Poll: Settle An Argument - Overstocked Or Understocked?

Please use the poll, and answer if you have any explanation or justification.

I say that I am nearly overstocked, my buddy says I am way understocked. What do you think?

110 Gallon (48x18x30)
Fluval Fx4
300W heater
2 airstones
Cheap 48" LED Strip and a 24" Fluorescent for my planted side

Pretty heavily planted for how much my silver dollars like eating plants, can't name them all but at least 12 different plant species, driftwood, lava rock, and slate over gravel

STOCK:
7 Clown Loaches
1 Clown Knife Fish
7 Giant Danios
6 Buenos Aires Tetras
1 Violet Goby
1 Raphael Catfish
1 Albino GibbI Pleco
1 Electric Blue Acara
8 Silver Dollars (Some are spotted)

Also, I am aware that my stock is a little wonky. That clown knife, he is young and passive at the moment, but I am working on a 2nd tank to hopefully be done before he gets too aggressive. Also, I know the Goby should be brackish, my lfs didn't tell me this, and they won't take him back, so I am hoping he copes with being in fresh for now until I either find someone who can home him better or I make a 2nd brackish tank.

Thanks!

 

I say you're over because clown loaches get huge! So do silver dollars. And they're active. What are the dimensions of the tank?

 

Definitely overstocked, maybe not right now, if the fish aren't their full size, but when they get bigger yes

 

Over. Clowns get a foot long each and super active.

 

Way overstocked IMO

 

I wouldn't keep a school of clowns in anything smaller than a 200gal tank. As for the silver dollars, I know they grow big and I don't think a 110gal will do it in the long run.

Then we have the clown knife, which will pretty easily reach over 2+ feet and will more than likely eat your smaller fish (danios, tetras, golby etc) when it grows larger. Did a quick search for minimum tank size for them and it's 300gal+.

 

Personally I think a ghost knife will do pretty well in a 75 gallon tank for a long time. They grow slow and are more flexible than your average fish so I've found it fairly common practice keeping them in tanks that have a depth right at their length. Eventually, they do get rather large and may need something like a 180 gallon but really a 180 or 210 should do it. Of course bigger is always better

 

I really appreciate how you do seem to know some general care of your fish. But I think there is some real lesson to be learned here about researching even more thoroughly before buying anything and restraining yourself from getting fish you may have serious difficulty keeping in the long run.

Anyway, hope you're doing more frequent water changes (I'd think twice weekly) with your current stock and wish you all the best with them. Keep us updated on any development.

 

Thanks for the responses everyone! I just wanted to prove to my buddy that I was right teehee I plan on upgrading to a massive tank after my lease is up, and they are all small now, and I am 100% sure they won't get full size in the next 8-9 months. My biggest mistake fishychachkI was trusting my lfs instead of doing my own research. I was getting a ropefish, but saw the goby and thought he was so cool and she told me he would be perfect in there...NOT

Anyways, thanks everyone for your input, I am very meticulous with my water changes, I do ~30% 2x a week, and my nitrates are never over 15ppm, ammonia and nitrates always 0. I love them more than people usually, so I try to take care of them the best I can, but no one is perfect!

Aquaphobia check in the description! 48 x 30 x 18

 

If it's working- it's fine.. if it's not.. then change it lol that's my motto.

 

Pamela1224 no disrespect to anyone here at all, but that's exactly what I am doing. If I notice something wrong I'll fix it, but until then, I like watching the fish I have

 

hope you upgrade to something like a 300 gallon tank when you are upgrading cause they are some huge fish you got there(when your lease is up).

 

If it's working- it's fine.. if it's not.. then change it lol that's my motto.

Hmm. Tbh, that principle isn't exactly the best with keeping animals in general and fish in particular. What works on one good day might not the next especially in context like overstocking a tank. Given how unpredictable individual fish are, the young knife fish, for example, might be very docile right now but there is never any guarantee it won't take a bite off its tankmates, say, next week. Neither can we know how stable the nitrogen cycle could hold with that many fish. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 15 nitrate this week may not always stay that way even with the same amount of meticulous water changes.

Do we have to wait for it to "not work" (ie. suffering/dead fish, etc.) to fix it? Especially when we do have access to info and experiences of other fishkeepers through forums like this to advise us?