Am I overstocked?

[Catfish Lover]

Starting to think that I'm pushing it , if not could I get away with a adding more to my school of tetras and barbs. Tank is 55g heavily planted running a fluval C4 HOB 264gph.

5x mollies
7x bloodfin tetras
7x cherry barbs
9x bronze cories

 

[bud29]

Starting to think that I'm pushing it , if not could I get away with a adding more to my school of tetras and barbs. Tank is 55g heavily planted running a fluval C4 HOB 264gph.

5x mollies
7x bloodfin tetras
7x cherry barbs
9x bronze cories

You definitely could add more filtration but I think you would be OK with adding a few more tetras and barbs. For additional filtration I would add another 100-200 gph HOB.

 

[dwayne.aycock]

Just don't get ahead of your BB. Amonia spikes are the caution when adding more fish. Run O2 at night for the benefit of the fiah and the BB. Good Luck!

 

[BBradbury]

Overstocked?

Starting to think that I'm pushing it , if not could I get away with a adding more to my school of tetras and barbs. Tank is 55g heavily planted running a fluval C4 HOB 264gph.

5x mollies
7x bloodfin tetras
7x cherry barbs
9x bronze cories

Hello cat...

I have several 55 G tanks and keep 50 to 60 small fish in them. You could have a few more than that if you change out a good percentage of the tank water every week or so.

I use the standard hang on the back (HOB) filters and use one with a gallon per hour rating (gph) of a bit more than 220.

Water changes are much more important than over filtering. The filters are only taking in toxic tank water and replacing it with water that's a bit less toxic. The frequent, large water changes are the real key to a healthy tank.

Your tank numbers and filtration seems fine to me.

Fishkeeping isn't an exact science. There are always alternatives and conflicting opinions.

B

 

[Catfish Lover]

Hello cat...

I have several 55 G tanks and keep 50 to 60 small fish in them. You could have a few more than that if you change out a good percentage of the tank water every week or so.

I use the standard hang on the back (HOB) filters and use one with a gallon per hour rating (gph) of a bit more than 220.

Water changes are much more important than over filtering. The filters are only taking in toxic tank water and replacing it with water that's a bit less toxic. The frequent, large water changes are the real key to a healthy tank.

Your tank numbers and filtration seems fine to me.

Fishkeeping isn't an exact science. There are always alternatives and conflicting opinions.

B

Wow, 50-60 small fish! I religiously have always done 50% water changes weekly. How many more cherry barbs and bloodfin tetras could I eventually add over time?

 

[BBradbury]

Overstocked?

Wow, 50-60 small fish! I religiously have always done 50% water changes weekly. How many more cherry barbs and bloodfin tetras could I eventually add over time?

Hello again Cat...

You can do the math. So, slowly work you way up to that number. In the right conditions, your fish will have little ones, so you'll need to consider expanding.

You also need to consider the adult size of the fish. By small, I mean no more than an inch or so as an adult. A 3 or 4 inch fish in a 55 G, isn't small.

B

 

[Catfish Lover]

Hello again Cat...

You can do the math. So, slowly work you way up to that number. In the right conditions, your fish will have little ones, so you'll need to consider expanding.

You also need to consider the adult size of the fish. By small, I mean no more than an inch or so as an adult. A 3 or 4 inch fish in a 55 G, isn't small.

B

Gotcha.. Just wanted my cherry barbs and bloodfin tetra schools at 10 a piece. I'm seems that would be ok as they are 2 inch fish, with the barbs actually being a little smaller than that.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

IMO if you are heavily planted, and do your 50% weekly changes...you could go with 10 in each school(corys, barbs,tetras). Corys have low bioloads, and will keep things clean. Cherry barbs and blood fins aren't very big. The only thing would be if the mollies start to multiply. If they do I would suggest finding a LFS that would take them. You might not get anything, but at least your tanks won't overfill. They can go from 5 to 55 in a few months haha.