Is my tank too crowded?

[jb1rd55]

I have a 29g with 12 Harlequin Rasboras, 6 Albino Corys, 1 Bolivian Ram, and 3 Nerite Snails. On Aqadvisor my tank is at 85% and and I was thinking about adding 6 Amano Shrimp which would be 88%. I was just wondering if that would make my bottom/clean up crew overcrowded?

[SandBkeeper]

I doubt 6 amano shrimp would make a big difference to the bioload. The amano shrimp and the snails might compete for food though. 

[CorydorasEthan]

On 6/23/2022 at 8:41 AM, jb1rd55 said:

I have a 29g with 12 Harlequin Rasboras, 6 Albino Corys, 1 Bolivian Ram, and 3 Nerite Snails. On Aqadvisor my tank is at 85% and and I was thinking about adding 6 Amano Shrimp which would be 88%. I was just wondering if that would make my bottom/clean up crew overcrowded?

I think it would be fine.

[Cinnebuns]

It really comes down to many factors like how many plants you have, how much filtration you have, how much maintenance you are willing to do, etc. 

My 29 gallon is very over stocked but parameters are stable and everyone is thriving. To compare, this is what mine has:

7 male guppies, 3 honey gourami, 2 red honey gourami (aka thick lipped gourami), 9 panda cories, 2 hillstream loaches, roughly 5 mystery snails (just had issues with them hense the roughly), 3 Japanese trapdoor snails and 5 nerite snails. 

Imo as long as everyone is thriving, you enjoy the tank, and it's not more work than you are willing to put in then it's not overstocked. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I like this handy tool to calculate stock %

https://aqadvisor.com/

[Cheryl P.]

You should be fine with adding shrimp.  Just make sure you drop some food in for them.  Mine like the Xtreme Shrimpee pellets and algae wafers.

[Patrick_G]

If you’re ok with the current load then six Amanos probably won’t make much of a difference. 

[macdaddy36]

Nerites are a smaller snail so I think It would be fine.

[Guppysnail]

Agree with @Patrick_G  the Amano won’t make a difference. Aqdvisor is a decent starting point but does not take plants and emergent grown plants into account it also tells you stocking to keep at or below 50% water change once a week and if you go over they recommend splitting it to two during the week.  You will get a feel for your tank and if weekly maintenance I’d done just to clean up and refresh minerals etc with new water then you are fine. If you get to weeks end and are concerned because nitrates are to high you may need to start doing water changes 2x/week or reduce stocking. If it seems like they do not have enough personal space and elbow room you may be heavy.  Overstocked depends largely on how much maintenance you want to do.  Example…I’m old retired and looking to fill time. Extra water changes are fine with me and I have gobs of plants and emergent grown plants so I can stock heavier (aqadvisor says to me in a polite way something akin to…your tanks are going to immediately implode 🤣). 
 

Aqadvisor is a good tool for folks to have a starting point until they get to know their new tanks and mix of fish/ feeding routine and they are comfortable with everything without endangering fish or over taxing the aquarist with maintenance and that way they don’t start out overloaded. 
 

I hope that helps. 

[Torrey]

On 6/23/2022 at 2:08 PM, Guppysnail said:

Agree with @Patrick_G  the Amano won’t make a difference. Aqdvisor is a decent starting point but does not take plants and emergent grown plants into account it also tells you stocking to keep at or below 50% water change once a week and if you go over they recommend splitting it to two during the week.  You will get a feel for your tank and if weekly maintenance I’d done just to clean up and refresh minerals etc with new water then you are fine. If you get to weeks end and are concerned because nitrates are to high you may need to start doing water changes 2x/week or reduce stocking. If it seems like they do not have enough personal space and elbow room you may be heavy.  Overstocked depends largely on how much maintenance you want to do.  Example…I’m old retired and looking to fill time. Extra water changes are fine with me and I have gobs of plants and emergent grown plants so I can stock heavier (aqadvisor says to me in a polite way something akin to…your tanks are going to immediately implode 🤣). 
 

Aqadvisor is a good tool for folks to have a starting point until they get to know their new tanks and mix of fish/ feeding routine and they are comfortable with everything without endangering fish or over taxing the aquarist with maintenance and that way they don’t start out overloaded. 
 

I hope that helps. 

ORD

Will add:

I followed some other forums before Cory posted a link to this forum in a live stream....

They emphasized a goal of "Zero nitrates indicates a balanced tank" so despite having pretty happy, healthy tanks I started aspiring to that lofty goal...

I got there, and now my plants got unhappy because they were starving... so leaves weren't healthy, so snails and shrimp did their job and ate them....

So take external advice with a grain of salt. None of us are there, looking at your tanks, or doing your tank maintenance for you. The best advoce is always going to start with some caveatabout "each tank is different".

As long as you are taking time to sit with, obsrerve, and listen to your tanks, you and your tanks will do well. Ultimately, that is the secret to Cory's success, too. His willingness to listen.

(I'm ORD for everyone who posted something along the lines of "Is your tank okay now? 6 amano won't make a difference. Are you paying attention to your tanks now? You'll be okay. etc.😉)