libertybelle
Aquarium Advice Addict
I would like to add a few more of a couple of my schooling species to make them more comfortable and increase the nitrates for my plants but wanted to get an idea of if people thought I should stop where I am. Until recently I haven't much had to worry about the stocking level of my tank, it was always really low. But I received a 'donation' of a school of Neons that were beating up a friends Beta in her 10G then added a siamese algae eater and dwarf gourami so now I think I'm running closer to fully stocked these days.
I have a 29 Gallon that's been running for about 4 years now. It's a bit over-filtered with the AC70 but with the flow rate on low, the fish seem to like the current. It has low/medium light and It's moderately planted with a large variety of low/medium light plants. I use excel and fertilize lightly with K sulphate, micros and occasionally seachem Phosphorous (my tap water has 0 phosphates and even with fish the test reads at almost 0.) With my water change schedule my nitrates hover at 5-10.
I don't dose any nitrates so I do count on my fish to produce enough of them for the plants currently. The plants don't grow super fast under these conditions but are certainly growing and I see almost no algae.
It is currently stocked as follows:
4 m guppy/endler cross
1 m Dwarf Gourami
8 Harlequin Rasbora
8 neon tetra
4 Otocinclus
1 siamese algae eater
a few amanos/ nerite snails
The neons have been in the tank for a few months now and they are usually hiding in the plants, so I was wondering if adding a few more to that school might make them feel more comfortable.
The harlequins I'd love to have a slightly bigger school simply because they're adorable and have great personalities and I think I might be in love with them
And people always say that with schooling fish the bigger the school the more comfortable/natural their behavior. So if I do have room, I'd love to fill out the school a bit.
Normally I'd think because my nitrates stay so low that would indicate that I still have some wiggle room, but with the tank being planted I don't know how much that applies.
Sorry for the long post but I figured more information was better and you can always skim
I have a 29 Gallon that's been running for about 4 years now. It's a bit over-filtered with the AC70 but with the flow rate on low, the fish seem to like the current. It has low/medium light and It's moderately planted with a large variety of low/medium light plants. I use excel and fertilize lightly with K sulphate, micros and occasionally seachem Phosphorous (my tap water has 0 phosphates and even with fish the test reads at almost 0.) With my water change schedule my nitrates hover at 5-10.
I don't dose any nitrates so I do count on my fish to produce enough of them for the plants currently. The plants don't grow super fast under these conditions but are certainly growing and I see almost no algae.
It is currently stocked as follows:
4 m guppy/endler cross
1 m Dwarf Gourami
8 Harlequin Rasbora
8 neon tetra
4 Otocinclus
1 siamese algae eater
a few amanos/ nerite snails
The neons have been in the tank for a few months now and they are usually hiding in the plants, so I was wondering if adding a few more to that school might make them feel more comfortable.
The harlequins I'd love to have a slightly bigger school simply because they're adorable and have great personalities and I think I might be in love with them
And people always say that with schooling fish the bigger the school the more comfortable/natural their behavior. So if I do have room, I'd love to fill out the school a bit. Normally I'd think because my nitrates stay so low that would indicate that I still have some wiggle room, but with the tank being planted I don't know how much that applies.
Sorry for the long post but I figured more information was better and you can always skim
