Will I risk overstocking?

[mxmarvelous]

Hi everyone!

I have a 65 gal community tank that is pretty well stocked, but I’ve been thinking about getting a small school of cory cats to help with substrate (sand) cleanup. Here’s what I have in there now:

• 1 electric blue acara
• 1 gold gourami
• 8 black emperor tetras
• 8 Congo tetras
• 1 lemon blue eyed pleco

All of these are still pretty young—my eba and gourami are about 2 1/2 inches and the pleco is maybe an inch and a half.

The tetras are good about staying in the middle, but the eba and gourami tend to lurk near the bottom much of the day.

I would like to add 6 corys. I’m thinking probably albino or peppered; orange Venezuelans are good-looking too. I’d love some orange lasers but they’re a little too pricey for me. I also really like the pygmy varieties, although I worry they’ll be a snack for my acara once he’s grown?

I have a HOB and a sponge filter, both with a 75g max. I do one 30% water change per week and the bio filter seems robust. Temp is 78.

AqAdvisor says I’d be at 97% capacity with 6 corys. What do you all think?

And: any favorite corys out there for me to consider?

TIA!

 

[Andy Sager]

At that temperature, I suggest Sterbai cories. They can handle higher temps better than most cories.
As for sites like AqAdvisor, they go by the numbers of fish which is not always accurate. When you place fish that stay in the 3 different levels ( top, middle and Bottom), you can have a lot more fish than what they advise. The key is over filtering and more frequent water changes when you have more fish.

Hope this helps.

 

[mxmarvelous]

At that temperature, I suggest Sterbai cories. They can handle higher temps better than most cories.
As for sites like AqAdvisor, they go by the numbers of fish which is not always accurate. When you place fish that stay in the 3 different levels ( top, middle and Bottom), you can have a lot more fish than what they advise. The key is over filtering and more frequent water changes when you have more fish.

Hope this helps.

This is very helpful, thank you!! I'll visit my lfs this week and see if they have any sterbai.

 

[Andy Sager]

This is very helpful, thank you!! I'll visit my lfs this week and see if they have any sterbai.

If not, wait for them. Better to wait for the right fish then just get what's available at the moment when it's the wrong fish. Cories are a fish you can always add at any time.