Overstocking advice?

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Ya i no how u feel. U want to add to ur schools but ppl say u cant and stuff. It sucks, but when fish die eventually you will have more room to re organize ur stock

 

[okapizebra]

yeah exactly!

 

[tarpon]

Hahaha so basically lets just all hope your fish die

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Hahaha so basically lets just all hope your fish die

Hahahaha noooo... Well.... Haha jk

 

[okapizebra]

that is not preferable... lol

but of course when the time comes, I have a nice plan lol

 

[Tim Wheatley]

No fish should die within two years in a healthy tank though, surely? Are you OK waiting two years? If not, you might as well try to find somewhere which trades in fish, or you will need to get another tank. A fish dying within two years was either old already, poor stock, or suffering in your tank.

I overstock all my tanks, technically, but I also overfilter and do water changes weekly. I have a 400 gallon rated filter on a 55 gallon tank, for example.

IMHO there's nothing wrong with overstocking, I do it myself, but I've just lost recently the first fish I bought in the USA (I'm originally from the UK), which was a Cory catfish I bought in Massachusetts in 2009. That fish lived for over two years and he certainly didn't always have the best conditions (he lived in a bucket for 30 hours while we moved from Massachusetts to Illinois along with the other Cories, and she was one of the fish I started with so was there for all my early screwups). He also wasn't small enough to be a baby when I got him... So I guess what I'm saying is, waiting for death isn't an answer as that in itself would be a symptom of a bad tank if it happens within a couple of years.

 

[D-vanhorn90]

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.

IMO you should do fine with all them. The sword tails are the main bio-load. Theyre plants in the tank, if they are steady growing and not dying, its good. They will help a lot, mine are in a 29 and are growing very well after only being up in a 3 week old tank, provided my filters are cycled already.

Ive got 6 rasboras, 5 platies, 2 gouramis, 3 guppies, ghost cat fish, glofish, 2 bleeding heart tetras, 8 ghost shrimp, betta. My tanks levels are fine with no water changes. Ill be killed for saying this but you dont need to change or do much to your tanks water. Ive kept 17 fish in a ten gallon for 5 months with barely any maintenance. The tank takes care of itself basically. Maybe 4 or so more fish but your all good. Bring on the controversy people! Yell at me for the heritic advise I gave.

 

[Mrc8858]

IMO you should do fine with all them. The sword tails are the main bio-load. Theyre plants in the tank, if they are steady growing and not dying, its good. They will help a lot, mine are in a 29 and are growing very well after only being up in a 3 week old tank, provided my filters are cycled already.

Ive got 6 rasboras, 5 platies, 2 gouramis, 3 guppies, ghost cat fish, glofish, 2 bleeding heart tetras, 8 ghost shrimp, betta. My tanks levels are fine with no water changes. Ill be killed for saying this but you dont need to change or do much to your tanks water. Ive kept 17 fish in a ten gallon for 5 months with barely any maintenance. The tank takes care of itself basically. Maybe 4 or so more fish but your all good. Bring on the controversy people! Yell at me for the heritic advise I gave.

Ur not really far off but the point everyone is trying to make is to rethink the stock ideas like cutting back on the random small groups and make a couple healthy schools.. fish can live threw some pretty harsh conditions if provided but that's not y u get into this hobby or atleast shouldn't Be... u should wanna provide ur new PETS with the best care in ur financial/time situation and if u don't have the time or the finances to care for them correctly then u should rehome or wait to dive into this hobby

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

IMO you should do fine with all them. The sword tails are the main bio-load. Theyre plants in the tank, if they are steady growing and not dying, its good. They will help a lot, mine are in a 29 and are growing very well after only being up in a 3 week old tank, provided my filters are cycled already.

Ive got 6 rasboras, 5 platies, 2 gouramis, 3 guppies, ghost cat fish, glofish, 2 bleeding heart tetras, 8 ghost shrimp, betta. My tanks levels are fine with no water changes. Ill be killed for saying this but you dont need to change or do much to your tanks water. Ive kept 17 fish in a ten gallon for 5 months with barely any maintenance. The tank takes care of itself basically. Maybe 4 or so more fish but your all good. Bring on the controversy people! Yell at me for the heritic advise I gave.

Hahahahah u know its commin.... But i agree and dissagree. 17 fish ina 10 gal is insane.. But i agree that sometimes you can go against the facts and put more fish then allowed in a tank under certain conditions such as fish compatability

 

[okapizebra]

Oh yes, I perfectly understand that my fish can live many more than 2 years. My beta of 3 and a half years just died a few days ago, actually. I really think it was because of old age because his tank was always in tip top shape and he was a very happy fishy. But I believe a beta's life span is in between 3 and 4 years unless I am mistaken? I am very well going to wait as long as it takes as I do not plan on getting rid of any of my fish. I love them all very much, and when their time is over, then I shall benefit the others in the tank by providing them with more of their species.

