for the last time, how many fish?

[finfan]

ok, i am sick of reading about how many fish i can keep in my tank

yer i read about the 1inch/gal rule, but to me 2 inches of cardinal is not the same as 2 inches of gold fish or gourami or angel or cichlid

so for the 30gal. Tall (24L"*12"W*24"H), planted tank, will this final plan work?

5 glow lights
20 cardinals
2 german blue rams (m/f)
2 or 3 endlers guppy (realize they might have a baby or two)
maybe 2 otto's and few yamato shrimp if i have a lot of algea

[supaflyz]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

Im facing the same problem as you.  I'm thinking of adding 40 more cardinals to my tank but dont know if that be to much fish for my tank.  The water is already dirty withing a week with all the fish waste.

[Fire_chair]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

Your list may work but if it was my tank I'd cut the number of cardinals by half and add a few more otto's. I think the length is too short for that many cardinals, I have 30" 29 and I wouldn't put 20 Neons in it. Just my opinion.

[finfan]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

i think you are right, the length is limiting for that many cardinals, i think i will do 12 cardinals

if i find celestial pearl danios, then i will get six of those and scrap the endlers and shrimp from the list

[eklikewhoa]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

It depends on how well planted and how much maintenance you want to do.

If you do weekly water changes test for nitrates before it and see how bad it got from your starting point and go from there.

If it were my tank I would scrap the glolights and endlers, probably raise the numbers on cardinals to 25 and up the ocats and shrimp bio load is super low so up that.

Right now in my 30g planted(36") I have 30-40 celestials(started with about 60-80 but poor stock died off) 1 discus, ~100 crystal red shrimp,10 praecox rainbows, 10-20 ocat nigers, 3 clown killies, snails etc and my nitrates don't register before a water after a week of heavy feeding and dosing nitrogen.

Guess what? My celestials are breeding(saw my first few swimmers that weren't in the filter) my CRS are multiplying and my killies have grouped together.

[AK-71]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

So fish count is mainly limited by nitrates? I can't measure any and my plants do better when I add nitrates from the bottle - could I increase put more fish in instead? Assuming they have enough space of course.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

IMO, water changes replenish minerals and such that fish need to be healthy and ferts help with the nutrients plants need.

As long as the fish are comfortable with the space then I don't see why not. If all is in order then you should be good to go.

I have had my tanks stocked heavily and no losses have surfaced due to it....if you have fish that attacking each other cause they are too cramp then that will be a problem.

Also test for O2 if you can cause that matter too.

[finfan]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

ek i like your suggestion of losing the glowlights, but i already have the 5 i mentioned above (have been using them for cycling) and they have become quite a brave bunch, and i think even in about 10 days they have grown - with not too much feeding, they have developed good personalities too, and they actually school (well 4 of them do, the other one will join the rest sometimes, but not when they are above the plant line), as you can tell i have a little soft spot for them already, so the only way i would want to lose them is if i can find them a good home elsewhere or maybe i can put them in my 5.5gal tank, i think 5 glowlights will be ok load for that tank, i just won't add anything else

ok, but if i scrap the glowlights and endlers (which i don't have yet), do you think i can do the following (of course assuming the nitrate and other parameters are in control)

15 cardinals
10 celestials
2 or 3 ocats (once my plants have grown)
several shrimps (once my plants have grown)

i want the tank to be heavily planted (i have light limitations, but i have so far gotten low light plants and want them to grow and take over, i might add a few more low light varieties), i have never used ferts, but i am willing to, i don't plan on doing CO2 at this time, what type of ferts are easy to apply and will help the plants instead of algae - given medium to low light conditions and no CO2 usage? fyi - i usually keep lights on for about 12 hours

i really appreciate your suggestions/help

[eklikewhoa]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

The plants need to be growing in order for it to be using up excess nutrients and that comes with Good lighting, Co2(either from the fish[really low amounts], seachem excel or injection) and nutrients. Low light plants grow slower so they uptake less nutrients so that will not be much of a change in your stocking.

I would ditch the Celestial since they are hard to obtain,expensive and will be hiding most of the time so you will rarely see them....only when you are not in the same room or only when feeding is about how much I see them.


Again I would rely on water testing to judge what you can do.....test your water before and after you do water changes for about 2wks or through 2 water changes and see where you stand.

[Mzungu]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

I think ek's got a point about the celestials. Why not just replace the 10 Celestials on your list with your 5 glowlights? Along with everything else, that would be perfect, IMO. Everyone likes the same parameters of water (cardinals, otos, glowlights) and it's not overstocked. Then, if you want to add a few more glowlights or something in the future, you can just chart how your water params are doing over time, and decide.

[finfan]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

the only thing with glowlights/cardinals etc are that there is no real chance of them breeding, i would love to have at least one type of fish that has a likelyhood of breeding, just for some possible excitement, i know celestials do, alternatively endlers, but they are too easy, i guess i can get a few regular danios and see if they ever breed, i doubt the rams will really breed!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

You have a much better chance of getting something else to breed then the Celestials. Plus with the other tankmates you plan to have you won't even notice the breeding since they are egg scatterers which means feeding time for all the other fish.

[finfan]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

alas, i guess either i would have to get very lucky or my plants grow so thick that some can hide or i will be babyless  :(

well then, here is the plan so far

5 glowlights (already have)
15 cardinals (have few, will get a few more)
2 blue rams (have to get)
ocats and shrimps (have to get)
maybe endlers (have to get - so there is some chance of babies)

[eklikewhoa]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

Setup a small tank for the endlers and get a few more cardinals in their place....After seeing what a large group of these guys look like I would never buy anything less.

[finfan]

Re: for the last time, how many fish?

will do that, now lets see if this disease episode has a decent ending first, what a buzzkill