# what to do with my overstocked tank?



## swingingdead (Jul 15, 2011)

I currently have a deep 40 gal. tank with 4 anlgel fish. 1 is about 6 inches the others are 2-3. these fish seem happy n mostly healthy. they were givin to me in terrible condition in a cold 20 gal with 4 black neons n 2 Pleco's. this 20 gal is now stable n has those 6 fish doing great after an Ick breakout. now i have a 10 gal which is way over stocked. 9 neons, 3 rasbora's (sp?), 3 large serpae tetras( nearly 2 inches each). i dont really want the angel fish bothered and the fish in the 10 gal get along n even schol together a bit. they r all active n healthy after this tank broke out in ick round the same time as my other. im doing daily WC to keep these fish happy but it has taken its tole on my stress levels. should i put some of these in my 20gal? which ones? Im just looking for advice n some brain storming. also i need to know the proper way to transfer these fish from one tank to anther. all my water parmeters r eally close to each other. IDEAS!!!!! thanx in advance


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## cro117 (Jul 12, 2011)

first thing i would do is grab a few test kits. right now ammonia and nitrite should do, but i would highly recommend a nitrate test too if you are concerned about the fishes overall health. these tanks are certainly more crowded then i do myself when i set up echo-system type aquariums, but i don't think they are at too critical of a level. the test will tell. another thing to keep in mind is sometimes old neglected tanks are actually better off then a lot of new tanks, so don't do anything too drastic with the cleaning, especially if tank levels are good.

that being said, the fish that concern me the most as far as adding to the tanks bioload are those plecos. if they are around 4" or over you want them gone. i would add them to the 40gal for now and decide later if you want to keep them, plecos will out grow all but the largest tanks at some point, and are very messy. as far as compatibility, at least all the fish are generally from the same waters and compatible, aside from the fact that angels will eat smaller tetras, neons and black, when they get larger. Bering that in mind, the angels may actually miss seeing a school of tetras swimming around the tank, they certainly wont be bothered by it unless breeding. you could consider adding the serpa tetras along with the plecos.

as for adapting them, you could do a drip method if you are concerned, but if its all the same tap water and temp, it shouldn't be much of a shock to their systems. this is assuming that the ph is generally the same, of course.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I assume nothing is being moved in swith the angels; that 40g is "stocked" with 4 angels. Not to mentino the non-compatibility of the other fish with angels.

I would move the neons and rasbora to the 20g. Not the Serpae Tetra, they can remain in the 10g on their own. You can find out why in the profile, click on the shaded name.

And I agree on the pleco, if they are "common" pleco. I would try to get rid of these soon.


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