Overstocking?

[ALEXF]

Hello,


I have a question for everyone... I have a 10 gallon tank... it has 4 danios, 3 adf's, and a bamboo shrimp. I wanted to know what people thought about adding maybe another danio or 2 or a couple of guppies. The tank has 13 gallons of filtration, is heaily planted for security, and i do 30% water changes every 2 weeks. Does anyone have any thoughts??? It would be greatly appreicated.


Thank You,


Alex

 

[jwddboy]

Well it depends what danio you are talking about. I'll guess leopard...

You are at full capacity in my view, perhaps you might think about increasing the filter? As a rule i always have double the filtration needed for the tank unless anything in it will particularly suffer as a result (eg. from increased flow). If not I'd do a 25% waterchage every week and keep it up. There's a much higher chance of a problem developing fast in a smaller tank.

 

[tim1]

I think you could fit 2 more little fish in. Just make sure you change your water, and maybe get a better filter like jwddboy said.

 

[Captain Retardo]

People are way to conservative about fish. You have 4 danios in a ten gallon tank, and people are telling you you are overstocked. Personally if it was my tank I would add about 8 more danios, and 4 or so Kuhli loaches or Cories. I'm not saying that's the kind of fish you should add, that's my personal taste in fish. But essentially what I'm trying to get at is that you could easily add many more fish (small ones, its a 10 gallon afterall) as long as you do regular maintenence. It's not like if you exceed some certain number, all your fish are going to die of ammonia poisoning.

Keep up with maintenence, and feel free to add more fish.

 

[ALEXF]

but if i keep up my current maintance will it still be ok or do i need to up it in order to do so?

 

[Captain Retardo]

you could keep your current 30% every 2 weeks maintenence schedule and add about 6 small fish (like guppies or danios, etc.). If you did like 20-25% water changes every week, then I would say you could add some small bottom dwellers

 

[ALEXF]

ok thanks. i want more opinions thou (no offense) so hopefully other people will reply. if anything i would add 3 male guppies. come on people tell me what you think.

 

[emmsy]

Alex, I think adding 3 more fish should be okay, but I would maybe up your filtration. I have quite a few fish in my 6x2x2, but I have 2 massive filters that keep the balance. Thats what it is all about, keeping a balance. When you have fish, they are nice and small and cute at the LFS, but what you have to look at is a year from now, is the tank gonna be big enough, and is the filtration up to it. If the answer to both those questions is YES, then go for it!

Emma

 

[ALEXF]

thanks, do you think it would be ok for now with out the added filtration ( ive been planning on upping it) i have my water tested every other week before the water change and they always say the same thing..... low levels of everything toxic but there are traces the day before???

 

[emmsy]

Okay,I can see you are impatient. ( says the girl who bought a fish on impulse yesterday ) YES, go for it, but promise me you will up the filtration later.

Emma

 

[ALEXF]

Okay,I can see you are impatient. ( says the girl who bought a fish on impulse yesterday ) YES, go for it, but promise me you will up the filtration later.

Emma

no im not gonna do it just yet (thou i want to) i was just wondering if it would be ok. I actually am getting a 2.5 gallon tank from a friend tomorrow which i plan on moving the 3 gallon filter to and adding another to the ten. im more concerned with stressing out the animals with to many things in there. as i have explaned it to a friend. pretend you have a party of 10 people in a small room, and every 15 minutes you add another person, the more you add the more cramped and uncomfortable it gets. I wouldnt like it as a human so i wouldnt do it to an animal. thou i just think it would look really nice to have like a small community of different things. because most of the time its very hard to do. thank you for your concern thou emmsy. lol i just re read your comment... what kind of fish did you buy on impulse. and actually thats how this whole aquarium thing started for me..... damn 2am impulses lol

 

[emmsy]

If you look at my "confession" thread, you will see the fish I bought on impulse. You have the right attitude mate for sure

Emma

 

[ALEXF]

thanks