[jellopuddinpop]

Hi everyone.

I'm working on stocking up my current tank, and will be adding some new fish as soon as they are out of quarantine. I have a 125G tank, heavily planted, filtered by an FX6. Here is my current stock list, including the new fish:

10x Boesmani Rainbowfish
10x Turquoise Rainbowfish
7x Torpedo Barbs
6x Panda Cory
6x Bronze Cory

I ran this through Aqadvisor, and it showed me slightly overstocked, but not by much.

Here's the rub...
My LFS is moving to a smaller building, and has to downsize. He wants to get rid of some of his larger fish, and is willing to sell them for a ridiculously low price. He's offering 3 Adult Torpedos (6"ish) for $15 ea and 4 Adult Pearl Gourami (5"ish) for $10 ea. That's $90 for what I would value at close to $300 worth of fish. The problem, is that I was already pushing it stock wise. I feel like this would put me over the top. For what its worth, aqadvisor puts this at 150% stocked, or basically, grossly overstocked.

I already do %50 weekly PWC, and clean my filter every 2 weeks.

Would you risk it?

 

[varanidguy]

I didn't have good luck keeping pearl gouramis with rainbows, the boisterous behavior of the rainbows didn't jive with them.

But yeah I'd risk it stocking wise.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[PlantedRich]

When tempted, I have to look at the odds and debate it much as any gamble.
Upfront, it seems like a bargain but you do sound like you may be nearing the top of the amount of work you want to do. But that is a guess and something only you will know.
But what is the end game if you do take the fish and you do succeed? They will get larger and more heavily stocked OR there is the chance that you will let something slip up, even if it doesn't show right away and you can lose much of the new stock as well as lots of the existing!
Personally, I find letting fish get sick to the point they require treatment or they die is just so bad, that I do not want to ever go there again!
But it is a gamble as you already are concerned about it, so how much gamble for what level of gain, are you willing to take?
It would be nice if we could just plug in the numbers and get a firm answer on stocking but stocking isn't that simple and nobody can see the details like what your life will be like six months from now! That leaves me to recommend being conservative on stocking and if you do decide to go for it, have an alternate worked out in advance for what you might want to do to get things back in order---just in case it goes bad. A new tank to cut the load or solve aggression, trade them back to a store, even if it means taking a loss? The best priced fish in the world is not a bargain if it drives me crazy to keep it alive!

 

[Tiger15]

I keep an average about 57 fish from 1 to 9 inch, many cichlid, in my planted 125g which I keep tract of with a spread sheet to quantify the bio load. I run three 200 gph HOBs, a 600 gph circulation pump, and do 75% WC weekly. My fish and plants are healthy with no algae.

Your stocking is light in comparison to mine. As long as you keep up with large WC and run adequate filtration, you are fine.


# Inch Inches
Bristle 12 2 24
Flametail male 4 4 16
Tiger Barb 6 2 12
Frontosa. 1 9 9
Diamond Tetra 5 1 5
T. maculipinnis 2 3 6
L. Elongatus 1 4 4
Fryeri Iceberg 1 5 5
Red spot Sev 1 7 7
Rotkeil Sev 1 6 6
Pink Tail. 1 6 6
Roseline Barb 3 2 6
SAE 3 2 6
Congo Tetra 6 2 12
T. aureus Peten 1 1.5 1.5
Turkana Jewel 8 1.5 12
C. nanoleutus 1 3 3

Total # 57. 140.5 inches
Inch per gallon. 1.124

 

[jellopuddinpop]

snip

Holy smokes, that is a really heavily stocked tank, but looks amazing! I think you made my mind up for me=)

 

[PlantedRich]

Holy smokes, that is a really heavily stocked tank, but looks amazing! I think you made my mind up for me=)

Fully agree with this and it does bring out part of what I meant. Stocking is often as much about the fishkeeper as it is the fish numbers! Some can handle it and we do need to be honest with ourselves or have a plan ready if we do over estimate what we can handle.
Nothing wrong with being bold and daring- just as long as we know how to get out of any problems we may find.

 

[Greggz]

Depends on your goals.

Low light easy plants you can get away with high stocking.

Turn up the light with stems and not so much.

As usual, the answer is "it depends".

 

[jellopuddinpop]

Depends on your goals.

Low light easy plants you can get away with high stocking.

Turn up the light with stems and not so much.

As usual, the answer is "it depends".

I'm not sure I'm following. I would think cranking the lights with heavy consumers would be a good thing, no? I would think more nitrate and phosphate consumption would be a good thing if I was overstocked.

Edit: I'm running a min of 60 PAR at the substrate right along the front glass, with CO2 (ph drop of 1.4) and 1/2 EI dosing. I'll be increasing to full EI once the plants really fill in. The tank is newly planted, but I'm reusing my substrate and filter so it didn't cycle at all.

snip

As far as commitment to maintenance, I'm already VERY pregnant on that front. My wife surprised me with architectural plans that she drew up to build the tank into the center of the wall in my foyer. This thing is smack dab in the middle of my entryway lol.. I don't have a choice but to keep a spotless tank, or I'll be in the doghouse lol.

 

[Tiger15]

I'm not sure I'm following. I would think cranking the lights with heavy consumers would be a good thing, no? I would think more nitrate and phosphate consumption would be a good thing if I was overstocked.

Edit: I'm running a min of 60 PAR at the substrate right along the front glass, with CO2 (ph drop of 1.4) and 1/2 EI dosing. I'll be increasing to full EI once the plants really fill in. The tank is newly planted, but I'm reusing my substrate and filter so it didn't cycle at all.



