stocking/compatibility 50 gallon freshwater

Question
QUESTION: Hello!  My husband and I are relatively new tank owners and i'm a little concerned that we have over-stocked.  We currently have 5 Fancy guppies, 2 Moonlight Gouramis, 1 Gold Gourami, 1 Paradise Gourami, 3 Black Tetra's, 2 Tiger Barbs, 2 Black Lyretail Mollies...All the fish seem to be getting along quite well with no nipping behavior(although one of the guppies may be in trouble)...my husband would like to get a Bala Shark as well,...have we overdone it??? We were also told maybe a group of Emerald Catfish would be good and a couple more Tiger Barbs...Please advise... (We have an Aquaclear 70 filter)



ANSWER: Hi Dora,
Your aquarium is in fact not overstocked and most of the fish you mentioned will stay small and they don't dirty their water very much (in otherwords they have a low bioload)

Bala sharks are beautiful fish. They do enjoy being in small groups and are more relaxed when they have company around. It's always best to get 2-3 at minimum, the more the better of course. These guys do grow large. They can grow to about 12 inches. And for a group to provide them with enough room a 75-gallon and ideally a larger aquarium would be best.

Emerald Catfish are really interesting fish. They would be a nice addition. A group of 5-6 would be good. Also, tiger barbs are always better off in large groups so they have as many of their own kind to interact with as possible. Otherwise sometimes they tend to pick on other fish. It wouldn't hurt to get 4-5  more tiger barbs.

Other fish you might want to consider are other barbs like Cherry barbs, Gold barbs, or Rosy barbs. These are all really nice colorful fish. Danios would also be nice. Any species would work, Zebra danios, Leopard, Giant danios...

The best advice I can give is to be sure to research any species before bringing any home. ;-)

I really hope this helps!
Best wishes!
Karen~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Karen, thanks so much for your reply, we will definitely not get any Bala's as we don't have a big enough tank! Thanks for your other suggestions as well.  I have a question concerning the tiger barbs...we went yesterday to get some more, and the pet store guy warned us not to get more tiger barbs because they may gang up on the gouramis or the other fish! We ended up getting 1 more so now we have 3 and two of them fight, swim together, fight, and so on...now as I've gotten more opinions that more of them are better I'm confused...was he lying? Should we still get more? We also picked up 2 Dalmation Mollies...Thanks,Dora

Answer
Hi there Dora, You're welcome. ;-)

The petstore's advice is almost always wrong. You always have to be wary of their advice. Really the guy was wrong. You can read anywhere on reliable aquarium fish sources that Tiger barbs actually get along with other community fish better -if- they are kept in large groups. That way they have their own kind to interact with and they aren't really going to pick on the other fish. It's quite true. I don't really know why the petstore guy said that. hmmm.

I would try to get your number up to about 8 or so. Your tank wont be overstocked with this amount and you could still add a few other tropical fish if you like.

Best wishes and hope you have a good week,
Karen~