My plants are growing very well, and since I planted them a few months back, the fish really seem to have become livelier and happier.

I do have an issue with algae, though. I believe it to be cyanobacteria, as it is nitrifying bacteria and my plants won't combat it. I usually just rub if off of things but it's very annoying when it grows on my plants because it could kill them if I don't get it off. Any advice on this? I have no idea how it got there in the first place. I've read because of excess of I think phosphorous? I've read that it's no harm, but I find it to be a particularly ugly algae. I'm thinking I just need to do more water changes because I've been very busy the past two months but I won't be anymore starting november. (This is why I made the topic in the first place, wondering if now that I have more time whether to get some new fishies or not, which I have agreed not to do)

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Yes algea is very annoying. I have a problem with it as well which is why i am going to buy a bristlenose pleco, one of the best algea eaters in the hobby

 

[aqua_chem]

Don't buy a algae eater because you don't want to learn to properly manage an aquarium. It's lazy a defeatist on your part.

BNs only eat some types of algae, and in the event that he doesn't eat the kind you have, what then? They can't subsist on algae alone and need supplemented diets.


As for BGA, the cause of it is actually LOW nitrates. BGA can affix nitrogen, so in flourishes when nitrate supply is low and plants cant compete. The best ways to get rid of it are blackouts and eurythromyacin. You will still need to make sure more nitrates get into your system or it will keep coming back.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Don't buy a algae eater because you don't want to learn to properly manage an aquarium. It's lazy a defeatist on your part.

BNs only eat some types of algae, and in the event that he doesn't eat the kind you have, what then? They can't subsist on algae alone and need supplemented diets.

As for BGA, the cause of it is actually LOW nitrates. BGA can affix nitrogen, so in flourishes when nitrate supply is low and plants cant compete. The best ways to get rid of it are blackouts and eurythromyacin. You will still need to make sure more nitrates get into your system or it will keep coming back.

Ohh interesting... And iv had many fish tanks so im very used to cleaning algea and im just hoping for a little bit of help i bet u understand. And ur saying i need more nitrates? I have a heavily planted tank so could i not get an albino...? Thanks for ur help!!

 

[okapizebra]

What is eurythromyacin? how did I even achieve low nitrates in the first place? It appeared not long after I first added my plants. Could it be that my tank was used to having all the nitrates that when I added the plants the sudden change triggered it to grow? I don't particularly want to do a black out.

and yes I agree about the do not add plecos and such. If the cause of algae is too much nutrients in the tank... then he will only add to that and cause a larger bloom of algae... I've had plecos before and I'm not a big fan. once he ate some algae he got lazy and didn't bother and he never got to the algae wafers and zucchini I put in there and eventually did not survive...

 

[aqua_chem]

Erythromycin (correct spelling, my bad >.<) is an antibiotic. It will also kill your bb, so keep that in mind if you want to use it. The biomedia can just be removed and replaced later. A blackout is a much better solution.

Are you sure you have BGA? Does it look like this?

One of the issues with plecos is that many algaes can be caused by being overstocked, and then people try and solve it with plecos and....

 

[okapizebra]

I'm not sure. I've read online that it comes off in sheets, and it most definitely does. But it's never grown that much so I can't really compare. Online it said it had a musty smell too, and I don't have that. I'd say it's a lot more brown than in the picture. There is a lot less of it too, maybe because I scrub a lot of it off. It doesn't seem to match at all with any of the other kids of algae I've read about. I cleaned most of it out the other day so it's not like I can post a picture.

 

[absolutangel04]

I am just going to chime in here and say that I think bioload-wise, our stocking is ok, but I agree that you would be better off to re-home a school or 2, and increase the others to at least 6.
If you do not have money for a better test kit, then maybe try bringing some water to a petstore that does free testing with a liquid kit. Truthfully, the strips are not very accurate. So, I would not trust that your water is actually where it should be, especially if it doesn't even give you exact numbers. That will help determine how much else can go in your tank. But, since you are not having any fish problems, your water might be totally fine, I am just saying you should double check.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Oh.. Well my tank is not over stalked and the algea i have is just a tiny bit. Nuthin too serious and ya i want an albino bn because they dont get too big and have lots of personality i have heard

 

[okapizebra]

I know one of my LFS tests water but they use the same test strips as I use, nor do they even sell the advanced test kits, as far as I know. Do they perhaps sell them online? I do believe my water to be good now as it's been like that for at least eight months now. But of course I do agree it's important I get those tests as well. Thanks!

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

U can get an api master test kit online