Honest Opinion and Backing of stock.

[nfored]

I want you honest opinon on two questions.

1: Am I really over stocked or just slightly overstocked. I never thought I was really badly overstocked.


2: Can I some type of bottom dwelling fish(s) that will stir my sand all day long.



2 Oscars 1 x 9.5" 1 x 3" (3" O is currently growing out before joining this tank)
4 Bala Sharks 8"
1 Texas 6.5 "
1 Jack Dempsy 6.5"
1 Firemouth 4"
1 Jewel 4"
1 Polleni 4.5"
1 Rainbow Shark 5+"

Tank is 84x24x24 with a canister filter and overhead filter.


If you do think I can get some fish to play around in my sand all day, what should I get?

 

[bbortko]

If everyone gets along and your parameters are good, you're not overstocked.

 

[knifegill]

Best clue? Nitrates. Find our what your nitrates are, if you don't have plants or denitrification going on, it's a great clue to how much waste is building up in your tank each week before your water change.

For the record, FW deep sand beds work miracles. If none of your fish are diggers, you could add sand to about 4" and let it compact so it denitrifies your tank. I've been testing one in my 5g for a long time and it's amazing. They supposedly last about seven years before you have to finally have to restart them.

 

[love The Jack Dempseys]

I don't think your overstocked at all, as long as you keep the water clean(damn oscars lol) you should be fine. Balas are a pretty clean fish and thats a majority of your tank.

 

[nfored]

Historically my nitrates are 40ppm unless I do 75% water changes twice a week. My tap water comes out 20ppm so it takes a lot of water changes to drop it. I say historically because I have not tested since I put the tank backup after the stand failure due to my nitrate test being expired. I have actually been wondering about my nitrates myself, as I have made some changes in the way I filter my water that reduce the amount of build up in my sump.

I actually have a 250lbs of sand in my tank, and thats why I wanted some fish to move it around. I have been contemplating putting 50lbs of sand in a 5 gallon bucket and pumping about 100gph from the bottom up and having that drain through some carbon.

Thanks for all your replies? can any one suggest some fish I can get that would help move the sand around? I have good water flow now across the bottom of the tank, and if some little fishes could kick up sand all day it would in my mind kick up any waste trapped in the sand.

 

[NCStateFisher]

i think ur stock is fine maybe try adding a couple geophagus, that's my plan for my 75 lol gettin me a geo next time i see a nice one at the LFS

 

[Carefree_Dude]

if you really want sand to shift around, toss in some trumpet snails. They like to burrow. A spiny eel might work as well, as they like to burrow too.