Stocking fish help - aqadvisor?

[Vio]

Hi,

So now i have 9 black neon tetras, 6 male guppies, and 1 german blue ram (male or female?).
I have few aquatic plants.
Aquis 700 canister filter.

Can i add more fishes or i leave it at that?

I want to do a 30% water change weekly.

If i look at aqadvisor, i could add 3 guppies, 1 ram and 2 gourami. 80% stocking. 30% water change.
Is it reliable?

 

[Aiken Drum]

In general the site is considered conservative. I would say its a guide to use "on paper" before you start observing your real aquarium with real fish. It will usually prevent you overstocking a tank, it will give you an idea of how much water to change. It will you give you a clue to the temperament and compatibility of different fish species and what people generally find works or dont work. Add new fish gradually, test the water, observe the fish, determine your stocking and water change routine.

It cant make allowances for anything you didnt input. For instance your tap water may be treated with chloramine rather than chlorine, or your tap water may contain nitrate in which case your water changes wont be effective as they would if the new water was clear of these nitrogen impurities and you should change more water or stock more lightly or both. It cant take account of how much food you put in the tank. It cant take account of plants in the tank which will help with water quality. Your aquascape reduces water volume. It cant take account of the personalities of specific individual fish. Its all a bit of a generalisation and makes assumptions so it can be a functional website.

The sites calculations for stock levels and water change routine are probably based on nitrate build up, and nobody knows what they are using as a safe upper limit. From experience of using the site and observing my own aquariums water quality, I presume they are working to about 20ppm as an upper limit for the freshwater side of the site. Some people are happy to push that out to 40ppm and stock more heavily and/ or change water less frequently. Some people feel that 20ppm is too high and work to 10ppm or even 5ppm and stock more cautiously and/ or change water more often. You have to decide for yourself on matters like these.

IMO if you are planning on changing 30% of the water, may as well take an extra 5 minutes and change 50%. If 50% weekly keeps you below whatever water quality target you have set yourself and you feel a few more fish wont disrupt the interactions with your fish, then add a few more if thats your wish. If 50% weekly water changes arent keeping you below your water quality target you either have to accept poorer water quality or reduce the fish.

 

[Aiken Drum]

On another note, i see a problem with your current stocking. German blue rams like their water hot. Much hotter than the guppies or black neons are comfortable at.

Blue Rams and their colour varients really should be at 28c, which would be outside of the ideal range of the other fish.

The site you mention is looking at temperature ranges for different fish. Say 25 to 30c for a blue ram, and 22 to 27c for black neons, and suggesting something like 26c which is not ideal for either species. From experience blue rams dont do well at typical tropical aquarium temperatures. Even at 26c they will have a lowered immune system, they will fall ill more easily, and won't live as long as they would at 28c. If you ramp up the temperature to suit the rams the same would be the case for the other fish that prefer lower temperatures.

Its better to keep fish together that have similar temperature ranges, rather than have fish that have very different requirements but overlap a little, where you then end up with something unsuitable for both.

I would either keep the rams or the tetras and guppies and find other fish that sat in the same comfortable temperature range. Bolivian rams are a better choice at lower temperatures, rummynose tetras at the higher range.

 

[Vio]

Oh thank you for the infos!
I dont think i want too much more fish, maybe 1 or 2 as big as the german blue ram.
Gosh i thpught if i have the temperature at 27 as i always have, would be ok for him
They all seem happy at the moment but yeah i dont want to shorten his life by not having the right parameters for him.

 

[Andy Sager]

Oh thank you for the infos!
I dont think i want too much more fish, maybe 1 or 2 as big as the german blue ram.
Gosh i thpught if i have the temperature at 27 as i always have, would be ok for him
They all seem happy at the moment but yeah i dont want to shorten his life by not having the right parameters for him.

If you research fish and get a range of temperatures they survive in, always consider the middle of the range as ideal. The extremes are usually for just short periods of times. So keeping a fish at an extreme temperature will not be best in the long term. In some cases tho, some fish like it better in the warmth than the average. Rams are one of them. So when choosing your next fish, pick ones that will do well in the temperature ( and other water parameters ) you already have for the best results.