Opinions on overstocking

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RiverMango96

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 15, 2021
Messages
11
Hey guys I have a 36 gallon bow front with a 50 gallon Fluval filter heavily planted I have some red swords a lot of pennywort some duckweed up on top two large pieces of Driftwood and some Wonderstone in the tank. I have six neon tetras six Cherry barbs one honey gourami one Emerald corridora one panda corydora four celestial danios and two Frankenstein shrimp but we won't go into that story right now. I just found myself at the fish store to purchase new lighting for my plants and I ended up purchasing three blue cloud danios one pygmy gourami and I'm wondering if I have taken this too far and need to upgrade my tank. Does anyone know if this is an overload that might create issues in the future?
 
I would say that if the tank is well established, you should be fine , still I recommend to do weekly water change, like a 50%. Keep watching your readings of ammonia,etc.
 
I might be wrong in my approach, but I think overstocked is ok IF you have a heavy planted tank, good clean up crew, good filtration, and the expertise to know your tank well. I have kept 10 gallon tanks in the past, heavily planted and filtered, with about 20 guppies (+ dozens of babies that I gave to a friend with a 100 gallon), 2 mystery snails, and countless shrimp. I propagated houseplants in the filter (begonias, spider plants, and pothos mainly) and had 2 huge pothos plants rooted in the water column. I never had any issues with ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites and my fish lived very long lives. I don't stock that much into a small tank anymore, but it has worked.
 
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