The beauty of lightly stocked tanks

[JuiceBox52]

A quote, shared with permission, by a member of a fb fish group I’m in

“You know why I will never understand those people who overstock the heck out of their tanks?

Because I love the subtle beauty of having a well-planted, minimally stocked tank, where the fish can DECIDE whether or not you see them. Looking at your tank and occasionally seeing the flash of scales of a healthy fish swimming around the peaceful home you made for it.

They can hide or flaunt as much as they want. When tanks are overstocked they can't do that. They have to keep moving either to avoid aggressive tank mates or to attempt to find someplace to hide from all the mayhem for ten seconds. I'm sure if those fish had the fish-equivalent of eye bags, they'd look like me my senior year of high school.

In my favorite kind of tanks, you build trust with the fish. They reveal themselves and come up to the tank because they recognize your face and know that means food and not danger. There's something magical about a such shy animals learning to trust YOU, a giant human many, many times its size.

You don't get that same effect in poorly stocked tanks.”
-Tara Clare

 

[Rocky998]

A quote, shared with permission, by a member of a fb fish group I’m in

“You know why I will never understand those people who overstock the heck out of their tanks?

Because I love the subtle beauty of having a well-planted, minimally stocked tank, where the fish can DECIDE whether or not you see them. Looking at your tank and occasionally seeing the flash of scales of a healthy fish swimming around the peaceful home you made for it.

They can hide or flaunt as much as they want. When tanks are overstocked they can't do that. They have to keep moving either to avoid aggressive tank mates or to attempt to find someplace to hide from all the mayhem for ten seconds. I'm sure if those fish had the fish-equivalent of eye bags, they'd look like me my senior year of high school.

In my favorite kind of tanks, you build trust with the fish. They reveal themselves and come up to the tank because they recognize your face and know that means food and not danger. There's something magical about a such shy animals learning to trust YOU, a giant human many, many times its size.

You don't get that same effect in poorly stocked tanks.”

Love this! Completely agree with the original person quoted here!
I love under-stocking. It really does have so many benefits and gives the aquarium a nice feel. I really dislike seeing tons of fish in a tank where they don't have a lot of "personal space". Even my two peacock gudgeons in my 20g high I feel bad for.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Well sure, but, but, but...Fish! I want all of them!

 

[WhistlingBadger]

But seriously. Beautifully put. I always tend to stock my tanks just a little more than I should, because I have little self-control. But I do love a tank with an element of mystery to it, where there at least a few fish that aren't in your face all the time. My red phantom tetras and marble hatchets serve that purpose in my 150g. You don't even see them unless you look for them, but when you do see them they're beautiful. I like that.

 

[Fishmanic]

In my 29 gallon tank, I have 3 black skirt tetras, 4 tiger barbs, and 2 Bolivian Ram. The black skirts and tiger barbs are survivors from an aged larger group. I consider the tank lightly stocked. I do 50% water changes about every 12 days which is a benefit of a lightly stocked tank.

My 5 gallon tanks houses a lone neon tetra...a survivor from a larger group. He has survived failed heater, ich, numerous tank moves, and more. When the lights come on, he comes right to the front of the tank looking for his dinner. My water is on the harder side so I don't want to add any more neons...I have not had much luck keeping them in the past.

Even though a larger school of tiger barbs is usually recommended, I don't find that they nip at each other at all. And the barbs and tetras don't both each other either. The Bolivian Rams have their own territories on opposite ends of the tank and have driftwood to hide under and munch on. They also each have a flagstone cave in which they occasionally hide.

 

[GaryE]

That passage quoted in why I ended up with a lot of tanks. I like to see a lot of mysterious fish, and in a light stocking, that option is open. I would add that putting small numbers of microfish in a large tank (enough to respect their social needs) can be very beautiful. You have rocks, wood and plants galore, and fish moving though them all making the tank look larger than it is.

If you do it right, there will be a slow, steady rate of breeding that will grow the numbers a bit, but replace single species community members as they age and die.

All you need is a lot of space, a luxury not all of us have.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Its the old "thrive or tolerate" thing that comes with experience in fishkeeping.

When first starting out its the proverbial kid in a sweetshop...all the pretty fish and bright colours to choose from (and that is often egged on by the sales person too)

Over time and as you progress in keeping fish you learn that less is more, the numbers of specific fish for a certain sized aquarium on those stocking websites mean nothing. If anything they tend to encourage the wrong behaviour in fishkeeping....."how many of such'n'such can I keep?" ..... "ooooh...can I squeeze another of those in....it says I can on the website, so must be OK"

My Neons in the 53....meant to be 30 in there.....rarely do I actually see all of them apart from feeding time when they all gather at the glass. Any other given time, I see maybe 10-15 of them...the rest are off doing their own thing, totally ignoring me (which I am very used to and not just by the fish).

Stocking websites have alot to answer for in encouraging overstocking or borderline stocking......they lull people who are new to the hobby into a sense of false security as to how many fish will fit into that glass box.

There is also a certain amount of peer pressure too, well sort of peer pressure.......someone gets their first aquarium, is careful with their stocking, wants to keep it below what the websites say and then when family and friends come round "Oh...your aquarium is a bit empty, why don't you get more fish so that everyone can see them?"

"Perfect balance stocking" comes with time, practice and experience....and a vast amount of self control.

 

[JuiceBox52]

That passage quoted in why I ended up with a lot of tanks. I like to see a lot of mysterious fish, and in a light stocking, that option is open. I would add that putting small numbers of microfish in a large tank (enough to respect their social needs) can be very beautiful. You have rocks, wood and plants galore, and fish moving though them all making the tank look larger than it is.

If you do it right, there will be a slow, steady rate of breeding that will grow the numbers a bit, but replace single species community members as they age and die.

All you need is a lot of space, a luxury not all of us have.

I agree! I’m a much bigger fan of tiny fish in large tanks. Single species tanks are also a favorite

 

[Playsander]

I agree in principle, but wait, look at that lovely fishy I realy want and all self control disappears.

Also my guppys make overstocking unavoidable

 

[connorlindeman]

I love lightly stocked tanks.
I have a 10g with 3 clown killis, another 10 with 2 pea puffers, and now my newest one will be lightly stocked as well. All the tanks are heavily planted. To me, its more natural that way.

 

[Archerfish]

One of the most beautiful aquariums I've ever had was a Dutch style planted tank. Visitors (especially those who had aquariums) would rave over the gorgeous plants. It was always fun to hear someone say, "Hey, there are fish in there!"

 

[joeyr188]

I agree! But its hard to have a lightly stocked tank when you have guppies

 

[JuiceBox52]

One of the most beautiful aquariums I've ever had was a Dutch style planted tank. Visitors (especially those who had aquariums) would rave over the gorgeous plants. It was always fun to hear someone say, "Hey, there are fish in there!"

I love that as well! They’re talking about the pretty plants, 5 minutes later they see the fish and get excited all over again

 

[JuiceBox52]

I agree! But its hard to have a lightly stocked tank when you have guppies

I have soft water so luckily I don’t have that problem

 

[GaryE]

And now to stir the pot... guppies with giant tails scream to be seen. They're quite spectacular, if you look at them as if you've never seen one before.

The idea of a lightly stocked tank often involves colourful fish, but those fish are meant to be low key. Having to look for them is part of the tank design style. When you see them, you're supposed to go wow.

10 guppies in a 75 gallon, out there trying to compete with the Las Vegas strip in 1980 just don't do "you have to look for them" well.