Overstocked?

[ian]

i have checked the online tool and it says i'm not overstocked, however i feel i may be... I restocked over about 3 weeks after buying my tank 2nd hand with fish. All of the old fish have been re-homed at my father in laws (5ft tank).

My water stats are all ok.

16g/60ltr
Fluval u2
10 real plants
sand substrate

3 albino corys
7 guppies/3 of them are neon guppies
1 dwarf guarami
1 amano shrimp
1 hillstream loach

i just thought i'd get different opinions

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Lol if that's overstocked my similar sized tank is a sardine tin. Mind you my tank has been up and running for 6-7 years now.
Was the filter all new with no mature media? If so that may cause you a few problems. If it was the same filter as was running b4 you owned it you may want to watch water stats as stopping, moving and restarting filters can cause suprisingly large die-offs in the bacteria.
P.

 

[Wills]

Hi I think that tank is about full now you might be able to add one more cory but that would be it IMO

 

[ian]

nice one guys, i was running the old stingray filter (the tank has been running for 4 months at my house, at its previous place it was going for a year). I'm happy with the new U2, i have removed the carbon and replaced it with more sponge and biomax media.

Can i ask one more question...silly as it sounds, but are albino cory's blind?

 

[Wills]

Not sure but most fish have lesser sight than us. One of my plecs my L135 is really really bad I think she can see but if she gets spooked and wants back in here coconut it takes her for ever to find the door...

 

[jjkremp]

i have checked the online tool and it says i'm not overstocked, however i feel i may be... I restocked over about 3 weeks after buying my tank 2nd hand with fish. All of the old fish have been re-homed at my father in laws (5ft tank).

My water stats are all ok.

16g/60ltr
Fluval u2
10 real plants
sand substrate

3 albino corys
7 guppies/3 of them are neon guppies
1 dwarf guarami
1 amano shrimp
1 hillstream loach

i just thought i'd get different opinions

OK heres the deal your on the mark of stock no more fish for you =) as for your filter its not cut up to the job for your stock and size however your plants being real make up for that so remember that remove your plants you will need more filtering cpacity
now heres my problem and your gouramis issue it is a gourami from very hot humid environments it neeeds a bare min of 78F temp to be comfortable however your loaches shouldnt be kept higher than 75F however if you could insure your tank is around 77 i think they both could handle that fine =))

other than that it looks overstocked but your pretty much at max stock not overstock

should show us some picks

also note catfish species have great eyesight ........................... in the dark muddy waters lol high light well figure that one out

 

[MOW4T]

as previously said, if urs is overstocked id be worried about mine, max/overstocking to a degree is a matter of opinion IMO.. lol
unless you take it too far and start cramming fish in

 

[ian]

OK heres the deal your on the mark of stock no more fish for you =) as for your filter its not cut up to the job for your stock and size however your plants being real make up for that so remember that remove your plants you will need more filtering cpacity
now heres my problem and your gouramis issue it is a gourami from very hot humid environments it neeeds a bare min of 78F temp to be comfortable however your loaches shouldnt be kept higher than 75F however if you could insure your tank is around 77 i think they both could handle that fine =))

other than that it looks overstocked but your pretty much at max stock not overstock

should show us some picks

also note catfish species have great eyesight ........................... in the dark muddy waters lol high light well figure that one out

sorry about the quality, phone pics.

Thanks for your answer.

 

[jjkremp]

well i dont look at stocking as opinions i look at growth size waste and their swim room requirments versus dimensions..

anyways back onto subject
i like the pics look nice fish seem active so they dont mind they doing fine. woulndt want to seperate them after they get use to each other anyways =)

 

[arobinson1984]

as previously said, if urs is overstocked id be worried about mine, max/overstocking to a degree is a matter of opinion IMO.. lol
unless you take it too far and start cramming fish in

Overstocking isnt a matter of opinion at all, as jjkremp stated, stocking levels need to based on adult size, waste production and dimensions of the tank which affect surface area. An experienced fishkeeper will be able to 'stretch' the limits a bit.

Looking at your tank in your sig, the tanks nearly fully stocked with the 2 plecs alone, not to mention that 1 king tiger plec needs a minimum tank of 80L as do tiger barbs.

I hope you have some seriously good filtration of the tank and not the rubbish stingray filter that hagen normally supply with their small tanks.

Andy

 

[jjkremp]

both ya's should give emperor 280 bio wheel a chance you wont regret it plus it costs $10 us and blows the other cheap 10$ units away

 

[Truck]

well i dont look at stocking as opinions i look at growth size waste and their swim room requirments versus dimensions..

that's one of he best bits of advice I have heard and it couldn't be more true.

 

[TheChards]

This is an interesting thread, and I think I have the same 60-litre tank. Personally I think the Stingray filter does a fairly good job (apart from the unnecessary carbon). It's always worked OK for my tank of this size anyway and I've not had any problems with the water parametres once it was cycled.

I've always been a little confused by the rule of going by adult size when stocking as I think it works better for some fish than it does for others. I know that Clown Loaches (for example) can grow to be very big and so need a big tank. But doesn't it take them years to reach that size? What do you do in the meantime if your tank is at capacity (or at least will be if and when your Clown Loaches reach their full, adult size)? Do you religiously stick to the rule and refuse to add any more fish in case you're overstocked? Fortunately I've never been in this situation so I don't know the answer to that but it seems like a bit of a waste not to.

 

[ian]

the swim requirements bit is interesting, they should supply this info when buying fish.

 

[arobinson1984]

This is an interesting thread, and I think I have the same 60-litre tank. Personally I think the Stingray filter does a fairly good job (apart from the unnecessary carbon). It's always worked OK for my tank of this size anyway and I've not had any problems with the water parametres once it was cycled.

I've always been a little confused by the rule of going by adult size when stocking as I think it works better for some fish than it does for others. I know that Clown Loaches (for example) can grow to be very big and so need a big tank. But doesn't it take them years to reach that size? What do you do in the meantime if your tank is at capacity (or at least will be if and when your Clown Loaches reach their full, adult size)? Do you religiously stick to the rule and refuse to add any more fish in case you're overstocked? Fortunately I've never been in this situation so I don't know the answer to that but it seems like a bit of a waste not to.

My first ever tank was the elite 60L tank which came supplied with the stingray 15 filter as most do and I found the filter awful and inadequate. The filter only provides a THEORETICAL turnover of 5x. The best thing I ever did to my first tank was remove the stingray and replaced it with a fluval 3+ which were fairly cheap.

On the second point, Yes you are correct noting that fish like clown loaches take years to reach maximum size but there are a few reasons as to why they shouldnt be kept in a tank thats too small;

1. There is no way of physically telling at what point your fishes growth begins to stunt. The fish may still look fairly small in the tank but damage may already have been done.

2. Its not fair on the fish putting it in a tank with the intention of rehoming it, the fish will be stressed whilst growing up in an inadequate tank, then endure further stress when being rehomed.

Fish should always be bought using research and never on an impulse. Always go by the fishes full adult size and always put it in a tank that is suitable for the duration of the fishes life. For example, dont buy a clown loach and put it in a 3ft tank even if you have the intention of getting a 6ft in a years time, wait until you have the 6ft before buying the fish.

Andy