New to keeping fish

[Bcrow]

Hi, I'm new to keeping fish. I have a 230litre tank I have had it for 4 months now, I get confused understanding what my stock limit is. I have an external filter with 2kg biohome media and a sponge air filter.

I currently have

3 angel fish
5 Cory's
5 congo tetra
1 dwarf gourami
2 x blue lobsters
2 x peacock goby (forgot there real name)

Is my tank already Overstocked?

Thanks

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

--------------------
Crayfish, crawfish, lobsters should not be kept with fish because they are nocturnal predators that eat fish and plants at night.

 

[ITViking]

Hi, I'm new to keeping fish. I have a 230litre tank I have had it for 4 months now, I get confused understanding what my stock limit is. I have an external filter with 2kg biohome media and a sponge air filter.

I currently have

3 angel fish
5 Cory's
5 congo tetra
1 dwarf gourami
2 x blue lobsters
2 x peacock goby (forgot there real name)

Is my tank already Overstocked?

Thanks

There's different ways to look at overstocking. There's the bio-load, and then there's the specific needs of the fish. I suspect that the space needs of the angels will be the biggest factor for you. But there are far more knowledgeable people on here that can confirm that.

 

[Bcrow]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

--------------------
Crayfish, crawfish, lobsters should not be kept with fish because they are nocturnal predators that eat fish and plants at night.

Thanks for reply please see below
Tank dimensions
116W x 38D x 60H cm

GH - 112.8 mg/l
Ph - 7.47
Kh-

282 mg/l	:Calcium Carbonate
112.8 mg/l	:Calcium

 

[ITViking]

2' isn't a lot of height for angels. Also, watch out for those blue crayfish/lobsters; they are territorial with others of their kind, and like to eat fish. If you happen to have a male & female, it might not take long before you have way more than you want crawling around the tank.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi, I'm new to keeping fish. I have a 230litre tank I have had it for 4 months now, I get confused understanding what my stock limit is. I have an external filter with 2kg biohome media and a sponge air filter.

Stocking limit is based on a wide range of things like water changes, amount of food going into the tank, how peaceful or aggressive the inhabitants are, their size and swimming space requirements.

In a 4ft tank like yours, you could have 200 neon tetras (about 200 inches of fish) and that would be fine, but if you tried to put a 12 inch Jack Dempsey cichlid and a 12 inch Black belt cichlid in the tank, it would end badly due to the aggressive nature of these two cichlids. But the neons would be fine because they are peaceful and normally live in large groups.

If you feed your fish 10 times a day and do a water change once a month, then your tank is overstocked. If you feed twice a week and do a 75% water change every couple of days, you could add more fish.

So there are lots of variables, but I would say your tank is not currently overstocked if you feed once or twice a day, and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.

It also depends on how big your crayfish are?
We have marron (freshwater crayfish) in Western Australia and they grow to about 18-24inches long. I'm assuming the blue crayfish you have are much smaller (around 4-6 inches long).

You will have to watch the angelfish when they mature. If two of them pair off, they will pick on the third angelfish and it will need to be removed.

 

[Bcrow]

Thanks,

I currently feed my fish once a day and water change twice a week due to high nitrate levels in my tap water to try keep it below 40ppm

My blue crayfish are currently about 2 inches big, when I bought them the shop said they can eat other fish but they are never fast enough to catch fish and have never seen it happen.

Thanks
Ben