gray bichir (Dino eels)

Question
QUESTION: wow i think i got to many fish in a tank... 3 grey bichir 2 silver dollar fish and to bottom feeding catfish all in a 29 gallon tank. now they are all no bigger than 2 in except the eels they are about 3 and 1/2in so how long can they stay in this tank before i have to upgrade or sell some? My main prob is i live on an airforce base and they dont allow more than 35 gal tanks in dorm rooms. i dont know wat to do help pleaasssse!!!

ANSWER: Hi Chase,

The rule of thumb is 1" of fish per gallon so If I'm figuring it correctly your using about 14 - 15 gallons of your aquarium capacity, this is not to say that you should put 29 1" fish in your tank but you get the idea.  At present you should be fine with what you have, however keep in mind that silver dollar's can easily reach 6" when full grown and Bichir can reach 14" so in time you will need to either move to a larger tank or remove some of the fish you already have however silver dollar's are slow growing and it can take years to reach there full size, Bichir's on the other hand can grow pretty fast depending on how much your feeding them and what your feeding them.  Basically its your call, watch your fish and if they seem to be uncomfortable or start scrapping a bit then you know its time to upgrade.  I hope this helps.

Craig.

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QUESTION: well thats wat i figured but i dont want to flush fish and i have no way to get rid of any. and it seems as tho the to eels hang around eachother while 1 of them doesnt do much and he is a spaz also the smallest of the 3 they r not fighting tho the gigger of the two silver dollar fish are and the smaller of the 2 his tail is getting a bit smaller from the nipping, its only when they feed that this happens also the spaz eel chases the small silver around and tried to eat its face but the eel was two slow. so if this is happening and i cant get rid of any of them what should i do

Answer
Since your not able to remove any of the fish you might try moving the aquarium decorations around a bit, this changes territories and forces the fish to concentrate more on setting territories back up rather then fighting. Another option would be to add more aquarium decorations and hiding places, this will help the fish to feel more secure and will help control problem fighting.