Connor Elliott Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 Deer aquarium co-op I have a 10 gallon aquarium with one beta fish we added three red Platies three albino Cory catfish and two nerite snails and then I got slammed by the Internet and everybody was saying how that was too much and overstocked and I need to upgrade my aquarium so I don’t know what to do what do you guys think I should do? because I want to be able to have a community tank. Should I get different fish? are there other options to deal with this? I have no idea please help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADMWNDSR83 Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 Hey Connor! At the very least you will need to keep a very close eye on tank maintenance and water changes. I could also see the betta getting territorial with so many close friends, and having some aggression problems. How many hiding places do you have? Is it a planted tank? How bout some pictures, friend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Elliott Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 I test my water every two days and always make sure I am doing good maintenance ( cleaning out the dead leaf debris wiping off diatom algae doing water changes every week adding seachem prime and adding bacteria but not too much cleaning to the point where I get rid of beneficial bacteria) I have two good-sized pieces of driftwood in there and TONS of live plants and a bunch of hiding places. I just don’t know what to do they’re getting along fine and everybody’s telling me that I need to take the platies out and the cat fish can’t be in there because it’s ten gallons and they’re all schooling fish and the people at my local fish store said it would be fine so I just don’t know what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Elliott Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 with filtration, and plants, you are fine. as long as the betta gets along with the others, i dont see the issue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADMWNDSR83 Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 A lot of people say a lot of things. I am not saying I 100% think the idea is great, but I also am not going to say you are a horrible person. One thing I note is that I personally wouldn't wipe the algae... that's why God made the Nerites! If they are getting along, and your numbers are adding up, it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Elliott Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 1 minute ago, ADMWNDSR83 said: A lot of people say a lot of things. I am not saying I 100% think the idea is great, but I also am not going to say you are a horrible person. One thing I note is that I personally wouldn't wipe the algae... that's why God made the Nerites! If they are getting along, and your numbers are adding up, it works. Yeah they’re all getting along fine All minding their own business and swimming around freely so I just don’t know whether I have to get rid of them or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Elliott Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 2 minutes ago, Connor Elliott said: Yeah they’re all getting along fine All minding their own business and swimming around freely so I just don’t know whether I have to get rid of them or not Also it is my first time doing this and everybody said everything would be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 19 hours ago, Connor Elliott said: Also it is my first time doing this and everybody said everything would be fine. As long as your watet quality is good and you are keeping up on the maintenance and everyone is getting along then you are fine. If thr platys are not all males you may have a problem down the road if they start breeding. That's one reason I don't keep livebearers anymore 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Elliott Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 28 minutes ago, Alison said: As long as your watet quality is good and you are keeping up on the maintenance and everyone is getting along then you are fine. If thr platys are not all males you may have a problem down the road if they start breeding. That's one reason I don't keep livebearers anymore They are all males Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Elliott Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 30 minutes ago, Alison said: As long as your watet quality is good and you are keeping up on the maintenance and everyone is getting along then you are fine. If thr platys are not all males you may have a problem down the road if they start breeding. That's one reason I don't keep livebearers anymore Also what about people saying that the tank is too small for them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettsPapa Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 1 minute ago, Connor Elliott said: Also what about people saying that the tank is too small for them? If you were asking before you stocked the tank I'd have advised against it, but since you're already there, and since you said it's working okay, then stay with it and don't worry about what everyone says. If the opportunity to switch to a larger tank comes along in the future that would be a good thing, but in the meantime just enjoy your tank. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 if the fish are healthy, dont look stressed, dont look crowded, enjoy them. this world is full of people who like to tell other people exactly what to do, whether they know what they are talking about or not. seriously, enjoy your fish, and quit worrying about what other people think. in life, other peoples opinions are worth exactly what you pay for them. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 The problem your going to have when your platys stop to breed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADMWNDSR83 Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 38 minutes ago, Colu said: The problem your going to have when your platys stop to breed He said they were all males, so if they start breeding, he may be able to make enough money from the news spots to buy a new tank. 😉 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 only thing I would do is add more corys like 2 more, they like to have friends. And make sure the platys are either all males or all females. But no your tank is not overstocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillipHols Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 The risk with an over stocked tank is not just the territorial comfort of the fish, but also the rate at which nitrates will build up in your aquarium. Mine is overstocked and I’m tired of large weekly (often more frequent than that) water changes. I’m looking to add another aquarium to reduce the stocking levels of my current one to correct this. I feel that for newbies, the nitrate issue with an overstocked tank is not made clear enough. At least it wasn’t for me. As you know, your filtration eventually converts fish and food waste to nitrates which must be removed via water changes. Yes, plants consume nitrates so a heavily planted tank will handle an overstock better than a lesser planted tank of the same size. The catch to this is that if you’ve got a well planted aquarium, you’re probably dosing fertilizers which also increase the levels of nitrates in the tank. As long as the fish seem to be minding their business and appear comfortable in the spaces provided, you CAN somewhat overstock your aquarium. BUT this only works if you are committed to consistently testing parameters, specifically nitrates, and your doing frequent enough and large enough water changes to keep nitrate levels in check. If this is the route you take, keep in mind that nitrates will rise fast and if you don’t perform water changes of about 50%, you won’t reduce the nitrates fast enough to overcome the rate that they will increase. I know this might sound a little complicated but I’m happy to explain it further, please don’t hesitate to ask me to clear it up if you need. Are you happier doing small 20% water changes once a week? If so then a reduced stock is your only option. Are you ok with changing 50% of your water every 5 days? If you can handle that then the overstock is less of an issue. If you don’t want to get rid of any fish and you don’t want all that maintenance, then your only option that is fair to the animals is to get a larger aquarium without Increasing the stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 Sorry my mistake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefConfit Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 Your tank isn't overstocked imo. As a lot of other people have said just keep an eye on the betta. They may get territorial and rough up your other fish. Keep an eye on both the betta and the platies fins for signs of nipping. I'd say they are the most likely to not get along. None of those fish are schooling fish. Cories shoal (live in large groups but don't school) so they like being in groups at least 5or6 is usually recommended, but many people keep them in smaller numbers with no problems. Also once the tank is fully cycled there's no need to continue adding bacteria. The bacteria colonizes the surfaces in your aquarium and once it covers everything any bacteria you add won't survive. I'd just make sure you have a container capable of being used as a hospital tank if a problem pops up down the line and aquarium salt and/or meds. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishyThoughts Posted December 27, 2020 Share Posted December 27, 2020 As Lefty mentioned, don’t stress too much over internet comments. The main deal with bigger tanks and less stock is that it gives you more time to notice and correct things in the tank. That doesn’t mean thing can’t be done in smaller tanks, just a little easier in bigger ones. Keep testing regularly, watch for aggression and enjoy your fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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