Jay Kaner wrote:
Hi group.

I'm very new to keeping fish and I'd like to check something out that has
been said to me about the number of fish I have in my tank. The tank is 24"
x 15" x 12"

I bought the tank off a guy just short of 3 months ago. The fish that came
with it were 2 black moors, a fantail goldfish, a golden orf, a black widow
and a male fighting fish. Since then I have added...

5 zebra danio's
3 mountain minnows
1 albino red tail shark
2 guppies
2 platys

I have been told that there is way too many fish in a tank that size and it
will stress the fish out. Is this a fair comment? All the fish get along
fine. One of the guppies picks on the smaller guppy, and he hides a lot and
the danio's are always chasing each other around. Other than that it seems
a peaceful tank. They all leave each other alone and seem happy enough.

I really wanted to add a shoal of 10 neon tetras to it but now i'm not too
sure what to do.

Obviously if the tank *is* over-crowded then i'll give the neon's a miss.

Saying that, I saw an advert for a same sized tank for sale that had 47 fish
in it. Didn't say what fish they were tho'.

I'd appreciate any advice

I hope you're mistaken about the ID of that golden orfe. Golden orfe
(Leuciscus idus ) will usually grow to about 16" and should be kept in a
large pond. As your orfe grows, it will find fish like white clouds and
neons to be tasty snacks. You might want to find the poor fellow a pond
home before he gets too big.

As Koi-Lo pointed out, a 20 gallon tank (yours is a size often called a
20 high) is a decent home to TWO grown goldfish. Definitely give the
neons a miss. Also keep an eye on the red-tailed shark. They often
become fairly aggressive when they mature.

As the goldfish and orfe grow, your tank will reach a state where the
fish are completely dependent on airstones and the filter for adequate
oxygenation (if you're not already there). Overstocked tanks can lose a
lot of fish in power failures because the surface area of the water
can't exchange enough oxygen.

As for the 20 gallon tank with 47 fish, either they were tiny or pretty
overcrowded. You could probably have a pretty neat tank with 47 neons
if you kept up on the water changes.

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