Am I Overstocked?

[MHunt]

Hey guys, what do you think of this for my current stocking levels.

63l tank with 11 neon tetras, 5 guppies and a trio of cockatoo cichlids. Am i overstocked yet, or do i have a little more space for maybe a pair of platies?

 

[Boxermom]

Yes, you are overstocked.

 

[MHunt]

I guess the post title should have been space for a couple of platies. At least i have a good equilibrium in the tank with the stock i have.

 

[Underwurlde]

Hello

I'm sorry, but I agree. I think your tank may be a little over stocked as it is now. But this depends on the size & regularity of your water changes.

I have based my assumption on 20% water change once a week. I think your setup would support 24" of fish, I guess you currently have >27".

This is all very rough guestimates of course!

Cheers,

Andy

 

[MHunt]

Well i think it's ok at the moment. The filtration is coping as ammonia and nitrite have stayed at 0 since it cycled, nitrate hasn't increased rapidly either. I do a water change, about 20-30% every week, or so.

My question was really to find out if i could add a pair of platties, but i guess i have my answer

 

[Underwurlde]

I was kind of disappointed to find out how small a stock of fish my 15 Gal tank could sustain. Mooching about my LFS with my snozz pressed up against the glass (like you do... ) I'd see tanks half the size of mine, filled to overflowing with about 15 billion neon-tetra shoaling about looking stunning - even in the undecorated tanks that LFS typically use.

Then you get your tank finally set up at home and what can it support - well not even a tenth of the half sized tanks you'd been gazing expectantly at...

BUMMER

Andy

 

[Egmel]

I was kind of disappointed to find out how small a stock of fish my 15 Gal tank could sustain. Mooching about my LFS with my snozz pressed up against the glass (like you do... ) I'd see tanks half the size of mine, filled to overflowing with about 15 billion neon-tetra shoaling about looking stunning - even in the undecorated tanks that LFS typically use.

Then you get your tank finally set up at home and what can it support - well not even a tenth of the half sized tanks you'd been gazing expectantly at...

BUMMER

Andy

And then MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome) kicks in ...

 

[nomaddan]

Why ask the question if you don't really want to hear the answer?

 

[Kris]

Because I was bored, I ran your current dimensions and stock through the community calculator on another site. According to that site - don't now if I can link to other sites here, some forums are pretty anti linkage - I get the following:
You're full "guide stocking level" is 107.1cm.
Inhabitants: 5 guppies, 11 neons, 3 cockatoo dwarf cichlids, and 2 platy, gives you a stocking level of 63cm.

Mind you, I interpretted your measurements to be in centimeters as opposed to inches...so if it's in inches, that changes things.

So by those standards, you are not overstocked...I've gotten mixed reviews on the calculator, but the best advice I did receive on another forum was that no matter who or what you have in your tank, the tank will let you know if you're overstocked. Constant shifts in levels and such. So take it or leave it, but there you go Good luck.

 

[fishluvr93]

wat is an equilibrium

 

[MHunt]

wat is an equilibrium

An equilibrium is where the biological filtration is able to cope with the waste produced by the fish in the tank. Breaking the ammonia waste which is toxic, down into nitrite, which is still pretty toxic to the fish, finally into nitrate which in a freshwater tank is harmless, and is used as a fertiliser by plants. Some planted tank keepers actually add nitrate for plant growth.

Why ask the question if you don't really want to hear the answer?

I asked the question because i thought i knew the answer i had come to, but wanted to hear some other opinions, to either confirm what i thought or not.

I have rapidly found and have heard that buying a fish tank is like buying a freezer. The one you finally get is never big enough!

Because I was bored, I ran your current dimensions and stock through the community calculator on another site. According to that site - don't now if I can link to other sites here, some forums are pretty anti linkage - I get the following:
You're full "guide stocking level" is 107.1cm.
Inhabitants: 5 guppies, 11 neons, 3 cockatoo dwarf cichlids, and 2 platy, gives you a stocking level of 63cm.

Mind you, I interpretted your measurements to be in centimeters as opposed to inches...so if it's in inches, that changes things.

Thanks for doing that, i'll have a look around, perhaps try the PFK calculator again and see what it says!

 

[Underwurlde]

107cm!
That's 42 INCHES of fish in a 15Gal tank!
I think you did indeed get your inches and cms mixed up because you are out by a factor of 2.

24" max, OK?

And, if you go by the 1" per Gal rule, it's simple: 15" of fish max you are out by a factor of 3.

Andy

 

[Fella]

You cannot apply Dwarf Cichlids like cockatoo's into the "inch per" rule, because being cichlids they are territorial.

 

[Michelleuk]

http/www.thinkfish.co.uk/community.html

try this

 

[Underwurlde]

Yo,

TBH, I am a bit wary of stocking calculators that do NOT ask (or in some way determine from entered data) the SURFACE AREA of the water in the tank.

I could be wrong, but the stocking calculator suggested for my 15L tank a max length of 32". Thats 1/3rd more than I think I'd be happy with....

Very confusing topic that can be subject to many different lines of thought....

So therefore it's up to you. What do your instincts tell you? You see my instincts tell me that (apart from all else) the oxygenation levels in the tank must surely be correlated to the surface area of the water in the tank as this is the surface of the 'lung' of the tank and hence the fish in it and hence the maximum stocking level - this just makes sense to me, if you see what I mean??

Andy