Am I overstocked?

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Drayven

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jun 26, 2009
Messages
177
Location
Ann Arbor, MI
I was just playing around online today and decided to poke at one of those aquarium stocking level calculators and based on what it told me it said that I have about twice the stock that my filtration will support, I don't think that's the case but wanted to throw it out there to get feed back.

My tank is a 50g breeder with an Aquaclear 70. I do 25% water changes every 1-2 weeks.

Current stock:
6 white clouds
7 danios - Mix of zebra, pearl and gold
4 swordtails - 1 male and 3 female
3 Yoyo loaches
2 Weather Loaches
2 Bristlenose plecos - They actually bred a while back so I have 3 or 4 babies in there too that I'm working on finding homes for but they are still really small.
A healthy cherry/ghost shrimp population. Really no idea how many of those guys are in there but at any given time I can usually count 20ish.

I was considering adding in 4 or 5 siamese algae eaters if you all think the tank could support it. I try to keep the temp around 74 degrees because I have some cooler water fish in there. Most of the fish have been in there for a year or so now the white clouds are the newest addition. So what say you, have I gone too far?
 
Wow, I definitely do not think you are overstocked. I have never kept sae before, but it sort of seems like you already have enough fish that occupy the area they would need. I would start with a trio or 4 if you want them and then add friends later.
 
I concur. I also think 3-4 SAE would be appropriate.

However....

Do a ton of research and be 100% you are getting actually Siamese Algae Eaters and not one of their look-alikes. ABSOLUTELY be sure of your ability to recognize CHINESE algae eaters.
 
I concur. I also think 3-4 SAE would be appropriate.

However....

Do a ton of research and be 100% you are getting actually Siamese Algae Eaters and not one of their look-alikes. ABSOLUTELY be sure of your ability to recognize CHINESE algae eaters.
Good point. I have seen them sold under the wrong names before, and cae trun into terrors!
 
Thanks for the hads up. Did some research this morning and learned to make sure the black stripe goes through the tail and to make sure it doesn't have a gold stripe above the black. My lfs is really good about that stuff but its still good to know what to look for.
 
Did some looking around and none of the stores around here sell the SAE, found a couple "flying foxes" and some chinese algae eaters but none looked like the right ones. Anyone know of a good reliable online retailer that would send me the correct one?
 
Live aquaria sells them but they do have a minimum order but Idk how much it is. You could always ask your LFS to order them for you and make sure you stress getting the correct fish. But then you run the risk of them not being right...
 
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