Over stocked or OVERSTOCKED??????

[Chrissi]

So slowly been stocking my 29 gallon community tank, currently holds 5 Black Phantom Tetras (1M5F), 2 Red Phantom Tetras (1M1F), 3 Cherry Barbs (1M2F), and 5 Harlequin Rasboras (no freaking clue on sex). So well under stocked.

My intent is to repopulate my black phantom school with at least one more male (only one female left from my original school purchased 4-5 years ago). I had planned to up to 8 but my next move may change that.
I also intend to bring my reds up to 5 (have trouble finding stock), and my barbs up to 6 with another male ( trouble finding male stock). But but but, there is always a but. My husband would really like to have neon tetras again. So....Opinions....

Would 9 neon tetras in lieu of the extra 2 black phantoms overstock me to the point of upping weekly water changes (no problem) or discomfort for the fish (problem). The barbs and red phantoms are a must for minimum schools, but I could pull off 6 black phantoms as they school with the reds. Honestly my 5 are doing great but I'd really like a second make to enjoy the displays for territory and gals. Lost my old boy a couple month ago :-(

Running an AquaClear 50 and Hydro Pro III Sponge on this tank. Well established cycles, these fish were upgraded in July 2013 from an older tank. No signs of illness, all deaths I have had of my black phantom population were expected due to age of fish. The new fish were acquired and quarantined in July when I set up the 29.

Gut says it is doable but curious about others thoughts. Let me add I run 2 inches not 3-4 or gravel in this tank and I am low light planted. This allows me a little more gallons not taken up by decor, I factor this tank and at least 85% water rather than that typical 80% volume.

 

[Mebbid]

Try checking your numbers on aqadvisor.com its a fairly good site for checking stocking.levels.

 

[Chrissi]

I ran Advisor before posting, I'd be around 100% stocked with 200% filtration and 30% water changes. (Don't remember exact numbers). I tend to stock between 60-80% on average using adult inches per gallon (modified to consider bio load, water displacement, and territory of the species). Then calculate gallons on the median of the 80% rule and surface area calculations. I always double check what advisor has to tell me.

In 29 gallon I would be looking at 40-50 inches of adult fish but very low bio load producers and water displacement from those species. Being a 29 high each species territory is currently layered with the blacks and reds sharing the middle (obviously neons would join in). I have decent water movement/oxygen from the sponge filter, HOB, active swimmers, and plants (during the day).

Advisor seems to be telling me it is doable, my gut says it's doable, and I am having such a problem finding the red phantoms that I may never even get that school up there. Just nervous about running that much stock. Main concern being healthy fish. At the same time all but my black phantoms are already close to full size and this tank seems so empty looking. The neons color would really round it out nicely and give it a busier appearance.

 

[Mebbid]

First, skip the inches per gallon. Its an outdated rule from the 60s when there were no filters at all on tanks.

Second, the filtration capacity is a useless number on aqadvisor.

Lastly, if Aqadvisor is telling you that ur at 100% then you are perfectly safe. It's okay to run at 150% from aqadvisor stocking levels.

 

[Chrissi]

Thanks. Up to 150, wow, news to me on that one, good to know. I know it's an old rule lol, but I am old It's got some merit in making sure tiny LFS fish have room to become adults, I just use it as a guideline to give me a ballpark number. Surface area, oxygenation, and territory tied in to it help me get to an ideal stock. I typically prefer them under stocked so I can enjoy viewing my ornamentals unobstructed but setting up a busy community again, it's just not as beautiful with so much emptiness. Glad it would work out.

 

[mrvincent]

Overstocked tanks require more filtration... That's what imports. Some fishs may not appreciate to be kept in an overstocked tank, depends on the fishs...

If everything look ok and you can't read any ammonia or nitrites, then in means it's ok. Just monitor the nitrate buildup, so you'll see how often you need to do water changes.

Filtration cannot remove nitrates.

 

[Mebbid]

Overstocked tanks require more filtration... That's what imports. Some fishs may not appreciate to be kept in an overstocked tank, depends on the fishs...

If everything look ok and you can't read any ammonia or nitrites, then in means it's ok. Just monitor the nitrate buildup, so you'll see how often you need to do water changes.

Filtration cannot remove nitrates.

There's where I disagree about the extra filtration "within reason" Fishless cycling can take a regular filter to a 4ppm daily usage of ammonia. Very likely much higher than that. At that rate a tank would be producing 100ppm of nitrate per week whereas a normally stocked tank should be producing no more than 20ppm ish weekly. Even 4x that amount of a fully stocked tank you aren't going to be producing enough ammonia to overload that bio filter unless you seriously overfeed your fish.

 

[Chrissi]

My Nitrates typically stay low even in my tanks with heavy bio load fish. I have a very rigid maintenance and feeding regime. All my tanks are over filtered, larger HOB turn over than required for their size plus sponge filtration. Enough power outages taught me not to rely solely on HOB filtration. Plus I run small sponges in each tank for QT seeding in case of emergency of to QT new stock for that tank. I will be well over my surface area limitations if I add that much stock so available oxygen will have to be a primary concern, especially at night when the plants stop producing and start using. Going to take it slow, good thing is I have 2QT 10 gallons that could hold stock if I need to rehome/return them. Just want to be sure pf my decision bc I hate returning fish after putting them through the stress of travel, QT, and acclimation.