Overstocking advice?

[okapizebra]

Just wanted some advice about overstocking.

My current setup is this in my 29 gal rectangle aquarium:

3 long-finned danios (1 zebra, two leopards)
2 black neon tetras
6 sword tails (4 lyre-tails, two "regular")
1 little platy who, over the years, has never seemed to grow and is only about an inch big, but seems to be apart of the sword tail family
2 rosy tetras
2 cory cats
1 golden dojo loach

My tank has some swords, anubias, and also java fern so there is plenty of oxygen and the nitrates/nitrites are low and under control. I do regular water changes. I do not believe my tank is overstocked now, as I've had all of these fish living happily and healthily in my tank for around 9 months now. I was wondering, if possibly, to increase the number of schooling fish in my tank. Such as add more black neon tetras or perhaps another golden dojo loach. What I really wanted to do was add a school of about five neon tetras, since I know they have a low bioload. Opinions? Suggestions? Thanks.

 

[tarpon]

Hmmm...how often do you do water changes and whats your nitrate level when you do them? If its low then i say you could get away with it but also take into account how much swimming room the fish will have.

 

[okapizebra]

with my very advanced testing strips, all it tells me is that my nitrates are in the "safe" zone, so I'm not sure of the exact nitrates. I do water changes twice a month and I believe there to be plenty of swimming space for them.

 

[tarpon]

Haha. It would help if you had a more precise number.
So youre doing it once every two weeks?
You might have to up it to once a week if you do it.
But id wait for a second opinion

 

[okapizebra]

It would, lol. I don't have any better test strips, though. It's more like every three weeks, which doesn't help my case at all lol. I can certainly do more changes, though, that's not an issue. Thank you for your advice.

 

[Mrc8858]

A lot of the fish u named r schoolers and should be kept with a minimum of 6 per school and u def need to pick up an api masterkit ASAP

 

[okapizebra]

Well the only test strips I was able to afford were these crappy ones. I simply can't go out and get others. I understand that some are schooling fish, and that's why I was wondering if I could add more to help these schools. I make sure the test strips say I'm in "safe mode" and do water changes.

 

[Mrc8858]

Ur best bet would be thin out ur tank of a few fish to help a select few schools but I'd say before buying anything else u should save up and get the masterkit...more valuable then anything u could own for an aquarium

 

[okapizebra]

all righty, thank you for your advice.

 

[Mrc8858]

No problem that's wut we r here for and welcome to AA

 

[okapizebra]

thanks

 

[okapizebra]

I'm still open for opinions if anyone has one

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

You need to do more water changes cuz ur tank is so small. Also you have many fish they should be kept in schools so you could get rid of rosey tetras and get a few more neons... But if u dont want to do that then ur tank is alredy stocked

 

[Fishkeeper26]

IMO get rid of the loach, and then bump up your school of cories. Then get rid of the danios and bump up one of the tetra schools to 8. Along with this increase your water change schedule to every week, and try to get the API test kit. Also don't add all the fish at once, add one school after removing the fish. And then another school after a week or two.

 

[Sharkbait54]

I think If you have good filtration, keep up an your water changes and watch the perimeters you should be ok. Another thing make sure aggression doesn't get out of hand that's a main thing.

 

[okapizebra]

I've had many more cories, but they never seem to get enough food to sustain them. The sword tails know when I drop in shrimp pellets or wafers so sometimes it's hard to give them food, so I don't plan on getting more cories after these guys, that's why I got my loach. He's just a small one now, only about an inch and a half, maybe two. He's a bit brighter, and knows how to get to the food, and even eats out of my hand.

I'd love to bump up my rosys more than anything, but I just happened to come across them at my LFS, and there were only two, so I bought them. No one near me sells any more that I could buy.

I've never had any aggression in my fish tank. It's a very peaceful community. My black neons are very old, and I don't see them lasting for more than another year. In which case, then I think I'll see if my pet store can get in some more rosys, so they can have more of a school.

Are the danios schooling as well?

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Yea i guess that seems ok.. And yes im prettu sure danios school. I personally dont like cories either! How old r ur tetras?? Those things last forever

 

[okapizebra]

well I've got three danios and they are very content swimming around with each other and the other tetras all day long.

The black neons are about 3 years old I believe. Not sure how long their life span is though... perhaps they will live a lot longer? If so, I don't suppose I'll do anything with my tank... the two pairs of tetras and the danios are very often swimming together, along with the group of swordtails and the little platy are usually together, and the two cories are sitting or swimming together, and the loach is digging through something or finding some odd position to lay in.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Haha okay sounds like ur tank is very well off

 

[okapizebra]

thanks

I guess I will not purchase any more fish, but wait until some space clears up so I can add more to the schooling fishies.