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Stock level advice on a 50 gallon tank

Blueskiesdz

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Joined
22 Sep 2015
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57
Can anyone give me some stocking guidance on a 3ft x 18x 18 tank as I don't want to cause problems. The tank is heavily planted using a Eheim Prof 350 and about 225 litres with good flow and EI ferts.

Stock suggestion -

6 rummy nose
7 glow light tetra
7 neon tetra
3 SAE
3 oto's
6 copper rasbora

Will this be ok ?
 
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Your stocking suggestions seem fine to me, the more fish you have the more waste generated but if you change water regularly then not so much a problem. In my 90l I have 20 neons, 1 betta, 12 amino shrimp, 3 ottos, 4 zebra snails and 1 red cherry shrimp (not sure where he came from o_O). As far as I understand it the smaller the fish the more you can have as they produce less waste, bigger the fish the more waste.
Jim
 
What's the hardness of your water?
You could certainly up the numbers of each species a bit without being overstocked.
I have a 180lt running a Fluval 306,current stocking is 11 Microdevario Kubotai,18 Celestial Pearl Danio,18 Rosy loaches and 4 Amano shrimp plus several Nerite snails :)
 
Thanks for your replies. My mindset is still with a reef tank ! It's nice to have a few more fish instead of 10 before. Miranda B my KH is 4, nitrate 5 and PH 6.7 lights on 7.7 lights off.
 
All those species will behave more naturally in larger groups (10 - 20 is much better than 6-10 with most shoaling fish)
- except silver fox ... or do you mean flying fox :confused: as these fish easily attain 15cm in aquaria (they are usually great algae eaters as juveniles, much less so as adults, if you do have a large tank, then a shoal is very interesting).
Practical Fishkeeping algae eater summary - you might cross check with Seriously Fish for more information on individual species

Otocinclus - again these do better in shoals of several individuals but then you also need to monitor/supplement food supply

You may want some Corydoras <hint> :D

Obviously begin stocking with just one group at a time if adding in 10 - 12 fish (depending on size) ... downside is possibility of illness coming in with new additions (do you have a quarantine tank?) so take care with which shops & look all the tanks over carefully before buying fish.
When you do add in new fish, do daily water changes for several days - this is the best "medicine" you can offer.

(note there are 3 different species that may be sold as "rummy nose")
 
Silver fox: I think I was looking in the mirror ! :lol: I've changed it to SAE to avoid confusion. Alto would I be
able to have 10 of each on my
list then ?
 
SAE will grow to about 14cm and need a tank of 150L at least, so 10 will produce a heavy bio-load on the tank. ottos are a better option as they stay smaller and they do a fantastic job with algae, so well in fact that you will have to supplement them with additional food as @alto said.
jim
 
Copper rasbora - you might look at T hengeli (again smaller & look stunning in planted tanks) as well as T heteromorpha (the purple morph is quite stunning) - with these rasboras, select more males than females if you want brighter color, but include some female for the males to display & natter over ... these spawn easily

Neons - consider the green neon for it's smaller size, very nice color & likely overall better health, rather than P innesi

Glow light - some of the aquarium traded lines are considerably larger than expected (I always wonder about hormone use, also cross bred (jumbled) lines)

Look for quality fish that have nicely conformed bodies, & proper shape for the species, also note any deformed fish in the groups (usually from poor water quality or inbreeding, though the latter generally shows in conformation & non-breed-standard shape), expect fish to display subdued colors on the shop tanks (again some of the very bright fish will have been fed color enhancers or hormone use).
Buying juveniles is usually cheaper & fish age is obvious (stunted fish general have overly large eyes, poor conformation)
Fins should be clear & generally without ragged edges or tears, respiration neither too fast not too slow, fish should appear bright & active.
(apologies for reiterating details you likely already know).

I'd begin with the otos & SAE (juvenile fish can be very small & slender) & one group of tetras - maybe the rasboras as they tend to be quite sturdy & less costly - also if you want shrimp, they should be added sooner so as to establish before adding in the tetras ... I've not seen rasbora go for shrimp with the same dedication shown by tetras ;)

If you want to have 10 of each fish group, you may need to remove the SAE as they mature but they mature fairly slowly (compared to your other fish of interest) so you'll have lots of time to reflect.

I'd time the fish acquisitions at 2 - 4 week intervals as this allows time for each addition to acclimate to your tank etc (stress significantly suppresses fish immune system)

Note that 10 otos + 10 SAE would not be supported by tank algae - at least not in any amounts you'd want in your tank ... likely 4-5 otos & 1 SAE would be sufficient algae crew (except I hate to suggest keeping fish in singles) & you'd not need to worry about removing the SAE as it matures
 
I have a SAE bought as a juvenile grown a bit but completely peaceful with tetras and golden barbs and maybe because plenty of cover never bothered the Amano shrimp.I agree one or two small shoals of 10 or more always look better (opinion)than smaller groups of fish in a well planted tank.
 
Oh I wouldn't have 10 each of the oto's or SAE just the tetras etc. In my old reef tank I use to have a square trap or a fishing line to take out stock. What do you guys use to remove the odd fish ?
 
Alto thanks as ever for your thorough advice, it's been very much appreciated over the last month of set up. :happy:
 
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