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Ok i have been doing this fish stuff for about a year now. So i know im a noob. My first tank was a 29g and i had 6 Cichilds in it. Well i have upgraded to a 55g so i know that they are happy. I dont know the names of them all but i do have 1 Green Terror, 1 Bumble Bee, and i dont know the names of the rest but one is the size of the bumble bee and the rest are smaller. I know the Green Terror doesnt belong with the africans but it was a mistake and hes fine with them.

Anyways. I decided to setup my old 29g. Ive had it up for over a month with 4 Paradise Gourmis. 2 male and 2 female. Over the past few weeks i have added a bunch of fish. I added 9 tiger barbs (3 tiger,3 albino,and 3 Green. I also got 5 Silver Dollars.

I have a heater for a 50 gallon, a Penguin 200 for a 50, and a single outlet airpump for a 50 gallon with a wand on it. I do weekly 20% water changes with gravel vacuum. I tested my water alot in the begining till everything seemed to be alright. I tested it today and everything still seems fine.

OK. Thanks for listening. Heres the question. Is my tank overstocked?? Thanks.. Tom the noob

Hi Tom, Welcome to FP.
My name is 6monthsintoit ..
So I'm not really someone who could give you the kind of advices the other members in this site would..

What are the current size of your fish in the 29G tank? Your silver dollars with the other fish would eventaully outgrow the tank. Also, I'm not sure about the combination of tiger barbs with paradise fish. Tiger barbs are notorious nippers. But then the paradise fish is not a peaciful gourami itself.. So, there must be a lot of action in you tank.. I guess.

Anyway, I believe you'll get a lot of sound advices from the experienced members from FP.
Happy fish keeping.

Do you really think the Silver Dollars will outgrow the tank? That sucks. I really like them. The Tigerbarbs dont really mess with the gourmis because tigers usually are in the middle and the gourmis at the top. The barbs are medium size when you go to petsmart. The silver dollars are about 3 inches i guess.

The profiles here on this site show 2 types of Silver Dollars. I think the most common is this one that gets about 6 inches. That is too large for a 29g IMO. I wouldn't keep them in a tank less than 55g.

*Kristin*

Silver Dollers are a bit big. Also, if your paradise gourmis decide to breed you will have a big mess on your hands. Also, once they get older they will grow aggressive and territorial. I think that you need to choose which way to go with your tank:

9x tigerbarbs
then, you could add perhaps a small bottom feeder or a centerpiece fish- but you would have to stay away from anything that would get too big or have the longer fins- even in groups the barbs can still be nippy.

OR

Try trading in the silver dollers for a simular looking fish such as hatchetfish, blackskirt tetras, or Jewel Tetras. A school that will stay small will be perfect for that tank and leave you room to add a few larger fish, or a bottom feeder, or 2 Female Paradise Gourmis.

As far as your 55g, a species list would be the easiest way to tell if thier would be any future problums with your tank. Some fish stay small for long periods of time before growing to thier full size (such as the common pleco and goldfish) From your description, it doesn't sound overstocked though. ^_^

I hope this has been helpful.

-inky

Inky

1 male paradise gourami can be a wild card. 2 plus 2 females is asking for a disaster in my experience. Several of my males would attack and remove the eyes off their tankmates as they got older. They also will beat up the females when crowded or in too small of tank. 1 male with 2 females, very few other fish(maybe 1 school of small tetras), and lots of decorations and plants would work. Multiple males or too little hiding places is going to result in some really beat up paradise fish. They may even kill each other. Too many other fish will result in those fish being beat up or possibly killed by the paradise while protecting their eggs and fry. Tiger barbs are also just not a good choice for such a tank. They are one of the most notorious fin nippers and will often destroy the fins on fish like gouramis or most anything else that is slow enough for them to catch.

Dam. I need to see if petsmart will allow me to trade in some fish. We'll see. Thanks for the input.

Odds are petsmart will not. chain stores dont do this, your best off hunting around your place for a local mom/pop type shop. majority of them will trade in your fish, as long as they are healthy and show now problems

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction