Am I overstocked???

[razmataz1971]

My mother came by my home last night seen my set-up and said WOW. My parents were fish addicts years and years ago from FW to SW. Her last set-up was 14 years ago and got rid of it because she was moving. (I was in high-school then).

She then started to criticise the amount of fish I had in there as she started to notice what I had. She seen my Blue Rams and mentioned she could never keep them. Then all hell broke loose when she asked me what my PWC schedule was. Back then, I'm assuming, there weren't test kits. She's still in the "old-fashioned days". She told me even as recent as her last set-up, she'd change her water every 6 weeks. Had a Magnum along with an undergravel and a Python for PWC.

Anyway, make me feel better and tell me I'm not overstocked. I know I'm right about there, but don't think I'm over.

 

[Jchillin]

According to the math, if all of your fish are 1" you still have 5 gal to spare. If they are not ~~~ you may very well be on the verge.

 

[mayreee]

I would say your 10 gal is way overstocked. Plecos and Bala Sharks get huge.

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

Without knowing the size of your fish (the sevs in particular), I'd say you MIGHT be overstocked. Even if you aren't now- you WILL be one day. You're going to end up with a very substantial bio-load on your system when all those fish reach maximum size. Territorial and aggression issues are another matter that're going to make the current list problematic, to say the least.

 

[razmataz1971]

Most of the fish I have are around an inch (coin dollar size) or so except the 4 Rams. Those guys I wanna say are maybe less then a half inch. I know the Severums get to be a good size. I seen them fully grown in my parents tank growing up which in my tank, they are the "centerpiece fish.

Besides, by the time the Severums get to be full size, I'd probably lose the Rams to "old age". I read they only live about 2-3 years.

How fast do fish grow anyway? Do they grow to full size in a year?

 

[Lance M.]

Fish grow pretty fast depending on how often/how much you feed them. That is not quite overstocked yet but will be in a couple months as the fish grow, but as they grow the bacteria will also increase. The should be fine, but I don't know about some of the chiclids- if they'll start attacking each other when they get older. You should do 25% pwc every month. And just wondering if you have any live plants in there and if you have LOTS of hiding places since you have 5 different types of chiclids.

For the 10 gal how big are the fish.

I have my 10 gal. overstocked but everything is fine. It has at least 3 maybe 4 times the recommend amount of fish. Live plants own.

 

[razmataz1971]

I don't have live plants in any of the tanks. They are all silk in the 75 and plastic in the 10. The bala shark I wanna say is around 2.5 inches. I just remeasured the fish in the 75 and they are all over 1 inch but under 2. The biggest being the cupid cichlids are over 2 inches and the plecos from head to tail around 2.

I feed once a day in the evening. Check out my gallery for the final set up. There are lots of spots for hiding. I just re-arranged the tank a 3rd time the other day because I found an awesome piece of driftwood.

 

[Lance M.]

The 75 gal. is overstocked and basically the only way to fix it without taking your fish out is to add live plants to the tank.