What Next?

[Just Another Fish Guy]

Hello all!!

I've had my tank up and running with fish for about 6 months now. I've been pretty aggressive with adding fish and doing it about every 2-3 weeks. So far my tank consists of:

11 Black Skirt Tetras
9 Bloodfin Tetras
8 Cory's
1 Blue Pearscale Angel
1 Emperor Pleco
2 Cherry Barbs
12 Zebra Danios
11 Black Neon Tetras
10 Neon Tetras

My tank is 60 gallons, unplanted, and filtered by 2 Emperor 400 power filters. I do weekly 50% water changes to keep all my parameters in check.

Lately I've noticed an increase in brown algae and cloudy water. Once I do the water change, it clears up for a couple days, but then back to cloudy. I've turned down the light intensity to hopefully slow the algae growth (I use the Current USA freshwater satellite so I can choose different settings). The last time I added fish was about 2 weeks ago.

So my question is what do I do next? Am I done stocking? If not, I'd like to add more Cherry Barbs and Neon Tetras and maybe a few Ottos. Also, would it be a good idea to maybe add a couple easy live plants?

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[Fishobsessed7]

Hello all!!

I've had my tank up and running with fish for about 6 months now. I've been pretty aggressive with adding fish and doing it about every 2-3 weeks. So far my tank consists of:

11 Black Skirt Tetras
9 Bloodfin Tetras
8 Cory's
1 Blue Pearscale Angel
1 Emperor Pleco
2 Cherry Barbs
12 Zebra Danios
11 Black Neon Tetras
10 Neon Tetras

My tank is 60 gallons, unplanted, and filtered by 2 Emperor 400 power filters. I do weekly 50% water changes to keep all my parameters in check.

Lately I've noticed an increase in brown algae and cloudy water. Once I do the water change, it clears up for a couple days, but then back to cloudy. I've turned down the light intensity to hopefully slow the algae growth (I use the Current USA freshwater satellite so I can choose different settings). The last time I added fish was about 2 weeks ago.

So my question is what do I do next? Am I done stocking? If not, I'd like to add more Cherry Barbs and Neon Tetras and maybe a few Ottos. Also, would it be a good idea to maybe add a couple easy live plants?

Sent from my IdeaTab S6000-F using Aquarium Advice mobile app

You are way overstocked.

I'd rehome the barbs, neon tetras, black neon tetras, and the skirt tetras. You don't have many barbs, the neons may eventually get eaten, the blacks are not colorful, and the skirts may nip your angel.

Do you like the large amount of different schools? If you want the tank to look more relaxed, keep one school per top, middle and bottom. If you like it crazy then you are fine.

I think plants would be a great idea! Some easy ones are Java fern, anubias, hornwort, salvinia, duckweed, wisteria, Cryptocoryne wendtii, and frogbit.




Fishobsessed7

 

[Just Another Fish Guy]

I enjoy looking at a tank that is active and has fish swimming around at all levels of the tank; I do NOT want a tank that is boring.

I referenced AquaAdvisor and according to that, it's showing that I have 135% filtration and I'm currently at 119% stocked and that I can add another 3-4 Cherry Barbs to finish out that school. I do not mind being slightly overstocked because I can do multiple water changes each week if need be. That's why I was thinking of getting some beginner plants to help with the increase of Nitrates.

Fortunately, my Nitrates have never been above 40ppm and Ammonia and Nitrite are always at 0ppm.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

http://aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php?...AqSpeciesWindowSize=short&AqSearchMode=simple




Fishobsessed7

 

[Coyne]

The AqAdvisor link above used a smaller tank and didn't include the filtration. This one should be more accurate.
AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor

That said, I wouldn't recommend adding any more fish. Adding the 3 extra Cherry Barbs seems to be a tipping point. You'd be better off re-homing the 2 that you already have. As for the Angel Fish and Neon incompatibility... you probably already know the risks. Just don't post a "Why is my Angel attacking my Neons?" thread down the road, because you already know why. You're a grown up though, so you're going to do what you want.

 

[Just Another Fish Guy]

Thank you all for the replies.

Anything special I should know about plants? I see the ones posted above are pretty low maintenance, just want to make sure there's nothing to extra I need to do for them.


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[ppo8820]

If you ask for advice, and then choose to ignore that advice because its not what you wanted to hear, then you are wasting our time and your own. With a tank that is overstocked, you can expect cloudy water and other problems to arise frequently. The bio-load is at max capacity and that creates an unhealthy environment for fish.

Also, those smaller schooling fish will eventually become targets for the angel fish. You can have an unboring tank and still have it stocked accordingly. On the other hand, those black fins will nip at everyone including the angel. I would rethink your stocking plans and maybe go a different route. Do you want bigger fish like the angel or smaller schools of many fish?

 

[Coyne]

For the plants you'll probably need to dose some liquid carbon (like Excel) and maybe some fertilizer.

 

[Just Another Fish Guy]

If you ask for advice, and then choose to ignore that advice because its not what you wanted to hear, then you are wasting our time and your own. With a tank that is overstocked, you can expect cloudy water and other problems to arise frequently. The bio-load is at max capacity and that creates an unhealthy environment for fish.

Also, those smaller schooling fish will eventually become targets for the angel fish. You can have an unboring tank and still have it stocked accordingly. On the other hand, those black fins will nip at everyone including the angel. I would rethink your stocking plans and maybe go a different route. Do you want bigger fish like the angel or smaller schools of many fish?

I'm really not ignoring anything. The beauty of a forum is that people can come on here, ask questions, get advice and recommendations, and then take said information and make their own decision. As you know, there is a TON of information on this forum and everyone has their own 2 cents to contribute. I truly do appreciate the advise I've been given in this thread, plus my others. I have had this current grouping of fish in there for the past couple of months and I haven't seen the behavior that is being mentioned here. My Angel keeps to itself and the Black Skirt Tetras don't bother anyone (I'm thinking because they're in a group of 11 that they don't need/want to bother the other fish).

I prefer to have smaller fish in larger schools, which is why I have the fish I do. I wanted one, pretty, showpiece fish, which is why I got the Angel. I understand the risks involved with getting an Angel and that they can be hit or miss as far as aggression goes. For now, I think I'm lucky because I haven't had any casualties since I've added it. I will admit that once it gets bigger, and the other fish start getting bigger, that a bigger or second tank may be necessary. For now, I continue to do my weekly 50% water changes.

As far as the cloudy water goes, I believe I have solved that problem with adjusting my lighting. If I'm right, then I had the light on too long and too bright. I've since turned it down and cut back on how long it's on and since I did my last water change on Saturday, the water is still crystal clear.

For the plants you'll probably need to dose some liquid carbon (like Excel) and maybe some fertilizer.

Thank you for the info Coyne! I'm going to try and run by the LFS this weekend to see what kind of plants they have available. I'd love to get a couple in there for the fishies!