Would this be over stocked?

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taylor the beast

Exodon
MFK Member
Oct 16, 2015
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england
Right so i have a 55 gal (200 litre) tank 100 cm long with fake planted tank..( as all my swords and grass got destroyed by the fish...sadly had to convert to plastic) running a Fluval U4 and a EFX 300 with a sandy white substate currently stocking:
1 fire mouth
1 blue acara
1 festive
2 rainbow (cichlids)
1 sengal bicher
1 bristlenose pleco
1 catfish of some sort..( synodontis type of one..my LFS coudnt identify it) but he is quite big...looks like a cuckoo catfish combined with a featherfin.
And i went to my LFS today and saw the perfect fish to finish my collection!:
1 rocket gar
1 delzi bicher
1 beautiful chocolate cichlid -
1 dazerling Urau cichlid ...( both in the same tank)
And i was just wondering if they would all work and fully stock my tank?...i really want to get both of the cichlid as i dont really want to break the brotherhood...heheh oh and i was just wondering cause im upgrading to a 6ft long 450 litre tank at christmas if a fire eel would be to big for that size of tank and if so ..what other freshwater eels could go in a 6ft tank? Thanks in advance! :)
 
james99 said:
I'd say you're stocked now maybe slightly over stocked. Water are you water parameters? I wouldn't add anything until the new tank is set up.
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Ah okay just the ..tank...looks so empty the dets are as follows
Ph...7.1
Temp is 24.5 c
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Would that be fully stocking the new tank aswell then? With the new fish added? Thank you
 
The immediate alarm bell for me is your reading of zero nitrate. You have quite a stock list there for such a relatively small tank. Unless they're all tiny juveniles and you hardly feed them i would certainly have expected some level of nitrate. Did you take that reading straight after a very large water change? Your nitrate level just BEFORE a water change is the figure you need. This is the figure that determines whether you're over doing it stock wise. I have a feeling if you did a thorough nitrate test with an API test kit just BEFORE a water change it would be very unlikely to be zero.
 
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esoxlucius said:
The immediate alarm bell for me is your reading of zero nitrate. You have quite a stock list there for such a relatively small tank. Unless they're all tiny juveniles and you hardly feed them i would certainly have expected some level of nitrate. Did you take that reading straight after a very large water change? Your nitrate level just BEFORE a water change is the figure you need. This is the figure that determines whether you're over doing it stock wise. I have a feeling if you did a thorough nitrate test with an API test kit just BEFORE a water change it would be very unlikely to be zero.
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Oh yeh your right they were 3 days ago just agyer i did a 40 percent water change just done another one now...and it reads 5 ppm...??? Is that okay? Thank you in advance
 
taylor the beast said:
Oh yeh your right they were 3 days ago just agyer i did a 40 percent water change just done another one now...and it reads 5 ppm...??? Is that okay? Thank you in advance
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If you did a 40% water change 3 days ago i'm guessing that you wont be doing another one until tuesday or wednesday (i'm assuming you do 40% a week). Your 5ppm reading today doesn't mean a great deal really. What i'd do is feed as usual for the next few days and on your next water change day post your nitrate reading. The figure you post will tell us where you're at stock wise and whether you can indeed add some stock or thin your current stock out. It will also tell you whether your current 40% weekly regime is sufficient to maintain a healthy tank.
 
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esoxlucius said:
If you did a 40% water change 3 days ago i'm guessing that you wont be doing another one until tuesday or wednesday (i'm assuming you do 40% a week). Your 5ppm reading today doesn't mean a great deal really. What i'd do is feed as usual for the next few days and on your next water change day post your nitrate reading. The figure you post will tell us where you're at stock wise and whether you can indeed add some stock or thin your current stock out. It will also tell you whether your current 40% weekly regime is sufficient to maintain a healthy tank.
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Okay sounds good and yes i do 40 percent every week. I will post the nitrate reading just before i do the water change. Thanks for the reply :)
 
I would wait until you get the 6 foot tank to add anything. All of those fish you want are commonly found, they'll still be around by Christmas time.
 
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Do you use liquid or strip tests? Tests are stupidly inaccurate
 
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