Would this tank stocking be too much or require a lot of maintenance?

[Gannon]

Currently my 125 gallon tank has 5 2-3 inch clouded archerfish, 6 3-4 inch denison barbs, and soon a 2 inch green phantom pleco.

I was wondering, at adult sizes could this tank support 5 archers (6-8 inches), 10 denison barbs (5-6 inches), a green phantom pleco (8-10 inches), and 6 dwarf petricola catfish (4 inches)

Due to awful tap water parameters I use RODI which makes water changes slow, so with college and work using up time, I do them every two weeks on all my tanks these days. 

Would this stocking be too much work, or be too much in general given these circumstances? I know things like aqadvisor are a good ballpark resource but I figured I'd ask here to get a wider set of opinions and information. Thanks!

[Fish Folk]

What do you use for filtration? What are your plant stocking levels like?

I keep several embarrassingly overstocked aquariums. This 55 gal has about 200+ fish in. Electric Blue Acara + Bristlenose Pleco Growout. Notice the Pothos jammed into two Aqueon 75 ZHOBs plus two sponge filters.

And this one is overstocked too. Plants, and two large sponge filters. I change water once weekly.

[Zenzo]

On 2/10/2022 at 9:28 AM, Gannon said:

Currently my 125 gallon tank has 5 2-3 inch clouded archerfish, 6 3-4 inch denison barbs, and soon a 2 inch green phantom pleco.

I was wondering, at adult sizes could this tank support 5 archers (6-8 inches), 10 denison barbs (5-6 inches), a green phantom pleco (8-10 inches), and 6 dwarf petricola catfish (4 inches)

Due to awful tap water parameters I use RODI which makes water changes slow, so with college and work using up time, I do them every two weeks on all my tanks these days. 

Would this stocking be too much work, or be too much in general given these circumstances? I know things like aqadvisor are a good ballpark resource but I figured I'd ask here to get a wider set of opinions and information. Thanks!

In my opinion it is doable, but you would be pushing the limits if you are wanting to not have a lot of maintenance/water changes. Obviously, how you manage nitrates and other waste build-up (use of plants, etc.) will determine the amount of upkeep it will take as far as water changes. 

I have a 125 that is similarly stocked (a little bit lighter in numbers, but close in fish mass/weight). My 125 has two full-grown oscars (healthy 10-11+ inches), one common pleco (about 11"), 3 synodontis eupterus (fat, and about 7-8"), and 6 very large silver dollars (all around 6+'). For me to keep nitrates below 40ppm, I usually need to do a 50-70% water change weekly. Of course I can't have plants in this tank because of the silver dollars, but I do have some pothos growing out of it to help a little.

[Gannon]

On 2/10/2022 at 11:39 AM, Fish Folk said:

What do you use for filtration? What are your plant stocking levels like?

I keep several embarrassingly overstocked aquariums. This 55 gal has about 200+ fish in. Electric Blue Acara + Bristlenose Pleco Growout. Notice the Pothos jammed into two Aqueon 75 ZHOBs plus two sponge filters.

And this one is overstocked too. Plants, and two large sponge filters. I change water once weekly.

You can see the relative plant density in the picture on my profile. But I run an fx6 as the filter on this tank, which is defineitly overfilteration if I remember right. 

[Gannon]

On 2/10/2022 at 11:40 AM, Zenzo said:

In my opinion it is doable, but you would be pushing the limits if you are wanting to not have a lot of maintenance/water changes. Obviously, how you manage nitrates and other waste build-up (use of plants, etc.) will determine the amount of upkeep it will take as far as water changes. 

I have a 125 that is similarly stocked (a little bit lighter in numbers, but close in fish mass/weight). My 125 has two full-grown oscars (healthy 10-11+ inches), one common pleco (about 11"), 3 synodontis eupterus (fat, and about 7-8"), and 6 very large silver dollars (all around 6+'). For me to keep nitrates below 40ppm, I usually need to do a 50-70% water change weekly. Of course I can't have plants in this tank because of the silver dollars, but I do have some pothos growing out of it to help a little.

