2 many???

[ciclidcrazy!]

i know this isn't the right place to post this but is this too many fish in a 20 gallon? 2 hatchetfish,3 angels,3 madagascar reainbows,2 bumble bee gobies,and 2 gouramis? Thanks. I had people tell me that was too many. :tongue:

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, once the angels get some size.

 

[cdawson]

The bb gobies also are a brackish water fish that require marine salt in their water, you should find a new home for them as well.

 

[ciclidcrazy!]

When i do water changes, I add a little sea salt.

 

[cdawson]

When i do water changes, I add a little sea salt.

Aquarium salt and marine salt is a completely different ball game, aquarium salt does nothing for brackish water fish, and if you're adding marine salt you're causing great suffering for the rest of those fish. Not only is marine salt toxic to those other fish it will buffer the ph above 8.

 

[ciclidcrazy!]

Hey, I'm using this salt thst is specially made to lower ph. It's made for cichlids and other fish, too.

 

[cdawson]

you need to use marine salt for brackish fish.
Cichlid salt is not the right stuff. Chemically altering your water in any way is a bad practice.

 

[Mike Wise]

Chemically altering your water in any way is a bad practice.

This is only true if you are doing it in an aquarium stocked with fish. Altering water is fine if you do it in a separate holding container and then slowly add the altered water to the aquarium with water changes.

That being said, mixing brackish water fish (Bumblebee Gobies) with softwater fish is not a good idea. By definition brackish water is water that has a specific gravity of >1.005 (sea water is about 1.024) - or about 20% marine water (with all the complex mineral salts it contains - not just Sodium Chloride) and 80% fresh water. Once you add enough marine salt to make the water brackish, your soft water fish (particularly the tetras) will become stressed. This will lead to them becoming much more suceptable to diseases & parasites. If you use less, your brackish fish will suffer the same problem. Either way one group of fish will suffer & probably have a shortened life span (I've had BB Gobies live for 5 years in a 5 gallon brackish tank - s.g. 1.005 - 1.010). In freshwater tanks (even with a few teaspoons of salt/gallon) my fish would quickly develop velvet disease. Any time that the pH dropped to the acid side, they would die.

Since your 20 is overcrowded right now, why not get another brackish water tank for your BB gobies? Then plan on another tank for some of your other fish. Trust me, when the angels get some size (up to 6"/15cm body diameters, not including the fins) they will become devils for all of the other fish in a 20. They are, after all, cichlids and very territorial. If 2 angels pair off, they will claim the entire tank. Then the 20 will be large enough for only the pair. Now you know how I eventually ended up with over 50 different tanks.

 

[cdawson]

lol That's how we ALL ended up with so many tanks Mike =)

 

[ciclidcrazy!]

How can I fix it? What fish should i take out? Thanks, I apprecaiate it. I just want to get it right!