As far as commitment to maintenance, I'm already VERY pregnant on that front. My wife surprised me with architectural plans that she drew up to build the tank into the center of the wall in my foyer. This thing is smack dab in the middle of my entryway lol.. I don't have a choice but to keep a spotless tank, or I'll be in the doghouse lol.

My 125g is located in the entry foyer like yours, 75g in my living room, and shrimp bowls in my front windows so no visitors can miss. I sit on my sofa, read book or browse IPad, and can view all tanks close up with a binocular.

I have been a cichlid keeper before I added plants, and overstocking is a strategy to diffuse aggression. So I have overstocked long before adding plants. I read that overstocking is bad for plants as high organic waste is magnet for algae. I did struggle with algae at the beginning, but probably no worse than many beginners. But after a year of balancing act, there is no more algae despite high stocking. In fact, I had more bba before adding light and plants, as I didn’t know how to combat bba which thrive in low light fish only tank. Now in weekly 75% WC, I spray all exposed surfaces and plants with 3% H2O2, and dose 2 ppm Glutaldehyde after refilling, there is no trace of bba anywhere for the first time.

I think the biggest issue of overstocking is aesthetic. Overstocking ruin the scale, tranquility and artistic of a Nature Aquarium. Over stocking of big fish in a mountain or jungle style nature aquarium ruin the Zen tranquility, and is out of scale as Godzilla invasion. Dutch style may be less ruined as Dutch is all about color, but too many brightly colored fish steal the show. I’m no purist and love both fish and plants, and plenty of them.

 

[ipkiss]

My 125g is located in the entry foyer like yours, 75g in my living room, and shrimp bowls in my front windows so no visitors can miss. I sit on my sofa, read book or browse IPad, and can view all tanks close up with a binocular.

Love the panoramic picture illustrating the view and the need for the binoculars!

 

[Discusluv]

I overstock 99.9 % of the time. But, I am big on water changes and over-filtration so I eliminate any risks in doing so. Well, let me rephrase that, water-changes, over-filtration, and experience work to eliminate risk. I know when my fish are stressed by environmental factors/illness by changes to their behaviors. Experience and observation are also key to healthy fish.

I dont like a frenetic look to my tank, however,- with many different types of fish going many different directions.
So, as a rule I will typically overstock my schooling fish, bottom dwellers in only 1-3 types of fish per zone depending on tank size.

 

[Asteroid]

..

I think the biggest issue of overstocking is aesthetic. Overstocking ruin the scale, tranquility and artistic of a Nature Aquarium. Over stocking of big fish in a mountain or jungle style nature aquarium ruin the Zen tranquility, and is out of scale as Godzilla invasion. Dutch style may be less ruined as Dutch is all about color, but too many brightly colored fish steal the show. I’m no purist and love both fish and plants, and plenty of them.

The aesthetic is definitely a big part of it. It all depends on what's important to you. I don't mind overstocking in number since you can do it based on WC and maintenance, but I don't like big fish in small tanks. I don't find that pleasing to look at regardless of your WC and maintenance habits.

Bump:

...
As far as commitment to maintenance, I'm already VERY pregnant on that front. My wife surprised me with architectural plans that she drew up to build the tank into the center of the wall in my foyer. This thing is smack dab in the middle of my entryway lol.. I don't have a choice but to keep a spotless tank, or I'll be in the doghouse lol.

I hear ya! My main tank is always in the kitchen so it's got to look good. When I used to have stems that colored up on the top, my wife would say "nice flowers" and I would say "yes dear."

 

[RobnSonji]

I dont think i would risk it

Ive burned myself before buying things i didn't want jusy because it was a deal lol

 

[Tiger15]

The aesthetic is definitely a big part of it. It all depends on what's important to you. I don't mind overstocking in number since you can do it based on WC and maintenance, but I don't like big fish in small tanks. I don't find that pleasing to look at regardless of your WC and maintenance habits.
."

Many pet fish owners keep tankbuster (Flowerhorn,Dovii, Oscar, Jaguar, etc) in relatively small tank and it looks fine without scape as fish is the center of attention.

But any scaped tank, big or small, will not look good with big fish as the center of attention is the scape. The largest Iwagumii tank in the world designed by Takashi Amano in Sumida Aquarium in Tokyo has the smallest fish, hundreds of cardinal tetra.

 

[Asteroid]

Many pet fish owners keep tankbuster (Flowerhorn,Dovii, Oscar, Jaguar, etc) in relatively small tank and it looks fine without scape as fish is the center of attention.

But any scaped tank, big or small, will not look good with big fish as the center of attention is the scape. The largest Iwagumii tank in the world designed by Takashi Amano in Sumida Aquarium in Tokyo has the smallest fish, hundreds of cardinal tetra.

I agree about the scapes. Scale is everything. If I put a Gourami in my tank you would realize how small it is.

Fish are for viewing so for me it's largely aesthetic even without a real scape. Just because you can over-filter and put a big fish in a small setting it just doesn't no anything for me personally even if the fish was the main center of attention. Just saying you could push this too far.

 

[JJ09]

My 125g is located in the entry foyer like yours, 75g in my living room, and shrimp bowls in my front windows so no visitors can miss. I sit on my sofa, read book or browse IPad, and can view all tanks close up with a binocular.....

How do you have those shrimp bowls attached to the windows? Looks neat

 

[Tiger15]

How do you have those shrimp bowls attached to the windows? Looks neat

I bought the “hanging fish bowl” from eBay and hanged them on the window hinge with fish line. They are semi bowls that come in different size and all made in China.