Do you do a census, and how?

[PineSong]

I've been working on reducing the stocking level in my planted 20L.

In the Tetris of which fish can go with which others without breeding or bullying, I decided I could remove the remaining unsexed platy juveniles from the tank and put them in a 10g shrimp tank until they are large enough to go to the LFS.

I thought I had 5-6, mayyybe 10, so I it wasn't removing very much population but it was something I could do without messing anything else up and hopefully they would grow faster in the 10g without so many adults around.

Net, net, net, net.....I pulled out 27 of the little guys and left 2 in there because they are a preferred color. So, there were at least 29 babies, not 5-6.

I divided them up into two 10gs to hurry them up into growing.

This raised the question for me of whether and how people with lots of plants in their community/breeding tanks ever do a census to see exactly how many fish are in there?

I've tried counting based on photos and during Sera O-nip Tab feeding, but there are just so many of them and so many plants, it's beyond me.

I think I'm going to be more comfortable when I can look at a tank and think: there should be six yellow guppies, four blue platies, the orange platy, one molly, etc. again.

 

 

 

 

[Katherine]

On 9/17/2022 at 8:27 AM, PineSong said:

I think I'm going to be more comfortable when I can look at a tank and think: there should be six yellow guppies, four blue platies, the orange platy, one molly, etc. again.

I used to be able to do that at feeding. Now I've got (should have) 23 zebra danios, so that's not really an option anymore. I can still count my tetras though.

[Flumpweesel]

I have no idea how many fish are in my community tank. 

I thought I'd lost all my Ottos as there hadn't been a sighting in over a month and then came home one night to see 5 on the front glass.

Similar thing going on with my bronze corys only ever see one but no bodies have been found.

This only annoys because I have no idea if my stocking levels 

[Guppysnail]

I don’t. Most of my critters are to small. I do monitor nitrate whenever I have fry more often. I have never been close to right when counting even when I try to seriously overestimate. Nature finds her ways.  

[PineSong]

Glad to know I’m not the only one who has lost track. Today I found a tiny male Endler in my female guppy/community tank. So it looks like I won’t have countable numbers any time soon.

[Odd Duck]

It depends on the tank, but mostly no, to an actual census.  I count my adult super red plecos because I only have 3 right now.  I count my spotfin hatchets because I only have 6 and they’re easy to spot at top water.  I eyeball the angels in that 100 G - 1 big Santa Isabella/silver cross - check, 3 Bulgarian seal points - check, 15 high coverage kois - yeah, looks about right, gold lasers and sterbai cories - check, all visible snails look OK - check, no bodies - check.

The other 100 G is mostly nanos, cories, and plecos, some Kuhli loaches.  Gold nugget pleco - check, couple lemon drops - check, “some” blue eyed lemons, SF and LF - check, some bronze cories, some trilineatus cories - check, some otos - check, lots of tetras and little rasboras - check, lots of snails - check, no bodies - check.  Clown pleco gets spotted about once every 3-6 months.  I’ve mostly stopped worrying about him.

Other tanks go something like that on a smaller scale.  I do count everybody in the 75 G every time since it’s only 9 fish and all are pretty easy to spot.  That’s the big kid’s tank although my dollars aren’t that big yet but they’re over dollar size now.

[PineSong]

On 9/17/2022 at 11:02 PM, Odd Duck said:

It depends on the tank, but mostly no, to an actual census….

The other 100 G is mostly nanos…

Wow, yeah, 100g of nanos seems like the definition of uncountable masses!

[Odd Duck]

On 9/17/2022 at 10:58 PM, PineSong said:

Wow, yeah, 100g of nanos seems like the definition of uncountable masses!

Yep.  There have been at least 30 or more of 4 different species added.  I’m sure some have disappeared.  I’ve only seen a single ember tetra dead and I’m pretty sure somebody hit him since he wasn’t dead, then he was floating dead and missing an eye only seconds later.

I feel like I need another 20 or so Kubotai rasboras.  I’ve got 20 more chili rasboras that are done with QT but I’ll have to tear apart their QT tank to catch them and I haven't quite gotten around to that.  😆  I want to reset it with a matten sponge as substrate over a UGF so it’s going to be more than just “pull out the plants in their pots”, I’ll be pulling sand, cutting foam, deep clean the tank, HOB, lid, etc.  [Why do I do this to myself?  🤷🏻‍♀️]  Plus I still want to add more CPD’s to the 100 G and see if they’ll be more outgoing at higher numbers. 

[nabokovfan87]

I think the app is called aquarium notebook.  It allows you to log the tank, parameters, equipment, etc. and then update it over time.  I don't know if v2 lets you log deaths, but I would use that to keep an eye on what fish, when I got them, how many, etc.   Once in a while I would do the big clean and just double check.  It's a lot easier when you're not dealing with livebearers.

Another tip from somewhere in the ether of fish hobbyists, you take a photo from above, then count them in the photo.  This works very well for large groups and a tank that is pretty empty..... or a horde of corydoras scooted off to the open side of the tank!

[Nyssa]

There's no way I could do that with my all girls platy tank, I moved them all from my original tank as they grew out when I was being overrun with fry. They like to school together, but there are just too many to count. If I had to guess probably 40-50 easily in my 55 long.

Livebearers seem to make this notoriously difficult I'm noticing 😅

My original tank is turning into a community tank, I just added an angelfish and a dwarf gourami along with all of the male platys, so it'll be much easier to track that one!