Am I overstocked?

[doctorp]

Ok... I've been in the hobby for about 1.5 years now and just upgraded my filter system 2 months ago as I prepare to go to a planted tank later this year. I'm wondering if my current stocking is pushing things to the max or not in everyone's opinion. Here's the details.

55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Eheim Pro II 2028 Canister Filter (made for 160 gallon tanks, 272 GPH)
Penn-Plax Cascade 400 Internal Filter (Up to 20 gallon) for water movement
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 30

Stocking:
2 - Goyder River Rainbowfish (2 inches)
3 - Bosemani Rainbow (1-3 inches, 2 - 2 inches)
1 - Turqouise Rainbow (1.5 inches)
1 - Yellow Rainbow (1.5 inches)
2 - Clown Loaches (2 inches)
3 - Kribensis (medium males- 1.5 inches)
3 - Apistogramma Cacatuoides (2 males - 1 inch, 1 female- .75 inch)
2 - Bronze Cory Cats (1 inch)
1 - Tiger Pleco (2 inches)

I'd love to add a couple more female apisto's so my males have more ladies to play with but may wait until I go planted this spring.

 

[theotheragentm]

Could you give us approximate sizes? If not, I would assume small means 1/4 of the full grown size and medium means 1/2 of full grown size.

 

[newfound77951]

The clown loaches will get HUGE, and need a bigger tank. I think if you removed the clowns and the kribs, you could add a couple of female apistos and be OK. Maybe also a few more cories as they like groups. and maaaaaybe add a couple of smaller loaches like yoyos or striatas if you really like loaches.

I tend to err on the side of heavier stocking than some of the other people here but that's my 2 cents!

 

[BrianNY]

Good choice on the Eheim doctorp. A well kept planted tank can handle larger fish loads. Healthy plants will suck nitrates from the water column. You must keep up with the pwcs and keep the eheim clean. A well fitting sponge prefilter will save you lots of headaches and keep maintenance simple.

The fish that concerns me the most in your tank are the kribs. They are juveniles now but as they mature they will present potential problems to any apistos. The cacautoids will remain smallish and are very peaceful.

Although Newfound is correct about clown loaches getting huge, I really don't think they present much of a problem. Their rate of growth is incredibly slow. I have 3 in a heavily planted 55g for more than 2 years now. They went in at just over 2 inches and are just approaching 5 inches now.

 

[doctorp]

One of the clowns is one of two fish (bronze cory the other) that came with the tank when I got it as a hand-me-down back in 2004 and has survived my trials and tribulations with and undergravel filter. I couldn't give him away cause he's "the survivor".

Two of the male Kribs are offspring of the third... unfortunately my female passed away a couple months back before I got the new filter. They had several litters but only males seemed to survive and I sold most of them to my LFS. I'm thinking I may pass along the two juveniles as I want to try breeding the Apistos. Without a female the Kribs are much mellower than before.