Is my tank over-stocked????

[jnj0627]

Is my tank over-stocked?

4 Danios
2 Mickey mouse mollies
4 Red swag mollies
2 Sunburst mollies
2 guppies
1 violet goby a.k.a dragon fish
2 plecos (not sure what kind)
1 rainbow shark
2 African clawed frogs (as they get bigger we'll take them to our lfs)
2 glass catfish

We're really just wondering if this is too much we do water changes every other day for the most part and we do realise that as some of the fish get bigger we will have to part with them any comments are appreciated. Thanks

 

[bruinsbro1997]

How big is the tank...?

What is your filtration? How big of water changes? What's your nitrate concentration?

 

[Gboy66]

It usually helps to know the tank size....lol

 

[jnj0627]

Sorry that information would have been nice lol. Its 55 gallon we have two aqua tech 30-60 gallon filters. (Upgrading soon.) We do 25 to 50 percent pwc every other day.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Is my tank over-stocked?

4 Danios
What kind? They need a school of six minimum.
2 Mickey mouse mollies
4 Red swag mollies
2 Sunburst mollies
Six mollies!?! Way too much. These things have huge bioloads and I only recommend one for a 20 gallon, I don't know how you can manage eight...
2 guppies
Watch out, they may reproduce crazy.
1 violet goby a.k.a dragon fish
2 plecos (not sure what kind)
What kind? Can you post a picture?
1 rainbow shark
Watch out, he/she might get aggressive. Sometimes they do fine in community setups and in that size tank, but others have contrary experiences and may disagree with me.
2 African clawed frogs (as they get bigger we'll take them to our lfs)
2 glass catfish
These get skittish. Also stress out easily, which is why I recommend six minimum school.

Comments in bold underlined red. I think bioload wise you are stocked. With two plecos and eight mollies, those must be some hectic water changes. Hope that helped. Good luck!

 

[jnj0627]

Thanks!!! That was a huge help we might decrease our mollies population anything else I could replace them with?

 

[absolutangel04]

Honestly, if your water parameters are holding up, I would think oyur stock is mostly fine (except for the fish that will grow bigger, but you already said you are aware of that). Do you have a test kit to measure the water parameters?
I do agree that your schoolers (danios/glass cats) could probably benefit from some more of their own kind.
An upgraded filter, or at least an additional filter would undoubtedly help you out too.

 

[BBradbury]

Am I Overstocked?

Sorry that information would have been nice lol. Its 55 gallon we have two aqua tech 30-60 gallon filters. (Upgrading soon.) We do 25 to 50 percent pwc every other day.

Hello jnj...

You can compensate for an overstocked tank by following an aggressive water change routine. I have several heavily planted and stocked 55 Gs and remove and replace 60 to 70 percent of the water every week. IMO, large, weekly water changes are better than a series of smaller changes. There's a lot less effort required.

By flushing a lot of pure, treated water through your tank, there's no time for pollutants to build up in the tank before the next water change. Large and frequent water changes guarantee water stability and that's the most important thing to your fish and plants.

B

 

[Sharkbait54]

Hello jnj...

You can compensate for an overstocked tank by following an aggressive water change routine. I have several heavily planted and stocked 55 Gs and remove and replace 60 to 70 percent of the water every week. IMO, large, weekly water changes are better than a series of smaller changes. There's a lot less effort required.

By flushing a lot of pure, treated water through your tank, there's no time for pollutants to build up in the tank before the next water change. Large and frequent water changes guarantee water stability and that's the most important thing to your fish and plants.

B

+1 of your prerams are holding up you should be fine.

I also do a 50-60% water change a week and some people might say I'm way overstocked.

 

[jnj0627]

Thanks guys we think we might give all but two of the mollies and replace them with some more of the zebra danios and maybe some others thanks for all the advice

 

[jetajockey]

By flushing a lot of pure, treated water through your tank, there's no time for pollutants to build up in the tank before the next water change. Large and frequent water changes guarantee water stability and that's the most important thing to your fish and plants.

B

I agree that large/frequent water changes keep water in good shape, but it doesn't guarantee anything. If the tank is grossly overstocked and/or uncycled then a weekly water change may not be enough to keep the ammonia/nitrite levels down.