The ship has been tipped-risks of overstocking

[cd5]

No to be insulating or ridculing but if you really wanted to experiment with severly overstocking as you said

Well as you all may remember I was working on my new 10 gallon planted tank and was testing my waters by ... as some would think.. severerly overstocking

Why not just go to any Wal-mart or any other bad aquarium stores

They do it all the time

 

[Guest]

I do use prime.. i don't use any other dechlor besides prime. And the ammonia patch looks very interesting, i will have to see if petsolution carries it and add it to my next pet solutions order.

No to be insulating or ridculing but if you really wanted to experiment with severly overstocking as you said

Well as you all may remember I was working on my new 10 gallon planted tank and was testing my waters by ... as some would think.. severerly overstocking

Why not just go to any Wal-mart or any other bad aquarium stores

They do it all the time

Yes but walmart doesn't do water changes or ensure compatibility among the fish. I had a very good balance of top, middle, and bottom dwelling fish and there were absolutely no aggression problems in this tank. I tested it on a weekly basis and did water changes of about 50% every other day. The water parameters were always in excellent shape becuase of the live plants.


The water was becoming cloudy despite the water changes and i don't know why i didn't find the corps fish.. must've been stuck in a plant really good because i shuffly the plants around during a water change. When i noticed the dead fish i dind't test the waters right away... i took out all the dead fish and did an 80% water change immediately... When i tested the water there were ammonia and nitrites present in small amounts. I did 80% water changes until a few days ago when i read ZERO ammonia and nitrites and my nitrates are at 10. I have been testing the wtaer everyday and the parameters are still the same and the water is crystal clear again.

The fact of the matter was that the environment was stable but i should've tested the water as SOON as i saw it was cloudy.. but i was busy with school full time and work full time so i kept saying "ill do it tomorrow" It WAS my own fault... had i not overstocked i wouldn't have to worry about all the work. I think had i been more devoted it would have been possible to sustain the environment .. HOWEVER... the inevitible would eventually happen and it did.

I like the way im stocked now. It is balanced and my nitrates haven't risen above 10. My plants are flourishing, my water is crystal, and the fish are active and eating. YES i feel horrible for what happened and i know it is my own fault for pushing the envelope. HOWEVER i am NOT sorry that i experimented. You learn the most from your mistakes... had i not ever made the mistake on my own the lesson wouldn't have cemented as well as it did. I still believe the envelope can be pushed but i realize now that i did WAY WAY WAY WAY too much... it was completely unreasonable the way i had that tank stocked. and at this point i see a few things that can be changed... for instance i don't need oto's AND a bristlenose pleco. None-the-less they are there and survived the spikes so here they stay.
thank you

 

[greenmaji]

more frequient testing, larger water changes and most likely more frequent water changes..
weekly testing isnt going to catch a spike in NH3, the ammonia alerting devise would help alot, too bad they dont make one for NO2.
btw. Im not reading the fish or the numbers, I'm not really giving an oppinion of wether or not you did something wrong. the above measures are just ones that Ive used in times of caution.

on tanks that are normaly stocked for me I do 75% weekly water changes. If I were to try to induse spawning it would be closer to the 50% every other day. Risk of ammonia poisoning would be as big and as often as possible water changes.

 

[crazycat]

fyi--ime, the ammonia disks are very slow to react--by the time they show any hint of ammonia in the tank, the ammonia is already too high. unfortunately, they just don't take the place of regular testing.

not to be totally horrible and accusatory, but i do have one somewhat philsophical question...would you have conducted the same experiment with puppies? i feel bad for your fish whose quality of life was compromised and who suffered. while not so "evolved" or "cute" as dogs or cats or birds, fish are still live things. it reminds me of the experiments done with overcrowding rats (resulting in the cannabalistic behaviour of said rats to bring down the population). interesting experiment--but not one that now has to be repeated. i would think, that since there are multiple sources and proofs regarding the effects of overstocking on the health of fish, that it is somewhat cruel to knowingly create a similar environment.

seriously, jut my opinion, but one i feel strongly about. no offense or ridicule meant.

i'm glad that your tank is now doing well and you feel comfortable with it.

 

[Guest]

i have no problem with animal testing or expirimenting... being in the medical field i think the test done on lab rats are wonderful and needed. But im not going to turn this into an ethical debate on animal testing because then this thread would never close. What i did has no impact on any of that anyway.