Stocking Advice

[dalethewhale]

Hi

so i have a 180 litre tank with a load of amazon sword, anubias nana and java fern, eheim pro external filter and heater (not sure which model) and a tetra tec internal 400 filter. Stat's are fine and doing weekly 20% water changes. I currently have in:
10 zebra danio
6 cardinal tetra
3 black phantom tetra
1 otocinclus
7 amano shrimp
2 dwarf gourami (1m 1f)
2 guppies

Is this pretty much stocked? just because i'm going on a day out to a Hayes Garden centre next week as it's fairly close and just had a big fish section added and i want to know whether i'd be ok to buy anything if it catches my eye! (most likely upping my tetra numbers or something similar in size to my dwarf gourami such as a german blue ram)

Thanks for any advice

 

[mattlee]

i would up the numbers of species you already have and see how it looks and test the water to see how the nitrates are effected after a week or two.

as none of these fish are big bioloads on the filter you can get away with more.

defo get more cardinals and black phantom tetras and also the oto will be better off in a group so another 6 of these would be great.

i know its frustrating wanting lots of different fish and buying the same fish seems odd to begin with but once you see their natural behaviour in bigger groups its well worth it.

i would be tempted to add some cory to that tank. say a group of 6 bronze corys would be great.

 

[dalethewhale]

i would up the numbers of species you already have and see how it looks and test the water to see how the nitrates are effected after a week or two.

as none of these fish are big bioloads on the filter you can get away with more.

defo get more cardinals and black phantom tetras and also the oto will be better off in a group so another 6 of these would be great.

i know its frustrating wanting lots of different fish and buying the same fish seems odd to begin with but once you see their natural behaviour in bigger groups its well worth it.

i would be tempted to add some cory to that tank. say a group of 6 bronze corys would be great.

Thanks for the advise Will definately up the numbers of my tetra's then.
Not sure about the oto though, i had a group of 4 and 3 died, as i hear they are prone to, in the first month (in my smaller tank)
The losses make me cautious about buying more!

 

[mattlee]

i would up the numbers of species you already have and see how it looks and test the water to see how the nitrates are effected after a week or two.

as none of these fish are big bioloads on the filter you can get away with more.

defo get more cardinals and black phantom tetras and also the oto will be better off in a group so another 6 of these would be great.

i know its frustrating wanting lots of different fish and buying the same fish seems odd to begin with but once you see their natural behaviour in bigger groups its well worth it.

i would be tempted to add some cory to that tank. say a group of 6 bronze corys would be great.

Thanks for the advise Will definately up the numbers of my tetra's then.
Not sure about the oto though, i had a group of 4 and 3 died, as i hear they are prone to, in the first month (in my smaller tank)
The losses make me cautious about buying more!

when looking at them try and find the ones that look like they have had a good meal. by this i mean look for a round belly as this is a sure fact that they are eating.

they are quite prone to die early on because of the way they are collected from the wild. try to grow some algae on a rock in some water on the windowsill for them to graze on.