How does overstocking cause a problem?

[Tiggs]

My tank is 350 litres (ish) and heavily planted.

Its also (i expect) overstocked but it looks nice!

Now before the "evil overstocker" comments start i want to see how the overstocking will present itself. The fish are a good condition, they have lots of swimming room and the commbo of the plants and twin (large) external filters means the levels are allways fine. (in fact maybe too low as my nitare is 0 and i gather i may need more for the planst)

Anyway....with happy fish and good levels should i worry that i may be over "official" stocking levels?

T

ps - happy to reduce levels if its explained why i should.

 

[Tiggs]

should add whats in there i suppose!

At the top:

1 Hatchet (his mates lasted about 2 days - hes been around for a year now)
4 White cloud minows (cycled with them and they still going strong)

In the middle:
Cardinal Tetras X 25 ish (hard to count them!)
4 jnr Firemouths

In the trees!:
ottos x 4

At the bottom:
Tiger plec
Horseface loach (going to have to go as he is getting large and digs up the plants when he burrows)
Loach (black boody with yellow spots....same shape as a small clown loach)
2 Pictus Catfish
1 khulie rescued from a friends tank...never see him until the moon lights come on.


also.....2 applesnails and there were about 15 shrimp but they died with a temp problem last month - not sure if i can put some back with the firemouths?

 

[jimbooo]

if you could add a tank profile to your "profile" it would help. i dont want to give you incorrect advice.

assuming all your fish are not monsters (oscars, bala sharks etc...) i'll explain why it's a problem from a number of fish in tank point of view.

mainly NitrAte: problem is as the end product of the nitrogen cycle it can build up to levels toxic to fish faster than you can change water to dilute it. as you have said with a proper planted tank this isn't an issue as the plants will remove the nitrate to the extent where you may need to add it.

i too am on the borders of overstocking but nitrate sits at a constant 12.5ppm - perfect for plants and fine for fish (more luck than judgement)

other than that it's a question of free swimming space, if you have lots of fast swimmers they'll get the hump pretty quickly but with a good, well planned community of top/middle/bottom feeders this too can be avoided.

the other "overstocked" rant people will have is if you are keeping a bala shark which can grow to 12 inches in a 40 gallon. he'll firstly break his nose by launching from one end to the other and crashing into the glass and secondly stunt his growth due to the chemical build up in the water (massive topic i cant go into now but it's a horrible way to die)

if you can clarify the tank details and occupants i'll happily fine tune my reply.

 

[jimbooo]

ahh read my mind then.


your fine with that lot as long as you have a few caves/dark corners for the bottom feeders to hide in or you'll have a few fights.

dont know what a hatchet is though, the rest will be fine.

any pics??

 

[Bloo]

assuming all your fish are not monsters (oscars, etc...)

that's will be four of those "monsters" then

Uh ....just ignore that - I thought they were Oscars - not Ottos )
(eyes and age and stuff)

Hatchet fish voila !

 

[OohFeeshy]

Not sure how big the tank is in gallons. I think its a bit overdone on the cardinals and bottomfeeders, but other than that it isn't too bad. Most of the fish you've got are low waste producers and small fish. Overstocking is mainly a problem when you're dealing with large, aggressive or messy fish.

 

[Bloo]

Not sure how big the tank is in gallons.

350 litres = 92.5 US gallons = 77 UK gallons

 

[jimbooo]

ahh missed that i assume your talking about firemouths bloozoo, dont know them either.

the cardinals are fine though honestly they produce very small amounts of waste, i think gf225 has 25 in his 120L with a couple of rams so 350L will be more than enough for them.

 

[Tiggs]

i will get some pics up later.

there is a LOT of wood in there so the plec (for example) is never seen in the day...plenty of space to hide.

the cardinals are a big group but the firemouths keep them grouped so they look cool

with the horse loach gone the bottom will free up a bit.

the firemouths will be interesting, i may think out some of the others as they grow (maybe loose the minows and some of the tetras) right now they are fine.


on the subject of nitrate...if mine reads 0 (i assume due to the filtration and plant levels) is that too low...and should i raise it? (can i just overfeed to bring it up )

 

[annka5]

Overstocking a problem if:
a) water quality rubbish
B) Not enough space for swimming
c) Not enough territory or hiding places

Sounds like none of these are an issue in your tank though...

 

[jimbooo]

just to steer you on track a filter the size of a house will not remove nitrate.

the filter converts ammonia-nitrite-nitrate, nitrate being the end product a bigger filter just makes the process faster and produces nitrate more quickly. (unless you have a nitrate removal sponge)

it's the plants that use it up.

i have never had that problem as i have a sailfin plec pooing constantly all over the place. take a trip to the planted section, i think theres a whole load of people talking about nitrate fertalisers at the moment.

by the way should gf225 reply to your posts he's generally right. he's a moderator in the planted section and got me up and running about a year ago, nice guy and definatly will answer your nitrate question.

good luck

 

[jimbooo]

lost my thread there yes you need nitrate to be at least 8ppm ideally 12.5ppm for good plant growth.

plant priorities are

light
co2
nitrate
iron
blah
blah

in that order. no Nitrate, no plants

 

[Tiggs]

so my level of 0 means that (even with my fish stock) the plants are using it all up and could do with some more? (in simple terms)

 

[jimbooo]

yep spot on (assuming you dont have a nitrate removal sponge in you filter, if it's a Juwel tank the nitrate removal sponge is green)

 

[Tiggs]

the stock filter is long gone. I have two eheim 2028's using standard sponges down to filter wool - water is crystal!

is there madness in the idea that simply increasing the feeding of the fish will up the nitrate?

(they are always hungry!)


thinking about it...would low nitrate have any connection with the hair algey problem i have (not a big deal, only affects some plants)

are the plants loosing to the alagey with insufficeint nitrate to use?