# Advice on stocking an aquarium



## gwp90

My sister recently moved home and the previous owner left her a 4" common goldfish (I think) and told her to flush it. My sister wouldn't do it, but she also didn't want the responsibility of looking after the goldfish, so it wasn't being looked after, whilst she tried to find it a new home, so I ended up adopting it, to give it a good quality of life. I bought a 19L (4 gallon) fish tank to house it in. I then wanted a snail to help with algae, but none were in stock, so I got a 4" gold weather loach, with advice from a pet shop. After this I began researching online and have came to the understanding, that this tank is far too small for even a goldfish, never mind a weather loach too. Since getting the fish, I've developed a bit of an aquarium bug and I'm getting immense pleasure from keeping fish. My first goal was always to give the goldfish a good home, but now I'm doubting I can do this with only a 19L tank, so I've been looking into a 250L (50 gallon) tank. I only have the space to fit a 110cm wide tank, and the biggest volume tank I've seen with a width that fits into this space is 250L.

My question is... could a 250L tank house 2 common goldfish and 4 weather loach? (assuming the 6 fish are all fully grown) or would it be overcrowded? or would there possibly be space to house another 1 or 2 species of other cold water fish? I will be getting a filter with a 400L rating and will have real plants in the tank.

Another question is... The 19L tank will be turned into a hot water tank and I will be getting a Betta to house in it, but would it be able to house 2 Bettas?

My main goal is to have happy and healthy fish. I would love to have at least 2 of each species, so my fish have another of its own species to interact with. I read that weather loach are best to have in groups of 4+, hence wanting 4 of those. I don't however want them to bred, so are there any tips to prevent this or will I just have to hope they don't and be prepared incase they do?

I've been conditioning my water, added bacteria to cycle the tank, have been feeding a variety of foods (flakes, bloodworm, vegetables and algae wafers) and have been doing regular 50% water changes (50% due to the small size of the tank).

Gareth

P.S. any advice on caring for fish will be highly appreciated.


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## Fishyfins

Hi there!

Its good to see that you have already started looking into things with the goldfish, and have correctly seen that the 19L would be to small for even a single fish.

A 250L tank would be a much better option, though still a tad on the small side with the loaches as well. This is according to AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor, a great tool for aquarium stocking planning.

For a 250L tank with 400L/hour filter, the stocking level works out at 124% of the recommended. It can be done, but you would need to keep on top of water changes.

As for the 19L. Many people would say its too small for any fish, including Betta. Usually a good starting volume for fish is about 30L. It could however, be used as a shrimp tank? You can get many nice looking species of freshwater shrimp that can happily live in a tank of that volume!

Just for the record as well... You would never be able to keep 2 Betta together whatever tank you have. Males will fight to the death when they see each other (hence why they are kept apart in dealers tanks), and if a male is kept with a single female, she will be hounded to death by the over amorous male. if you must keep Betta together, keep one male with a haren of several females 

Hope this helps!
Fishy


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## gwp90

Hi there, thanks for the response, that's really interesting about the Bettas, I never knew that, I only read up on their natural environment. The calculator also sounds like a very interesting tool, I'll have a look into it and try and plan a tank around what it says! I wish I could find a larger tank with a width of 110cm maximum, it would make things slightly easier.

Gareth


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## NaomiM

Just to add to Fishyfins' excellent advice... If it's a possibility to rehome the common goldfish to a filtered pond, that would be the best option of all, as common goldfish are ideally pond fish due to the sizes they can reach. Fancy goldfish would be OK in that sized tank though. Even if the pond's not an option and you want to keep the common goldfish in the tank and get him a friend, I'd recommend getting a fancy rather than a common.

25-30l is the recommended size for a betta, and while you may just about get away with one in a 19l, it would be better used as a shrimp tank, as Fishyfins said. Shrimp are fascinating to watch and can make a beautiful small setup. Good shrimp for beginners are cherry shrimp, amano shrimp or maybe tiger shrimp.


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