Is my tank overstocked?

[SuzeeCat]

Hi,

I am absolutely terrible at calculate fish inches and the like. Everywhere I look on the net they seem to give different advice on stocking levels. All I want to know is have I got too many fish in my tank?

I have a Juwel Vision 260 ( 260 Litres, roughly 4ft x 2ft x 1ft)

At the moment I have the following in it

4 Clown Loaches
4 Bronze Corys
4 Zebra Danios
5 Cherry Barbs
6 Neon Tetras and
14 Tiger Barbs

I have 4 Bronze Cory fry in my hospital tank that I would like to put in as well. I also promised my husband that he could choose a plec but I don't think there is enough room. Ideally I would like to add the Cory fry and leave it at that. My husband has been on Planet Catfish for months choosing his plec, I am dreading telling him there is no room LOL

Suzeecat

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Well, I don't go on rules etc. I go on what the amonia/nitrIte/nitrAte levels are in the tank and how long they stay good if you do not do your maintenence.

So, if I wanted to know how stocked my tank was I'd not do a water change adn moniter the levels to see when they start getting bad.

It also depends on what area the fish occupy, at when time and very defiantley on filtration. Oh, it also depends on the surface area of the tank. So, a tall tank can have less fish than a long tank because of the decreased area for oxygen to get into the water.

Hope this helps

 

[tstenback]

The inches per gallon guideline is exactly that, a guideline. It is mentioned often here as it is a great guideline for those new to the hobby to go by until they learn enough about the chemistry of the hobby to go ahead and "overstock" the aquarium. Once you understand how the chemistry, filtration, bioload, feeding etc affest the environment in your tank, then you should be able to decide if you want to overstock and what is required to do that and still maintain a healthy environment for all the tank occupants. If you are using the inches per gallon guideline then in your tank you could have around 60" of adult fish. Remember those cute little angels etc will grow and it is the adult size that the guideline applies to. HTH

 

[Teelie]

Everyone in there is fine except the Clowns who will eventually need a 75 gallon or larger aquarium but they tend to be slow growers so you should be okay until they reach around the 5" mark. The Barbs are fin nippers though so remember that for the future if you ever want anything with flowing or fancy fins. Depending on the size of the Loaches, I wouldn't say you're overstocked but those guys alone can push the tank over the limit once they grow.

 

[SuzeeCat]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I guess I don't want to get a stocking level that would mean I would have to do extra water changes. I am partially disabled and can cope with cleaning my 2 tanks out every 7 to 10 days. I don't want to have to do it more often that that though! I guess my main concern is that even a small plec would increase my tank maintainance by a lot.

My Clowns are about 3 inches long, so I have a way to go before they will need a bigger tank. My Gouramis and Guppies are all ready in another tank, safe from the Barbs. I am not planning to add any other species to this tank, but my Cherry Barbs, Danios and Corys are regularly egg laying and I don't want to keep any more of their eggs unless I have room for the adults in this tank. My Tigers are take care of all the eggs unless I rescue them

 

[kittybug]

if you do want a plec i would recommend a bristlenose. they are smaller then many varieties of plecs, around 6 inches full grown. also they are EXCELLENT algea eaters. i have not cleaned the glass in my tank since i got my bristlenose.

 

[Stryker]

I am of the same oppinion. The 1" per gallon is only a guide. How many fish you can have depends on the fishies physical attributes, their temperment, your tank filtration and your reigme of maintenance.

If you know no better then go for 1" per gallon.