I have a decent amount of plants in there, my jungle val in particular grows like a weed. But I agree it is pushing it, I currently do 40% water changes just due to the size of the 3 garbage bins that I have which make water changes possible. Maybe I ought it keep it at 6-8 denison barbs and skip the dwarf petricola? I'll have to think about this. Though I have thought about it for a while and with how small denison barbs are sold nowadays I hope I don't have to shell out extra money for large ones. 

On 2/10/2022 at 11:39 AM, Fish Folk said:

What do you use for filtration? What are your plant stocking levels like?

I keep several embarrassingly overstocked aquariums. This 55 gal has about 200+ fish in. Electric Blue Acara + Bristlenose Pleco Growout. Notice the Pothos jammed into two Aqueon 75 ZHOBs plus two sponge filters.

And this one is overstocked too. Plants, and two large sponge filters. I change water once weekly.

also beautiful fish! Love the electric blue acara ive never seen so many! I would've done those if I didn't luck out finding the archers I wanted. 

[Odd Duck]

With growing the fish up in the tank, if you can add emerse plants like lucky bamboo or pothos in HOB’S, then you’re fairly likely OK.  You don’t even have to have big HOB’s if you’re only using them to serve as a plant holder.  They don’t need to be sized for the tank, just for the plants.  I used the HOB’s that I already had on my 75 G when I converted my Jack Dempsey tank to “planted”.  I already had them “optimized” with sponge and just tucked the peace lily and pothos around the sponge pieces.  See the link in my signature below but here’s an older pic of the tank.  I’m overdue for a new pic.

I’ve got some tiger silver dollars in QT now, intending for them to go into this tank.  I will be moving the jungle Val since that will clearly get eaten first.  The swords, I will try to leave.  They may be established and robust enough to survive, at least for a while.  The Crinums I think may do OK longer term.  The lucky bamboo I think will be fine.  And the pothos in the sponge caddies along the back I think will do OK.  For sure the peace lilies and pothos in the HOB’s will be completely fine.  The Amazon swords are really the big question.  I’ve got some big Anubias on rocks and wood that I may try in here.  I’ve got one in here already that’s doing fine with the Jacks and common plecos.  Silver dollars may be a different story.

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Odd Duck

[Gannon]

On 2/10/2022 at 12:41 PM, Odd Duck said:

With growing the fish up in the tank, if you can add emerse plants like lucky bamboo or pothos in HOB’S, then you’re fairly likely OK.  You don’t even have to have big HOB’s if you’re only using them to serve as a plant holder.  They don’t need to be sized for the tank, just for the plants.  I used the HOB’s that I already had on my 75 G when I converted my Jack Dempsey tank to “planted”.  I already had them “optimized” with sponge and just tucked the peace lily and pothos around the sponge pieces.  See the link in my signature below but here’s an older pic of the tank.  I’m overdue for a new pic.

I’ve got some tiger silver dollars in QT now, intending for them to go into this tank.  I will be moving the jungle Val since that will clearly get eaten first.  The swords, I will try to leave.  They may be established and robust enough to survive, at least for a while.  The Crinums I think may do OK longer term.  The lucky bamboo I think will be fine.  And the pothos in the sponge caddies along the back I think will do OK.  For sure the peace lilies and pothos in the HOB’s will be completely fine.  The Amazon swords are really the big question.  I’ve got some big Anubias on rocks and wood that I may try in here.  I’ve got one in here already that’s doing fine with the Jacks and common plecos.  Silver dollars may be a different story.

 

I like the idea of running some HOB filters with these plants, I'm just not sure how many more things I can even plug into the wall of my fishroom lol. 

