Stocking/Lighting 21 Gallon Long

[schmath]

My 21 Gallon tank is finally planted and cycled and ready for fish. I want a big school of Lambchop Rasboras and some Amano shrimp. Aqadvisor says I can have 45 Rasboras with 5 Amanos and be 70% stocked, but that seems high to me. Can I really have 45 Rasboras? And are 5 Amanos a good amount? I can't find reliable information about what size group Amanos prefer. I'll probably need a couple of Nerites to clean the glass as well or maybe Otos someday. I'd like to keep it a little understocked so I have some wiggle room on water changes, but I also think the larger the shoal, the better. My filter is an Eheim 2213.

Also, how many fish would you add at a time? The tank cycled itself using leached ammonia from the substrate, but I've been adding 1/8 teaspoon Fritz Pro Ammonium Chloride once a day for the past couple of days to build up some extra bacteria so it doesn't go into a mini-cycle when I start adding fish.

Another question I have is about my light. It is a Twinstar EA Series, and I have it dimmed quite a bit because I'm worried about the mini Christmas moss getting too much light, but I want to make sure the dwarf hairgrass gets enough light too. I planted it a week ago, and I'm already seeing growth from the dwarf hairgrass and a tiny bit of algae on the mini Christmas moss. I have the light on for two 3 hour lighting periods. Do I need to turn it down more or just get some Amanos in there to clean up the moss? Will the moss struggle being in high light? I am injecting CO2. I haven't started adding fertilizer because I figure the substrate has plenty for now. When should I start? I've got some Thrive on hand.

 

[Andres391]

It's one inch of fish per gallon I would do 14 Rasboras and for shrimps its 10 per gallon. You can start with 8 and let them populate on their own. The fish should help keep the population some what down since they will most likely eat the baby shrimps. You can cycle faster with fritz 600 for freshwater the bottle has to be in a refrigerator since its concentrated it can take up to 2 weeks. I would also allow the tank to run at least a month to build enough biofilm in your tank for your shrimps. If tank cycles before the 30 days just add pure unscented ammonia or feed tank the amount you would feed about 5 fishes until its been 30 days and cycled add shrimps 1st what a few days to see how they are doing before adding fish. If you use pure ammonia keep it around 1ppm to 2ppn test water every 3 days. If you do this you should be fine to add 4 fish the 1st time then adding two a week. 14 in total with no ottos or 8 Rasboras and 6 ottos for ottos are also schooling fish. Shrimps will clean up the tank and little bit on the glass pest snails will also take care of that for you as long as there are a filter or something blocking access for small snails and baby shrimps from being sucked up through the filter you are fine. Plants I would keep plants that can tolerate the same light so if dwarf grass needs high light and moss need low light you will find a unbalance in your plants light needs. If your plants start to die remove 90 percent of the plant for shrimps like dead plants to eat on and not have a ammonia or nitrate spike. Your lights should be on for 10 to 12 hours as sun light. I also recommend stability to seed beneficial bacteria to eat nitrates and waste you can use this on water changes and when adding fish you can also use this as soon as you see nitrates to speed up the cycle process.

View attachment 777384
My 21 Gallon tank is finally planted and cycled and ready for fish. I want a big school of Lambchop Rasboras and some Amano shrimp. Aqadvisor says I can have 45 Rasboras with 5 Amanos and be 70% stocked, but that seems high to me. Can I really have 45 Rasboras? And are 5 Amanos a good amount? I can't find reliable information about what size group Amanos prefer. I'll probably need a couple of Nerites to clean the glass as well or maybe Otos someday. I'd like to keep it a little understocked so I have some wiggle room on water changes, but I also think the larger the shoal, the better. My filter is an Eheim 2213.

Also, how many fish would you add at a time? The tank cycled itself using leached ammonia from the substrate, but I've been adding 1/8 teaspoon Fritz Pro Ammonium Chloride once a day for the past couple of days to build up some extra bacteria so it doesn't go into a mini-cycle when I start adding fish.

Another question I have is about my light. It is a Twinstar EA Series, and I have it dimmed quite a bit because I'm worried about the mini Christmas moss getting too much light, but I want to make sure the dwarf hairgrass gets enough light too. I planted it a week ago, and I'm already seeing growth from the dwarf hairgrass and a tiny bit of algae on the mini Christmas moss. I have the light on for two 3 hour lighting periods. Do I need to turn it down more or just get some Amanos in there to clean up the moss? Will the moss struggle being in high light? I am injecting CO2. I haven't started adding fertilizer because I figure the substrate has plenty for now. When should I start? I've got some Thrive on hand.

Almost forgot dont add shrimps or fish until your tank gets rid of ammonia in 24 hours

 

[Noroomforshoe]

I do not recommend aqadvisor , they come up with crazy things somtimes like this. I am wondering if you typed in somthing wrong.

I would say 14-15 lamp chops in a 20. I dont honestly know about shrimp.

Dont add fish or snails or anything just to clean your tank. They poo fertilizer for the things you are trying to get rid of.

 

[Andres391]

I do not recommend aqadvisor , they come up with crazy things somtimes like this. I am wondering if you typed in somthing wrong.

I would say 14-15 lamp chops in a 20. I dont honestly know about shrimp.

Dont add fish or snails or anything just to clean your tank. They poo fertilizer for the things you are trying to get rid of.

Shrimps bio load is very little and its 10 shrimps per gallon. They help keep tank clean by eating left over food that the fish don't eat, algae, dead plants and bio film. Bioloads are small bacteria will eat it up which is part of the cycle if you have a good mechanical filter such as 3inches of sand or gravel what ever your using that will help the point is not to stress species that they have room fish normally stay at the middle and shrimps on the bottom.