How Overstocked Is Too Overstocked ?

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sneezy

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Hi there.

I'm going to be stocking my 60l fluval tank in the next month. I know the 1 inch per gallon rule is the guideline but in a well filtered tank how much can you go over without the fish suffering.

In an ideal world I would have 10 neon tetras and 6 male guppies but I have 5 WC Minnows leftover from my disasterous coldwater attempt (the goldies are happy in my Mums pond) which the lfs said would also live in tropical. I know the minnows are schooling fish so I need to get a few more for them to be happy (they are currently residing in a small tank while I do a FL cycle on main) so I was thinking

8 Minnows
8 Neons
6 Guppies

Is this way too much :/

The tank is 60x35x30cm rectangle shape
I have a fluval 3+ in there which is bigger than it need and also 2 airstones.

Any advice gratefully recieved.

Could the minnows and neons school happily with 7 because that would lose 2 inches?

Many Thanks
 
It's fine. They are all low waste producing fish and you have good filtration in there.

:good:
 
Why not get 10 Neons and 10 Minnows and 6 Guppies, they will all fit into your tank and are all low waste producers
 
yeah, the neons and guppies will handle the temp at the lower end of the tropical scale just fine though :good:
 
I read somewhere on this site that a 40ppm rise in Nitrate per week is about right. So this says to me that all the other ways of calculating fish stocking levels are a bit hit and miss whereas this one is more scientific. So if Nitrate levels are 40ppm after a water change and 80ppm in a weeks time then you are stocked OK. If the nitrate level go up by more than this then you are overstocked and need to do more frequent water changes.

However there would me more to consider for example the fish would have to be fully grown and this does not account for the oxygen levels in the water. (Does anyone know how to measure this?)

Correct me if I am way off on this one though as I am quite new.
 
I read somewhere on this site that a 40ppm rise in Nitrate per week is about right. So this says to me that all the other ways of calculating fish stocking levels are a bit hit and miss whereas this one is more scientific. So if Nitrate levels are 40ppm after a water change and 80ppm in a weeks time then you are stocked OK. If the nitrate level go up by more than this then you are overstocked and need to do more frequent water changes.

However there would me more to consider for example the fish would have to be fully grown and this does not account for the oxygen levels in the water. (Does anyone know how to measure this?)

Correct me if I am way off on this one though as I am quite new.


That is one method of calculation although I've heard 20ppm rise in a week is correct not 40. I would certainly be a bit concerned if my water was rising by 40ppm a week.

In reality none of these 'rules' work accuratley 100% of the time, there's so many exceptions that they are all just guidelines, once you've a bit of experience under your belt it becomes a bit more intuative and you work from a variety of sources not least having a look at the tank and seeing if it looks full!! :lol:

I generally advise (particularly for beginners) on the 1" per gallon rule, because it gives a safe level of stocking with a bit of play n it should anything go wrong, and because it's also simple to remember and easy to calculate.
 

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