shutterbug

Hello All!

Some feedback would be appreciated......My question is my 30 gallon tank has the following fish in:
5 Harlequin Rasboras
5 Brilliant Rasboras
5 Gold Tetras
4 Guppies (2males and 2females)
3 Cardinal Tetras
2 Otos
1 Peacock Gudgeon
have in transit to my house 6 Cherry Shrimp for this tank

If you go by what everyone says here, i am way overstocked, but this tank has been running now for 4 months and havent lost a fish with the exception of 2 cardinals (originally purchased 5).....I struck there deaths up to fragility of the species........The same tank was used for a year for a Jack Dempsey, so it is completely cycled for quite a long time.......All the water parameters never waver much and my temp is a steady 79 F.....The tank is planted heavily, in fact i just removed some of the nano swords due to alot of growth in one area.......All the fish are very active and no one is shy or stressed.........They all eat like its there last meal...... I run a Rena XP2 for filtration.

Everything i have read on here tells me i should be having bio-load problems, but that is not the case.....In fact i have been rather lazy with the water changes.....I only did a 30% change every 2 weeks for the last 2 months and only vacuumed the tank once a month..........
Can i just get some feedback about what i am doing with this tank.........Am i just lucky because all my fish will only top out at about 2 to 2 1/2 inches and there bio-load isnt that great or is it the heavily planted tank that is using all the extra poop for fertilizer?......Am i just being paranoid about the tank or is something gonna happen down the road that i cant forsee?.........I myself think in 4 months, if i was gonna have issues i would have had them by now.......Everything seems stable and healthy......

I'm new to the whole "little" fishy thing.........Been raising large cichlids for years so im not real educated on these little guys..........Just wanted to hear everyone else's opinion........

Lucy

Yeah, lol, I'd say you're over stocked, but you already knew that.
I'd be interested to know what your exact readings are.
The plants will help keep the nitrates down and also help with oxygen.
Sometimes things that aren't supposed to work, do work for whatever reason.
What are the dimensions of the tank? I'm looking at my 30's thinking with that many fish there must not be much swim room.

agabr123

I think you should step up the water changes a bit, i'm somewhat familiar with all your fish except for the peacock gudgeon, but it looks like you're over in terms of inches.

as far as the guppies go, if it is at all possible i would return one of the males and get another female, otherwise you should really get three more females, but i cant really tell you to add even more fish to an overstocked tank. having two and two puts a lot of stress on the females, if you have one male and multiple females then it divides his attention and they stay healthier and happier.

if it is heavily planted, then that is why your nitrates aren't out of control and your filter is able to keep up with your bioload. do you have exact readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? what sizes are all of your fish now?

lew2000

What are your ammonia and nitrite readings? IMO, these readings if they are consistently at 0ppm, and the behaviour/color/feeding are all good, then imho your good. And with a heavily planted tank if you haven't tested for nitrates/phosphates, and you don't use a fertilizer, they most likely are low. The rule of thumb of course is 1' of fish per 1 gallon of water, however more fishkeepers are starting to look at the type of fish kept, the amount/type of food consumed, etc., etc. As far as vacumming the gravel, for my planted tanks, i never vacuumed/turned up the substrate. The mulm is great fertilizer. I do, however prune dead or dying leaves and only use a small battery vac to pick up decaying or dead plant matter from the substrate. Hope this helps.

shutterbug

Since everyone questioned my water parameters, here they are:
pH...........7.2
Ammonia....0
Nitrites.....0
Nitrates....07
Thats reading from 3 days ago....Never tested for phosphate, and i do used Seachem fertilizer plugs for the substrate...(Sorry, cant remember the name of them)....Always use Prime for water changes...In fact i always have water "cooking" (Meaning i have a 33 gallon trash can with water and a heater in)(I need to..have 5 other tanks)........Never had an issue with any kind of algae......I have enough to keep my otos happy, but only need to clean the glass about twice a month.......I agree with the person about water changes, but my nitrites have never been at 1 and my nitrates have never been above 15.......Ammonia is nonexistant.....Always...Those are readings right before i do my water change........If i would move these guys to a 55 how many could i put in a tank that size?.......How about a 75?

cerianthus

Although so called 1" per Gallon is good guideline to follow as newbie, but not neceessarily the rule you have to follow. Idea is to give them comfortable/healthy environment.

I've seen people w/ understocked tank where fish are suffering but seen way overstocked tank where fish doing well. This all depend on keepers.

It seems you are doing well w/ overstocked tank (at least by some). And if I understood correctly, this used to house JD and used same water which was well established.
Which ever size tank you go with, start off slowly. Maybe start off using water from 30 along with gravel, filters, Deco and same fish. Let this new tank stablized (cycled, if it does go thru minicycle) before adding more.

As far as numbers, it all depends how well one keeps up with routine maintenance. Well, you been doing well so far.

As far as aging water, I personally always aged water with heat, CIRCULATION/AERATION. I cut out the Dechlorinator use (but had one bottle just in case whole River system Crashed) since finding out how they work, that is chemically.
The problem rises since Chloramines maybe added to Tap water nowdays in which case need to used product to breakdown and detox. Can call your local Water Supplier for complete analysis of your tap. Test kits for Chlormaines are availbale but very expensive and not necessary, IMO, once analysis is obtained from supplier.

Good luck with new adventures and hoping to hear more!!