Over Crowded Tanks

tangokitty

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I've seen a lot of peoples tank profiles and it seems a lot of peo :blink: ple overstock their tanks, do you and how do you keep them all happy if you do?
 
Well right now none of my tanks are fully stocked. But what do you consider overstocked?

I feel stocking levels depend on the type of fish, size of tank, filtration, and nitrate levels. IMO I feel my 55gal is close to being fully stocked as the nitrates reach about 50ppm even w/ large water changes every week. Its over filtered and the fish have lots of room. I am changing it over to a hi-tech planted tank this summer, which is going to improve water quality. So I will most likely add more fish, until I feel I've reached the limit w/ bioload or space.
 
I have to overload a lot of my tanks because I have little space. I use very powerful filtration - usually at least 10x/hour - and I do large water changes up to two or three times a week. I will overstock tanks, but I don't keep fish in tanks that are too small for them. Provided your water quality is impeccable and your maintainance very good, you can get away with some degree of overstocking but no fish can be comfortable in a tank that is too small for it.
 
how would you determine if your tank is too small for a fish? My tank is a 47 gallon (by measurment) and I have a canister filter, and live plants my stocking is 10 cherry barbs, 2 blood red swordteails, 2 BN plecos, 6 ottos, 2 bleeding heart tetras and 1 red tail shark (who is now 6 years old), Do you concider this overstocked I do 8 gallon water changes ever week. I'd like to add more bleeding heart teras and 1 more sword, but will it be too crowded?
 
I think it would be fine. It's the type of fish that are really important. They have to get along, because it's much easier to push territorial limits than bioload, in my opinion.. I have a lot of fish in my 29g but they are all peaceful and I do 30-40% water changes every week to keep nitrate low. I have live plants, and I have a canister filter.
 
how many more bleeding heart tetras could I add. The only iffy one is the red tail shark, he chases the other fish around. I had a skunk loach and he and the shark would always fight but left everyone else alone, since the skunk loach is gone, the red tail has become a bully. What could I do to control that?
 
Bleeding Heart Tetras are schooling fish, so they should be in a group of at least 7 or so, to be happy.
As for your bullying Redtail Shark, in my experience, once a bully, always a bully.
 
Once you have dealt with the "bully" by re-homing him, you have room to fill out the bleeding hearts. The problem you are having right now is not overstocking, it is aggression. If you had only your bully and one bleeding heart in the whole tank it would not be a peaceful tank if your description is any indication.
 
i think my tank is overstocked its a 218 litre ive got

2 clown loaches 4 and 5 inces
1 flying fox
1 bala shark 5 inces
1 red tipped sailfin plec 7 inces
5 bristle nose
1 plec not sure what it is 4 inces
4 glowlights
2 pepper corys
2 albino corys
2 more corys not sure what they r called
1 upside down cat about 6 inces
5 tigerbarbs
1 male simese fighter
1 honey gourami

if its any consideration i have a tetra tec 700 and a fluval 2 filter and i carry out 50 litre water changes every week
 
i think my tank is overstocked its a 218 litre ive got

2 clown loaches 4 and 5 inces
1 flying fox
1 bala shark 5 inces
1 red tipped sailfin plec 7 inces
5 bristle nose
1 plec not sure what it is 4 inces
4 glowlights
2 pepper corys
2 albino corys
2 more corys not sure what they r called
1 upside down cat about 6 inces
5 tigerbarbs
1 male simese fighter
1 honey gourami

if its any consideration i have a tetra tec 700 and a fluval 2 filter and i carry out 50 litre water changes every week
Yep, I hope you plan to move some of those fish out eventually. It may be fine now, but it won't be able to hold all those fish when they are fully grown. Mainly the bala and loaches, since they get so big.
 
I agree with Mikaila31, russ1979 unless you plan on getting a 4-5x2ft tank then you should serious consider rehoming the bala shark, clown loaches and sailfin plec. You should not be keeping tiger barbs, male siamese fighter and a gourami all in the same tank together regardless of its size as these fish simply do not get along (if they aren't already at it, the tiger barbs will attack the gourami and fighter and the fighter and gourami will fight each other).
You should not buy fish which you do not know exactly what they are, pleco's vary massively in their care and size, so you really should get a good ID on your mystery pleco, as you cannot say for sure you are looking after it properly until you know what it is exactly.
Cories, tiger barbs and bala sharks are all schooling and shoaling fish, corys should be kept in groups of their own type of 3-5+ and bala sharks at least 3-5+ and tiger barbs 8+.

Please research your fish more thoroughly in the future, as looking after your fish properly is a matter of responsibility and you need to know exactly what is best for your fish to look after them to the best of your abilities- you have a fair few fish which will outgrow the tank in time to come (sailfin plecos can grow to 15inches+, clown loaches to 12inches+ and bala sharks to 10inches+) and many fish which should really be in larger groups or should not be kept with some of the fish you are keeping them with at all, regardless of numbers or tank size. There is also a question of habitat too- the ideal habitat for a siamese fighting fish/betta is very different from the habitat that is ideal for a bala shark or sailfin pleco etc.


edit: On the subject of over-crowding and whatnot in general, over-crowding is a different matter to over-stocking; a tank could be over-crowded but not over-stocked and vice versa. The most important thing is what type/s of fish you are keeping, the fishes activity levels, the numbers of the fish you are keeping in the tank, their sizes, the character/personality of the fish, the strength of the filtration and the exact measurements of a tank. Tanks vary massively in size, a fish could be fine in one long rectangle 50gal but not fish in a tank 50gal hexagon shape tank etc.
As you learn more about fish, you will get a better idea of what is ok and what is not ok for that particular fish- there is a lot to learn about any fish in the hobby, research often never stops. The worst thing to do is to stock a tank ignorantly- not knowing all there is important to know about your fish could mean you putting your fish through unnecessary stress, and one of your goals in fishkeeping should be to avoid this etc :nod: . Personally i always under-stock my tanks since i see no need to stock my tanks to their limits, in the past i have had heavily stocked tanks however i did not appreciate my fish as much back then, and i think fish prefer having lots of space and freedom and stuff so now days i tend to understock my tanks in general (if i ever fully stock a tank then i make sure that the filtration of the tank is very good etc) :nod: .
 
So if you have a 50 gallon tank and only 30 mid swimming fish then it is over crowded, but if you have 10 bottom dwellers, 10 mid swimmers and 10 top swimmer then that is not over crowded??
 
Myself, I try no to overstock too much if it can be helped, but if not then I will overstock it. The way I keep my fish alive and happy is by adding extra plants and caves to let them have more territory (or atleast give them the mind set that they do). Extra filtration also helps (I have my 55gallon tank running with 220 gallons of filtration) and by doing large water changes (30-50%) twice a week, this keeps the water clear and clean and my fish happy and healthy.
 

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