Stocking question - am I overstocked?

PuppyFluffer

PuppyFluffer

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Jan 9, 2008
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east coast USA
I have a 10 gallon moderately planted tank inhabitated by 9 hengeli rasboras, 6 cory hastatus (dwarf corys), and 3 otos.

There are also 4 nerite snails and about 80 cherry shrimp - mostly juveniles.

Water is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates. API liquid test.

I know 0 nitrate is not typical. I wonder if the plants are using all that is produced?

Do you think this is overstocked? I didn't intend the otos for this tank but I have a problem with the tank they were supposed to go into and I need to totally nuke it and start all over again. I know otos like to go into an established tank and I won't have that for them for quite a while as I must start all over. This means they will be in the current spot for a while.

What do you think?
 
It's overstocked IMO.
 
Can you tell me at what point you think it got overstocked?

I think things are fine with the rasboras and corys and that the otos put me over the edge a bit.

The shrimp are low bio load I understand as are the nerites. The nerites will move around from tank to tank eating algae as it is necessary. My plan is for 2 of them for each 10 gallon.

I plan to keep up on water changes very well as I don't really have any other choices at the moment.

After I get the other tank free of the freshwater leeches I imported, it will be set back up and once established the otos will go in there but that will be a bit as I have to kill the whole tank - filter media too. I plan to do a heavy salt treatment then bleach in the tank, then heavy rinse, dechlor and new substrate. I will have to cycle all over again. I'll seed with filter media from another tank and use ammonia for a fishless cycle until I get it going well, then move the otos back and restock the tank.
 
That is a lot without the fish...wow!

Shrimp are low bioload but still, 80 shrimp in 10 gallons of water is still a lot.

What type of test kit are you using? Unless your tank is very heavily planted I would expect your bioload to outweight the nutrient uptake of your plants...
 
I am using an API liquid test kit, about 6 months old.

How do you assess "heavily planted"? I'm new to this hobby and very new to plants.

Let me tell you what's in there for plants:
-one big huge ball of java moss. It started out as a small clump about 2-3 inches and is now easily 10 inches and basically roundish shaped. (Most of the baby shrimp hang out in the moss). I also have one smaller break away ball of moss about the size of the orginal one.
-two small anubias petite plants.
-two bronze crypts that have not grown much at all. They seem very stagnant.
-one hygro? I think I have this name right. It has one branch and has grown well.
-one very tiny corkscrew val - like an inch an a half tall. it's just getting started.
-three small dwarf sags. These are grass like right?

I think I have the above names correct. I got my plants from Msjinkz here. (She's a great help!)

I also have a two small pieces of wood. They are quite small.

When I say I have 80 shrimp, only about a dozen of them are adults. The rest are all juveniles and the vast majority are very small - a lot only a few millilmeters in size. I started the tank about six months ago with the shrimp and plants. I slowly stocked it with the rasboras in two sets (4 first then added 5). I waited a few months and ordered the corys then QT'd them for a month before adding. I just QT'd the otos for about 3 weeks. They came from a lfs that closed and had no new stock in the store for at least a month when I bought them.
I do water changes at least weekly and have an AC 20 on the tank. I am about to add a second AC 20 as I wish to have a spare running and I figure extra filtration can't hurt.

I plan to remove the large ball of moss and hopefully that will allow some natural predation upon the shrimp babies by the rasboras. I will let the smaller ball grow out and then thin that. I can also trade the shrimp at a lfs.
 
jm1212, gotcha!

These are hengeli rasboras, not harlequins, though they look similar, they are a lot smaller.

Do you say 6 rasboras due to their size or swim habits/needs?

I'm not trying to be thick! Just trying to understand exactly why it's overstocked and consider alternatives.

I have a 39/40 gallon tank I am about to set up so I can make some changes soon.
 
I have a 10 gal tank and am a newbie. I set it up on nearly 3 months ago on June 9. It is cycled now, but I went about it wrong. Although it has cycled now, and I thought things were going along OK, I just found one of the guppies had died, and I'm not sure why. I had been testing the water quality and the nitrites are neutral and nitrates are "safe". The ph was around 6.8 when I tested it upon finding the dead guppy. I've been checking the fish for signs of problems because I did have a guppy die about a month ago of what appeared to be bloat. I tried unsucessfully to save it.

I really went about things wrong at the start, putting fish in right away.

I put 3 neon tetras, 3 guppies, and 2 african dwarf frogs in it only 24 hours after set up of the tank. I have gravel and fake plants, and a fake hollow tree stump, heater, thermometer and filter that hangs on the side of the tank. Over the next 30 days, after settting up and putting fish in, I did a lot of water exchanges when the ammonia and nitrites climbed into the stress and danger zone, often in a panic. I tried to jump start the bacteria with something from WalMart, but then got Amquel Plus from PetSmart and I think it helped get the bacteria going. The biofilter, now, has a lot of things growing in it. In fact, a sort of film, or membrane seems to be on the surface of the water where the water flows into the tank from the filter. Is that normal?

Also, what do you think caused my guppy to die. There was no sign of bloat the day before I found him dead and he doesn't appear to have been bloated at all. The 1 remaining guppy seems to hang out near the surface more than usual so I am worried about him. I do have a bubble wand attached to the back glass, and one of those little treasure chest bubblers, so I think the 02 should be ok.

These fish were with me from the start, and have been through some pretty stressful water conditions. Could it be that this weakened the 2 guppies that died? I had a pleco that I put in the tank about a 5 weeks after set-up, and he was in the tank for about 3 weeks, and he went thru some high nitrite levels that probably stressed him, so I guess that may be what happened to him. I worked hard making changes in the water to try to bring the ammonia and nitrites down.

I'm reluctant to add more fish until I'm sure if they will be ok. The nitrite and nitrate levels are great now, but since the tank has cycled I haven't been doing water exchanges on schedule. The tank is really clear, and the only issue is that the ph is gradually getting more acidic, but it still reads in the neutral zone at 6.8

Actually, I got all of this for my nephew who lives with me, and I seem to be the one doing all the worrying and work on this. I want to be successful with this, and I've fallen in love with the little creatures. Please forgive me for being such a screw-up, but I could use some help if you guys have any suggestions. I don't want any of these little guys to die. The frogs are the cutest little things, and seem to be healthy. The neons, too. I'm worried about the guppy. Does he need some more guppies for companionship? Or should I wait to make sure he's OK?

Thanks for your help.
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Puppy I would say you are OK if not for all those shrimp. Hard to say just how much bioload they take up but 80 is a big number. If you don't lose the Otos you will need to feed them blanched veggies, do a search on appropriate foods for them, and of course many partial water changes, like every two or three days.
 
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