the cash just plan a tank 10 gal bigger, with a normal rectangular orientation, get it cycled and put the fish in it and get the shoal numbers up. If cash is an issue you can muddle on with a few modifications and theres no reason your fish should keel over immediately, and you will have plenty of time to improve the standards of stocking a bit, and perhaps plan a slightly bigger, better, and more handleable community in a bigger tank for the future. This isnt crisis point stocking.

what if i added 2 more of the glo-lites and the neons? And leave the silver tip in a pair as them seem ok. also what bout my killi any one know much bout them?