Am I Overstocked?

[myrtle]

Hi all, I have a 220 litre planted tank with 2 large external filters. I have just had a look on ##144### and it tells me I am heavily overstocked! I have 1 large Angelfish (her partner passed away), 2 clown loach which came with the tank when I bought it 2nd hand, 3 Panda cory, 4 Peppered cory, 4 red eye tetra (I know it's too small a group, I was hoping to get more which is why I gave the above website a go), 1 otocinclus, 1 pleco which has yellow spots but I don't think it's a gold nugget, and 1 panaque type pleco. The 2 plecos also came with the tank which is why I don't know what they are. I did rehome the common pleco when I got the tank and would rather rehome the clown loaches too, as I'd not have put them in a tank this size anyway. That's beside the point though, so back to the original question, am I as overstocked as ##144### says?
Thanks in anticipation of your replies!

Edit: I see it won't let me post the name of the site, but it is an "intelligent freshwater tropical fish stocking calculator"!

 

[fluffycabbage]

Hi all, I have a 220 litre planted tank with 2 large external filters. I have just had a look on ##144### and it tells me I am heavily overstocked! I have 1 large Angelfish (her partner passed away), 2 clown loach which came with the tank when I bought it 2nd hand, 3 Panda cory, 4 Peppered cory, 4 red eye tetra (I know it's too small a group, I was hoping to get more which is why I gave the above website a go), 1 otocinclus, 1 pleco which has yellow spots but I don't think it's a gold nugget, and 1 panaque type pleco. The 2 plecos also came with the tank which is why I don't know what they are. I did rehome the common pleco when I got the tank and would rather rehome the clown loaches too, as I'd not have put them in a tank this size anyway. That's beside the point though, so back to the original question, am I as overstocked as ##144### says?
Thanks in anticipation of your replies!

Edit: I see it won't let me post the name of the site, but it is an "intelligent freshwater tropical fish stocking calculator"!

doesnt sound overstocked to me but im no expert! if you're talking about that silly site, nobody actually takes any notice of it. you're much better off just talking to people on here about stocking issues

 

[Westwood]

I wouldn't say so, it doesn't seem a very good site. My 2 Firemouths fill a whole half of my tank. And my 205 is only just good enough for them.

 

[myrtle]

It did come as a bit of a shock when it said I was well overstocked! My original plan was to either up the number of red eye tetra or move away from them altogether (letting the remaining tetra go in their own time) and get some rainbowfish as I have very hard water. Obviously with the large angel I'd have to go for the slightly larger rainbows as opposed to the feather-fin or other little ones, but not the really large 10-15cm ones. Any thoughts as to whether I could happily accomodate these (and how many) or whether I would actually be overstocked if I added more fish?

 

[myrtle]

I just tried my tank on another 'calculator' which said I was only 1/3 stocked! How can they be so different with the same data? I think I'll go ahead and get the rainbows...

 

[Curiosity101]

I think the main problem is that the clowns will grow farrrr too big for that tank. And if you took into account the clowns at full size then yes you would probably be overstocked.

It's certainly not a problem now, and probably not something you have to worry about in the near future. But just keep in mind that the clowns should be in a bigger group and that they will (or rather should and would if given enough room) outgrow that tank.

 

[Carlovel1]

I would say your def overstocked only because of the Clown Loaches, if these are removed you will have loads more room.

 

[myrtle]

I have arranged for my local MA to take the clowns tomorrow (I honestly wouldn't have bought them myself but as previously mentioned, they came with the tank!) they have a large shoal of similar sized ones in at the moment so hopefully my 2 will be happier there and I may get some credit towards the rainbows, though not a lot I expect. It took me a while to convince my husband that they needed to go and I expect my MTS population will be chuffed (if they were capable of emotion!). Thanks for the advice.
Jo

 

[myrtle]

Just a quick update; the Clowns have gone though I was a little sad to see them go, but have got 8 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish (3 male, 5 female) who are happily shoaling with my Red Eye Tetra which I wasn't expecting but I guess it gives them a bit of confidence in a new environment. I'll give them a couple of months to see how they do and if they are ok I'll prob get another 5-8 keep them company. Thanks again for the advice, it's appreciated.
Jo

 

[Curiosity101]

What is your stocking at the mo then? Cause by my reckonings you're about fully stocked.

 

[myrtle]

Hi, I now have 1 full grown Angel, 3 Panda and 4 Peppered Cories, 4 Red Eye Tetra, 8 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish, 1 Clown Plec (I think), 1 Otocinclus and one other small plec. It's a low tech planted tank with fluval 405 and Eheim 2226 external filters. I am sure I am close to being fully stocked now but with the over-filtration I thought that I'd be ok with a few more rainbows assuming these ones do well in my tank. Oh and I do a 50% water change every week
Jo

 

[Curiosity101]

Ahh fair enough, I was judging the two plecs as maxing out at 30 odd cm. Yeah I agree you have loadsa room with that filtration and water change routine.

Have you considered another angel? I've always loved angels, just never had the space for them.

 

[JoshuaA]

Personally I think that site is quite good for stocking but for filter measurements I think it's a little bit more complex to determine its capability than just looking at flow rate. However it pretty much follows the same sort of rules 1 inch rules follow. The site is also very good for finding quick facts about certain fish and even if you're not looking at the Capacity or Filter capacity it gives you a generalised range of what is acceptable taking into account all your fish in there.

However I do think the site can be very misleading in some circumstances, though I don't fully understand why quite a few people have such a problem with it. Not every site is perfect all over.

 

[myrtle]

I did think about getting a new angel but as I am only about 80% sure the one I have left is female I don't want to mistakenly end up with 2 males and she seems ok o her own at the moment. I saw them spawn a couple of times (the water's too hard for them to have come to anything) and the one who died was the one with an, ahem, bit sticking out when hovering over the eggs on the Amazon Sword... One of the plecs is small at the moment, about 2 1/2 inches excl. tail and looks like a Gold Nugget without the yellow bands on the fins. Basically it has large bright yellow spots on a very dark background and I've had it 2 years and the guy I got it from had also had it a year or so leading me to believe it isn't going to be a huge one with that growth rate. I have tried without sucess to id it on planet catfish but when I finally manage to get a photo of it I'll post it on the catfish section for id. In the meantime I'm assuming it'll get to 8-10 inches or so...