Stocking Question

[Joshy]

I have a 30 L tank.
It has two filters running on it doing 400L an hour combined.
It is planted well, plants are flourishing.

It currently has 3 pgymy/honey gourami’s and 10 pgymy/micro/galaxy rasbora and one shrimp.
The rasbora are tiny and I wanted to know if my stocking would permit me to add anything else? Maybe 6 harlequin rasbora or 6 pgymy cories?


Im going to the fish shop in 20 minutes (my only chance to go for a while).
So quick responses needed.

Thanks.

 

[Axleuk]

I have a 30 L tank.
It has two filters running on it doing 400L an hour combined.
It is planted well, plants are flourishing.

It currently has 3 pgymy/honey gourami’s and 10 pgymy/micro/galaxy rasbora and one shrimp.
The rasbora are tiny and I wanted to know if my stocking would permit me to add anything else? Maybe 6 harlequin rasbora or 6 pgymy cories?


Im going to the fish shop in 20 minutes (my only chance to go for a while).
So quick responses needed.

Thanks.

Get the Cories, they have virtually no footprint on the tank as they are bottom dwellers altough 30L is not really much to play with.

 

[minxfishy]

More shrimp - the tank is pretty stocked IMO.

If you do want pygmy cories, best to wait until the tank is mature - not that you said how long you had it running, but thought Id mention it

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Get the Cories, they have virtually no footprint on the tank as they are bottom dwellers.

sorry thats rubbish advice, a gibbiceps plec is also a bottom dweller, you try telling anyone that doesn't have an impact on the stocking!! They still need room to swim in, they still poop, they still contribute to the stocking levels.

you have an 8 gallon tank, general guideline for stocking is 1" of fish per gallon of water, so you can have 8" of fish, it's flexible so push it up to 10 or something like that if you like but not much higher.

you currently have

3 honey gouramis - 2" each - 6"
10 galaxy rasbora - 0.75" each - 7.5"
1 shrimp - 1"

so thats 14.5" of fish. so sorry but you are already overstocked and should not add anymore fish.

 

[Axleuk]

Get the Cories, they have virtually no footprint on the tank as they are bottom dwellers.

sorry thats rubbish advice, a gibbiceps plec is also a bottom dweller, you try telling anyone that doesn't have an impact on the stocking!! They still need room to swim in, they still poop, they still contribute to the stocking levels.

you have an 8 gallon tank, general guideline for stocking is 1" of fish per gallon of water, so you can have 8" of fish, it's flexible so push it up to 10 or something like that if you like but not much higher.

you currently have

3 honey gouramis - 2" each - 6"
10 galaxy rasbora - 0.75" each - 7.5"
1 shrimp - 1"

so thats 14.5" of fish. so sorry but you are already overstocked and should not add anymore fish.

Dont pick on me, i cry easily !!

I've had fart particles bigger than Pygmy Cories. and i did state 'virtually' no footprint. The guideline for stocking is exactly that, a guideline not a law

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ha ha, man down!!!

come on, i'm not being mean or anything, just trying to get decent advice across to people.

totally agree it's not the law, just a general guide. i would say the stocking in the tank now while over the guideline is pretty much fine, however it is not far off double the recommended level so I would definately not recommend adding more fish, flexibility is fine but you have to draw the line somewhere!!

 

[bzeng21]

yeah i've heard of that rule b4 as well and i guess it does provide a rough guidline. however a neon is about 1 inch when fully grown but i think 2 neons would take up less space than a gouramis and probably give out less crap as well.

but i wouldn't overstock too much cuz it puts too much pressure on the bio-filters.(i did once and got a massive NO2 hike)

 

[Joshy]

Okay thank you all for your fast replies.
The tank is very mature and water quality is fine now.
So i have no doubts that my stocking is 'fine' currently.

But i have taken on board your advice, i wont be adding any more to this tank.

 

[minxfishy]

Instead pick up a nice shiny new tank while your there

 

[Joshy]

Haha with three of them on the go at the moment, i think not.
I can always dream though.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah i've heard of that rule b4 as well and i guess it does provide a rough guidline. however a neon is about 1 inch when fully grown but i think 2 neons would take up less space than a gouramis and probably give out less crap as well.

but i wouldn't overstock too much cuz it puts too much pressure on the bio-filters.(i did once and got a massive NO2 hike)

yeah absolutely, there's a number of guidelines around for working out stocking levels, none of them are infallible so you should take them with a pinch of salt.

It's just to get a general idea though that's all.

If you stick to around 1" per gallon you'll have a nice easy level of stocking, you won't be pushing filtration to the max or pushing up the nitrate to dodgy levels and you've got a bit of a margin for error for example if you miss a tank clean for a couple of weeks in a tank stocked to 1" you'll probably have no problems at all, in a tank stocked to 2" you're much more likely to have health problems develop because of it.

 

[Axleuk]

Okay thank you all for your fast replies.
The tank is very mature and water quality is fine now.
So i have no doubts that my stocking is 'fine' currently.

But i have taken on board your advice, i wont be adding any more to this tank.

What that really means is, i am going to get some more fish, i just wont be silly and tell you guys because you will make me feel guilty

 

[OldMan47]

You won't have to answer to us for overstocking a tank AxleUK. You will have to answer the problems it will cause though.

 

[Axleuk]

You won't have to answer to us for overstocking a tank AxleUK. You will have to answer the problems it will cause though.

He's pushing 400L with two filters, i dont think he would have too much, if any problems to be honest.