overstocking and tetras question

[Sharoane]

Hi all. I have a stocking question regarding tetras. Right now I am trying to stock my 30 gallon. It's been a major pain in the backside trying to find and purchase healthy fish of my choice but right now I am just about there. I think.

Right now (ignore my sig) I have six danios, six red eyed tetras, one rummy nose (the only survivor of four) who thinks he's a danio, one dwarf flame gourami and one oto.

I want to add a couple more otos and one more dwarf gourami. I know that this will put me a little over on stocking but I've heard that tetras don't put out as much waste as other fish their size. My water parameters are all fine and I have plenty of filtration. None of these fish get bigger than 2.5 inches.

What do you all think? Should I overstock a little and complete my tank?

 

[Guppylover]

I overstock my tanks...it's ok
As long as at water is fine and everything. You said that your filteration and water parameters were good is it will be ok.
It's also true that tetras produce little waste compared to other fish so that's another good thing.
How many more otos are you going to add? One more? My oto's are fine in pairs, so you only need too add one more if you don't want to overstock too much.

 

[yhbae]

I too, overstok my tank carefully, but I stopped doing this. I realized that overstocked tank requires much more care and difficult to keep them in shape during my vacation. I will soon address all of my tanks so that they are stocked just right.

 

[Sharoane]

I don't go away often--I'm the stay-at-home-during-vacation type plus I have a lot of animals to care for and I don't trust others to do it.

 

[tstenback]

over stocking is never recommended but if you are willing to do the extra work to ensure everything is kept up to par then it should be alright. Remember if anything goes wrong in an overstocked tank it is often amplified as you are already operating on the edge. This will mean closer monitoring of your parameters and increased frequency of water changes and perhaps increased volume of water change. best of luck with it

 

[Daveo]

Over stocking is all right as long as you do reagular water changes(1per 1-2 weeks). And as long as you do that and clean out the gravel. you will be fine and the tank will be fine. 8)


Daveo

 

[BigSteve]

♂ I like to overstock a bit also, and indeed you can get away with it more with tetras due to their small size and less waste produced. But of course you have to have good filtration (my Aqua Clear filter is slightly oversized for a 15 gal tank) and you have to be diligent about partial water changes and gravel cleaning. It also helps to carefully choose hardy fish. I would never have a rummy nose tetra due to how delicate and sensitive they are. There are plenty of other nice-looking and hardier tetras.

 

[Nina7777]

As already mentioned overstocking in rational terms is ok.

However I did want to mention that getting another dwarf gourami may not be such a good idea. I had two in my 30 gallon and all they did was fight. Just a bit of advice, all fish are different so you may be ok.

 

[LoveMyOscar]

...

 

[Sharoane]

Points heard and considered.

I do want to clarify that when I say "overstocked" I mean by four or five inches of fish at most and the majority of fish in the tank would be tetras.

My fish plan keeps changing, though. My dwarf gourami is kind of aggressive so unless I find a female he's going to be an only-dwarf-gourami. As for bottom-feeders, otos are just too fragile and I do NOT want a pleco of any kind in this tank.

Right now I'm happy with my tetras and danios, so the only additions would be some kind of bottom fish/algae eaters.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I think you can overstock a little becaue of the waste reason and I don't follow inch per gallon rules anyway. However, reading this topic I think you need to sort out whatever that problem is before buying more fish.

 

[Sharoane]

Oh yes...I plan on it!

I *just* got and set up a 10 gallon that will be for a betta and a few compatible small fish so cycling that should keep me busy. In the meantime I'm doing daily small water changes and keeping an eye on my water parameters. I might add a plant or two for the dwarf gourami.

I know my oto died by being stuck but I'm so bummed about the pleco...he'd been fine! Gah.