Hi Everyone,
I recently set up a new 60 US gallon tank, and I have heard many different things about stocking. I have read about the 1" per gallon rule, but also that many factors play into the max stocking of the tank. So, I'd like to share with you the current stock that I have because it is more than 1" per gallon, but the guy at my LFS says that it should be fine as long as I have good filtration and I keep up with water changes. Here it is:
• Golden Giant Danio x 5
• Black Skirt tetra – x 5
• Red minor tetras x 5
• Buenos Aires Tetras x 3
• Twinbar gold platy x 1
• Sunset wag platy x 2
• Sword wag platy - red x 1
• Dwarf Gourami Blue x 1
• Glofish tetra(black skirt) x 4
• Glofish zebra danios x 4
• Red Parrot Cichlid x 1
--> I've also got 4 about different live plants - I know one of them is an anubias and it's growing pretty fast so it's the biggest one as well.
--> The parrot cichlid is about a year and a half old about 5 inches and is the newest fish. What do you guys think about this addition? The guy at the store said it would be totally fine because the other fish are much faster, but all the other fish run away when it's near and it has been very territorial for the past day or so. He has also been tearing one specific plant and every time I put my hand in the tank to fix it, he bumps at my arm.
As far as filtration goes, I have a Hagen AquaClear power filter 70 and an Eheim Classic 2215 canister. I've been doing weekly water changes of about 25 percent and plan to continue to do so unless you guys think once every 2 weeks would be adequate for the amount of fish we have. The guy at the fish store said once every two weeks would be fine after a little while of doing once a week. The water levels have been perfect according to my LFS for the past couple of weeks.
What do you guys think? Is it overstocked? Is this going to be too much for a beginner like me to handle? Suppose I was an experienced aquarist; would I be able to keep all these fish and maybe more in the tank that I have? All the fish are pretty new, and none of them are anywhere near their max sizes, so for now I'm below the inch per gallon rule. The tank dimensions are 24" length (vertical) x 48" width (horizontal) x 12" depth. Many of the fish are still within the return period, so I could take some back as well. I absolutely don't want to get rid of the blood parrot though because I really love it, it's such a beautiful addition to the tank.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
I recently set up a new 60 US gallon tank, and I have heard many different things about stocking. I have read about the 1" per gallon rule, but also that many factors play into the max stocking of the tank. So, I'd like to share with you the current stock that I have because it is more than 1" per gallon, but the guy at my LFS says that it should be fine as long as I have good filtration and I keep up with water changes. Here it is:
• Golden Giant Danio x 5
• Black Skirt tetra – x 5
• Red minor tetras x 5
• Buenos Aires Tetras x 3
• Twinbar gold platy x 1
• Sunset wag platy x 2
• Sword wag platy - red x 1
• Dwarf Gourami Blue x 1
• Glofish tetra(black skirt) x 4
• Glofish zebra danios x 4
• Red Parrot Cichlid x 1
--> I've also got 4 about different live plants - I know one of them is an anubias and it's growing pretty fast so it's the biggest one as well.
--> The parrot cichlid is about a year and a half old about 5 inches and is the newest fish. What do you guys think about this addition? The guy at the store said it would be totally fine because the other fish are much faster, but all the other fish run away when it's near and it has been very territorial for the past day or so. He has also been tearing one specific plant and every time I put my hand in the tank to fix it, he bumps at my arm.
As far as filtration goes, I have a Hagen AquaClear power filter 70 and an Eheim Classic 2215 canister. I've been doing weekly water changes of about 25 percent and plan to continue to do so unless you guys think once every 2 weeks would be adequate for the amount of fish we have. The guy at the fish store said once every two weeks would be fine after a little while of doing once a week. The water levels have been perfect according to my LFS for the past couple of weeks.
What do you guys think? Is it overstocked? Is this going to be too much for a beginner like me to handle? Suppose I was an experienced aquarist; would I be able to keep all these fish and maybe more in the tank that I have? All the fish are pretty new, and none of them are anywhere near their max sizes, so for now I'm below the inch per gallon rule. The tank dimensions are 24" length (vertical) x 48" width (horizontal) x 12" depth. Many of the fish are still within the return period, so I could take some back as well. I absolutely don't want to get rid of the blood parrot though because I really love it, it's such a beautiful addition to the tank.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
