Overstocking

[ferrikins]

sufface area and looking crowded is what I go by.

my tanks are always way over stocked, but they don't get sick the levels are as they should be and I have'nt had a death in months. (touch wood) My tank has been running about 2 years now.

 

[DragonLass]

Basically, a mix of options 1 & 5. When I started out, I used the inch per gallon rule as a guide. Its a great guide for beginners.
So, currently by that rule my tank is at max capacity. BUT, now I am more experienced, I look at my tank and it looks a bit bare, so common sense tells me it will be OK to add a few more, as long as I do it slowly and monitor my stats.

So basically, thats a long winded way of saying, use common sense

 

[lljdma06]

Basically, a mix of options 1 & 5. When I started out, I used the inch per gallon rule as a guide. Its a great guide for beginners.
So, currently by that rule my tank is at max capacity. BUT, now I am more experienced, I look at my tank and it looks a bit bare, so common sense tells me it will be OK to add a few more, as long as I do it slowly and monitor my stats.

So basically, thats a long winded way of saying, use common sense

You call that long-winded, DragonLass. That's nothing. Now my post, that was long-winded.

 

[smithy05]

i guess mine is similar to most when it starts looking full than i stop having egg layers i can few extra where as livebearers could fill it up to quick with excess fish i havent homes for. i make sure i dont overfeed to although when i get the khulis and corys in me new tank this shouldnt b a problem as they clean any extra food, plus as im having a kinda nursery part there b plenty of plants the can hide in from me big widow (greedy sod) sorry didnt pick a number couldnt remeber em LOL but yeah when it looks full tis full so i think thats a 5???

 

[dwarfgourami]

It can mean all sorts of things. When the filter can't cope obviously. But also when active fish don't have enough exploring room, to me that's overstocking (like a guppy in a 2 gallon tank). Or when 2 territorial fish don't have enough room for separate territories. I do use the inch/gallon rule to some extent, but it doesn't stop there.

My natural instinct is to understock, as I find overcrowded tanks look really boring, like people lined up for a group photograph. I prefer peering into the undergrowth and eventually making the discovery: look there's a FISH!

However, my livebearers do not agree with me, and I am now fully stocked even by more conventional standards.

 

[thapsus]

5.

The cm / litre rule is used everywhere that metric system is used I believe. No one uses inch / gallon rule here because we don't have inches or gallons. So regarding to our rules we can keep much more fish in our tanks. Almost all finns have planted tanks thought. And it's also recommended to change 50% of water weekly. We also don't keep any bigger fishes in small tanks. For example molly can't be put under 100 l = 25 us gallon tank. And nothing can be kept in under 10 gallon tank. Not even a betta.

I don't believe cm/l or inch/gallon rules at all. For example if I do some calculations with one of my own tanks:

108 liters aquarium = 28,5 us gallons = about 95 liter of water = 25 us gallons of water
fishes:
rasboras 30*2cm = 60cm = 23.5 inches
three stripe gouramys = 4*5cm = 20cm = 7.8 inches
anjunganensis gouramys 2*3cm = 6cm = 2.4 inces
kuhli loaches 6*5cm = 30cm = 11.8 inches
= 116cm = 45.7 inches

+ 3 bamboo shrimps + amano shrimps

So that is little too much when calculated with cm / litre rule and way too much when calculated with inch / gallon rule. How ever, my nitrate is 5 before water change. Oxygen level is high enough. And I don't get much phosphate either. And tank doesn't look too busy.

So I'm overstocking badly according to those rules but I have no problems.

 

[Lynden]

I am overstocked according to most rules, but i have been running the tank for two years and have yet to have a problem.

If the fish stop breeding and thriving, I'll consider it a problem.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I think the main things to take into consideration when stocking a tank to prevent it from being overstocked/having issues are;

a. How big the fish grows and what is its current size.
b. Is it a big waste producing one or small one.
c. Is the fish very hyper active or hardly active.
d. What are the dimensions of the tank.
e. Is the fish agressive or peaceful.
f. What are the chances of the fish breeding.
g. How much decor does the tank have and what sort of decor i.e rocks/wood/plants etc.
h. How long has the tank been set up and does it have any issues.
i. How powerful is the filter.
j. How often do you do tank maintance i.e water changes and substrate cleaning sessions.
k. Is the tank marine, brackish or freshwater and is it tropical or coldwater?
l. What is the fish's compatability like with its tank mates and vice versa.
m. What is the fish's dietry requirements at a minimum?
n. How often do you feed the fish.
o. What temp is the tank set at and how much does the temp fluctuate during night and day(if at all).



etc, etc, etc...I think theres alot more to overstocking a tank than simply putting in more inches fish than it can handle, theres a certain amount of common sense involved of course when it comes to stocking, but that doesn't nesarsarily mean its easy to properly stock a tank and actually do it right .

 

[tonilee7]

I have alot of fish in one of my tanks, or probably in alot of my tanks. I havn't had any problems the fish seem happy enough, the only problems I have are with sail fin molly's and neons. Now my mother inlaws tanks they are OVERSTOCKED to the max I have tried explaining to her that it's not good but she won't listen.

The stupid part is none of her fish ever dye they seem happy as ever.

mmmmmmmm I think if your fish look happy then your tank is fine. But like the person earlier said if you look at it and it looks fine then it's fine to you anyway.

 

[Tolak]

My tanks are mostly oriented towards breeding, so most of them would be considered incredibly overstocked by any rule or perception of beauty, unless you are a breeder. Other angel breeders tell me I could fit more in, no problem, bare bottom packed tanks are a thing of beauty. All in the eye of the beholder.

My tanks that aren't used for breeding are stocked more normally, a trio of platys in a 10 gallon and such. These are set up more like show tanks, gravel & other decos. Believe it or not, except for water changes these tanks need more maintainance than the breeding & grow out tanks, due to having gravel, & having to clean around decos.

Tolak

 

[Matty]

I generally go with what my head tells me. right now, i'm waaay understocked ( 1 gourami and 12 tetras in a 90g), but when I set up my African cichlid tank, i plan to keep 30-35 fish in there, so it may be way overstocked, not in terms of space (it may be overstocked slightly), but in waste. I plan to balance this out by overfiltering my tank massively ( something like 15x the tank volume per hour)

 

[BabySealClubber]

So as mentioned in the title what is overstocking to you, here are some of the options:
1. The inch per gallon rule
2. The cm per liter rule
3. Fish can normally swim around
4. Normal water parameters (amonia,nitrite: 0ppm; nitrate: ~20 ppm or below)
5. Fish can normally swim around, normal water parameters (amonia,nitrite: 0ppm; nitrate: ~20 ppm or below) and there is enough O2 for the fish to live normaly.
6. there is enough O2 for the fish to live normaly

So what does it mean to you??

PS: This isn't a poll intentionaly.

I guess if I look at it from the perspective of trying to keep healthy water conditions for the fish, I would argue that a tank's maximum stocking capacity is determined by how much time on average I am willing to invest performing good husbandry for its inhabitants.

An example. Let's say I have an upper limit as to how many hours per week I can reasonably invest maintaining my setup (e.g. water change, rinsing filter media, vacuuming substrate, etc.). If my upper limit cannot export nitrate at a rate that keeps up with nitrate production, nitrate will eventually rise to an unhealthy concentration, and I would consider my tank overstocked.