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Am I "Overstocked"?


asondhi
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I have a 75g South American themed tank and I am hoping to add a few more fish but wanted to get some opinions from you all first. 

Right now, with juvenile fish, waste doesn't accumulate and all is well, but obviously as my fish mature this may change. 

So here's what I've got:

- 5x scalare angels

- 10x otocinclus

- 2x BN pleco

- 6x "assorted" corydoras

- 12-16x Cardinal tetras

- 18x Rummynose tetras

I want to add 6-8 Congo tetras and a MFF trio of apistos or rams. Would this be pushing it on real-estate? I may move at least some of the cardinals to another tank too.

Photo of the scape is below, there's a good number of hiding spots and nooks and this will only increase as my. plants grow out. 

IMG20220830091448.jpg

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Assuming your water change schedule is ok and your filters are doing what they need, I don't think you're anywhere close to pushing biological capacity in that big a tank. The question IMO is whether the mix of species you have (including those you want to add) are compatible. You've got fast feeders and slower feeders, and top/middle and bottom fish. Does everyone get enough food? Do you need to over-feed in order to make sure that the cories or future apistos get enough? Do you have or will there be territorial aggression issues? 

If you start to have territory/aggression issues, do you have tall plants (real or fake) that you can add to cool things down (ie break up sight lines and give some added shelter)? It sort of looks a bit bare for now, but that doesn't mean it won't work or needs changing. If it ain't broke don't fix it 🙂

Am I right in thinking your angels are still fairly small? Will anything change behavior-wise as they get bigger? Can your other tanks hold problem fish (if problems develop), or can you set up a holding tank? Are water parameters between tanks close enough that you can move fish over without acclimating (I expect yes, just going though my thought process)? 

All that being said, I agree you should be ok. I like the big numbers of tetras, that will go a long way towards mitigating any issues you might have with the angels. 

Love the cat spikes on top 😜

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On 9/7/2022 at 1:16 PM, TOtrees said:

Assuming your water change schedule is ok and your filters are doing what they need, I don't think you're anywhere close to pushing biological capacity in that big a tank. The question IMO is whether the mix of species you have (including those you want to add) are compatible. You've got fast feeders and slower feeders, and top/middle and bottom fish. Does everyone get enough food? Do you need to over-feed in order to make sure that the cories or future apistos get enough? Do you have or will there be territorial aggression issues? 

If you start to have territory/aggression issues, do you have tall plants (real or fake) that you can add to cool things down (ie break up sight lines and give some added shelter)? It sort of looks a bit bare for now, but that doesn't mean it won't work or needs changing. If it ain't broke don't fix it 🙂

Am I right in thinking your angels are still fairly small? Will anything change behavior-wise as they get bigger? Can your other tanks hold problem fish (if problems develop), or can you set up a holding tank? Are water parameters between tanks close enough that you can move fish over without acclimating (I expect yes, just going though my thought process)? 

All that being said, I agree you should be ok. I like the big numbers of tetras, that will go a long way towards mitigating any issues you might have with the angels. 

Love the cat spikes on top 😜

You bring up a lot of really good considerations. Given my answers to these I feel a lot more confident that it should be okay. 

Thanks! 

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