[Zenzo]

On 2/10/2022 at 9:46 AM, Gannon said:

I have a decent amount of plants in there, my jungle val in particular grows like a weed. But I agree it is pushing it, I currently do 40% water changes just due to the size of the 3 garbage bins that I have which make water changes possible. Maybe I ought it keep it at 6-8 denison barbs and skip the dwarf petricola? I'll have to think about this. Though I have thought about it for a while and with how small denison barbs are sold nowadays I hope I don't have to shell out extra money for large ones. 

also beautiful fish! Love the electric blue acara ive never seen so many! I would've done those if I didn't luck out finding the archers I wanted. 

You can always add the petricola and more barbs down the road once you have had a chance to see how the tank stabilizes. With the plants that you have in there, it may be just fine. 

[Gannon]

On 2/10/2022 at 12:55 PM, Zenzo said:

You can always add the petricola and more barbs down the road once you have had a chance to see how the tank stabilizes. With the plants that you have in there, it may be just fine. 

Taking it slow is probably the right move. Luckily having bottom dwellers in this tank is more for aesthetic purposes than functional ones. The denison barbs keep the substrate clean of food and such just fine. 

[Odd Duck]

I’ve become a big fan of battery UPS that let me plug all the things in.  They have good surge protectors, and I can put just the air pump into the battery back up part and it lasts for several hours vs about 1 hour if everything is plugged in to the back up part.  I know my house will stay at a decent temp for several hours, even with it very cold outside (well, cold for Texas), and the HOB’s will also be fine even without circulation through it.  And by fine, I mean nearly zero chance of becoming a toxic, anaerobic bomb when power returns.  No canisters for me, thank you, been there, done that, barely saved my full tank of fish. According to our neighbors, had apparently gone out almost immediately after hubs and I left for the day, and came back on barely before I got home.  I walked in to a sulfurous stench and tracked it to the only canister equipped tank.  Shut off the canister, did a huge water change (as close to 100% I could get and still keep the fish in the tank), then cleaned the canister (fully admit was overdue).  Huge water change again the next day.  Everybody survived.

[Gannon]

On 2/10/2022 at 1:00 PM, Odd Duck said:

I’ve become a big fan of battery UPS that let me plug all the things in.  They have good surge protectors, and I can put just the air pump into the battery back up part and it lasts for several hours vs about 1 hour if everything is plugged in to the back up part.  I know my house will stay at a decent temp for several hours, even with it very cold outside (well, cold for Texas), and the HOB’s will also be fine even without circulation through it.  And by fine, I mean nearly zero chance of becoming a toxic, anaerobic bomb when power returns.  No canisters for me, thank you, been there, done that, barely saved my full tank of fish. According to our neighbors, had apparently gone out almost immediately after hubs and I left for the day, and came back on barely before I got home.  I walked in to a sulfurous stench and tracked it to the only canister equipped tank.  Shut off the canister, did a huge water change (as close to 100% I could get and still keep the fish in the tank), then cleaned the canister (fully admit was overdue).  Huge water change again the next day.  Everybody survived.

I find canisters to be a mixed bag, but especially for these large tanks I find them nessesary. I at least find them better than HOB’s as I’ve had several of those die on me. If I were to do it all over I’d run a sponge filter in my 29g if it wouldn’t be so noisy. But my 125 probably needs a canister

[Odd Duck]

I have 2, 70+ gallon HOB’s and 2 double stacked, ACO sponge filters on my current 100 and plan to do the same on my “new” 100 G.  It may not be the best plan for efficient circulation pattern, but I know it’s safe during a power outage.  I’m switching all my HOB’s to a pump-inside-the-tank, “Pro” style and have had better luck with them so far.  They certainly restart more reliably than other styles.  I haven’t yet had them long enough to tell if the impellers will last better than other models, but they’re a whole lot quieter.

And your sponge filter will be much quieter if your adjustable air stones are tightened up to produce smaller bubbles, plus smaller bubbles provide more lift.