Another Stocking Question - Sorry!

[**sarahp**]

I have Rena 121x50x70cm, 440 litres, sand substrate, live plants, bogwood and rocks - hang on I'll add a pic so you can see for yourselves!!!

So I;m kinda working on 400 ish litres as a volume. Anyway this is my wish list - is it realistic or am I way off beam? I'm currently cycling with bactinettes so if everything goes according to plan I should be bale to add fish next week


Danios - Zebra, Pearl, Turquoise, Hikari – 12 -15 in total

Guppies - males only - 6

Harlequin Rasbora – 6

Rainbows – want at least 1 Boesemani with some others – not sure on numbers

Opaline Gourami – 1 male and 2 or 3 females

German Blue Ram – 4 in total - 2x m/f pair

Starlight BN pleco – 1 or 2 m/f or m/m?

Sterbai cory – 6

Trilineus cory – 6

Schwartzi cory - 6

Zebra loach – 5

Kuhlie loach – 6

Malaysian Trumpet snails to turn the sand


So opinions/ideas/thoughts please guys - be gentle with me I'm only a noob

 

[Scunny]

Stocking doesnt seem too bad, although i'm crap at stocking levels.

Only really posting to say great looking tank

 

[**sarahp**]

Stocking doesnt seem too bad, although i'm crap at stocking levels.

Only really posting to say great looking tank

LOL gee fanks

 

[Puffdaddy]

Awww don't be sorry, even the greatest minds have to ask Q's it's the only way you can learn. Your stocking list looks great my only suggestion would be to add some Congo Tetra with the Boesemani. They will get along just fine and are a brilliant looking fish. Very nice tank especially for a so called "noob"

 

[orange shark]

looks good, wish i had enough space to get one of that size!

orange shark

 

[paul_219]

nice tank. Nice decoration and plants.

 

[rdd1952]

First off, I love the look of your tank. I generally prefer darker substrates as it really brings out the color in the fish but your tank looks good.

Everyone has said that the stocking level looks fine and I know people say we quote the 1 per gallon guide all the time but by my calculation, you have right at 200" of adult fish (about 67 fish total) in a 115 gallon tank. That's a lot of fish. What type filtration do you have? It is quite possible that you are fine provided you have the proper filtration and a good maintenance schedule.

As far as cycling is concerned, for that large of a fish load, please make sure the tank is completely cycled before you start adding fish. You could have a total nightmare on your hands otherwise and lose a lot of fish.

Also, you have a lot of plants but the tank appears to be quite bright along with the white sand. Corys need places to get away from the light such as broad leaf plants. The light color sand also seems to make the light appear even brighter.

You say you want trumpet snails. I will caution you to be VERY careful with them. Some people love them because they say they keep the sand loose. Personally, I dispise them because they can multiply so fast that they can literally take over the tank. I experienced a population explosion with them a year or 2 ago and had to completely redo my tank including changing all the substrate to get rid of them. This was a 29 gallon tank and I literally had thousands of them. I could scoop up a double tablespoonful of sand and there would be 25 or 30 in it mainly tiny ones but those would hae eventually multiplied too. If you get them, do not overfeed or you will have the same problem that I did. As far as compaction of the sand is concerned, you dont have to worry about it as the plant roots will keep the sand loose.

One last thing, with live plants in the tank, you probably want to remove the airstone. The effect is nice but you are driving out CO2 which your plants need.

 

[mattster]

i want to see pics of this tank stocked, it looks great now, can't imagin how it would look stocked

 

[**sarahp**]

Awww don't be sorry, even the greatest minds have to ask Q's it's the only way you can learn. Your stocking list looks great my only suggestion would be to add some Congo Tetra with the Boesemani. They will get along just fine and are a brilliant looking fish. Very nice tank especially for a so called "noob"

Never thought of the congo's tbh i kept away from any kind of tetras because of their reputation for fin nipping and I was cncerned about the guppy's tails - are congas better behaved?? LOL

Glad you like the tank - I quite like it too

 

[**sarahp**]

What type filtration do you have? It is quite possible that you are fine provided you have the proper filtration and a good maintenance schedule.

Its a Rena XP3 external filter working at 1350 litres/hour - no idea if that is good or not?

As far as cycling is concerned, for that large of a fish load, please make sure the tank is completely cycled before you start adding fish. You could have a total nightmare on your hands otherwise and lose a lot of fish.

must be honest this concerns me too - just dont know what to do really - add the lot, add some and cause a mini-cycle - tis a worry

Also, you have a lot of plants but the tank appears to be quite bright along with the white sand. Corys need places to get away from the light such as broad leaf plants. The light color sand also seems to make the light appear even brighter.

I'm hoping that all the amazon swords at the corener and back will give them dark areas. also there are two large pieces of bogwood - both with caves underneath and a rock house with 5 hidey-holes - so I think they will be ok. Oh and theres a teracotta plant pot on its side in there too for an extra hidey-hole

You say you want trumpet snails. I will caution you to be VERY careful with them. Some people love them because they say they keep the sand loose. Personally, I dispise them because they can multiply so fast that they can literally take over the tank.

I'm hoping the zebra loaches - part of the botia family - will suck 'em out of their shells

One last thing, with live plants in the tank, you probably want to remove the airstone. The effect is nice but you are driving out CO2 which your plants need.

I only got the air stone for the fish to play in - I've read so much on here about peoples fish having fun in the bubbles.

Thanks for all your input - much appreciated

I'm trying to make sure that I have a happy little commuity - so all ideas very much appreciated

 

[rdd1952]

What type filtration do you have? It is quite possible that you are fine provided you have the proper filtration and a good maintenance schedule.

Its a Rena XP3 external filter working at 1350 litres/hour - no idea if that is good or not?

For the stocking load you are looking at, you definitely need to look at upgrading your filtration. That is just barely over 3x the tank size. Generally, it is considered that 5x the tank size is the minimum filtration and for the heavy load you have, you really need 7 to 10 times the tank size, more along the lines of 3000 to 4000 lph but at least 2200lph.