Bioload be able to handle...

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Captain Hook

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Aug 21, 2003
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If I add 2 blue rainbowfish and 2 ottos to a nice and healthy 35 gallon will that be too much at once? It's been established for awhile and all the fish are doing well. No live plants tho.
 

pinballqueen

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Aug 4, 2002
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I will usually not add more than a fish or two at a time to an established tank... but that is my personal preference. Better safe than sorry :) But then, I'm paranoid.

If the tank is well filtered and doesn't have any unhealthy fish in it, adding a few fish at once would be ok... just don't add a whole tankful.
 

snakeskinner

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Dec 27, 2003
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I don't know what is deemed acceptable but I have added 4 or 5 fish at a time to my 36 and 55 gallon tanks and never seen a rise in anything. Sometimes you can't help but add more than one or two. If you were to add one or two tiger barbs at a time, they could do some damage to other tank inhabitants or if you add one or two small schooling fish, they could be overstressed. I'm no expert by any means but I don't see how a tank bioload can stay completely stable to only sustain a certain number of bacteria. How many people feed a measured amount of food and measure the fish poop and how much goes into the filter? Can you vacuum out the same amount of debris every time you vacuum? In my opinion, the bioload fluctuates quite a bit anyway so the addition of fish depends more on the size of a tank. 4 or 5 gourami's added to a 10 gallon probably wouldn't be a smart idea but your additions in a 36 should be no problem since it's an established tank. Like I said, I'm no expert but this is just an educated observation. Kyle
 

dethjam316

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ottos are pretty tiny...they do best in larger groups...do you already have some? don't know anything about your tank as is. as for the rainbowfish, i don't know much about them. i'd imagine your plan will be fine if you have a healthy, established tank, but as pbq said, i would be cautious. i wouldn't add anymore that what your plan is.
 

jeffro426

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If your bio filtration is established well, you shouldnt have a problem. I added 7 fish to my community tank(100 gallon) at once after it had been running for about 9 months and didnt see an increase in anything but my viewing pleasure
 

ROLLIN

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Dec 4, 2001
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This is where a bio-wheel would come in handy. A well established bio-wheel can adjust to changes in the bio-load much better than a submerged sponge (or any other submerged filter media) can. About a year ago, I had to move about 20 white cloud mountain minnows from one tank into a 20 gallon that already had about 10 - 12 fish (filtration done by an emperor 280, and an aquaclear 150 with filter floss for extra mechanical filtration), and there wasnt any problems at all. If I wouldnt have had the emperor 280 with an established bio-wheel on the tank, my ammonia and nitrite probably would have went through the roof. Obviously adding that many fish at once isnt a good idea, but I had no choice at the time, and thankfully it all worked out.
 

Captain Hook

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Rollin good point about the biowheel. I have now decided not to move a sponge over because I will probably be getting some fish for that tank too.

The tank has a dual biowheel filter (about 10x per hour turnover) so I am hoping it won't be a problem.
 
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