How do you tell if you're overstocking?

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Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


kate_kuhli
 
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2016 2:04 am
Location: Florida

How do you tell if you're overstocking?

by kate_kuhli

People new to the hobby often find overstocking their tank to be the first big hurdle they have to overcome. Usually they don't realize they're overstocked until they start having issues with water quality e.g. sick fish, cloudy water, crowded fish.

So then they're usually having to do very frequent water changes while figuring out what to do with the fish. Get a bigger tank? Return them to the store? It would be a lot easier to avoid all that and have a decently stocked tank from the beginning.

I think that after you're a bit more experienced you start just knowing instinctively whether your planned stocking will be too much, or what fish would be incompatible, but that doesn't help newbies just starting out that are overwhelmed with info and don't really know where to turn.

So, anyone have some useful tips?


tetrafan
 
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2016 7:03 pm

Re: How do you tell if you're overstocking?

by tetrafan

Well, my first piece of advice would be not to listen about the "1 inch rule" that you hear about. It's a complete myth yet you see a lot of people using it as a guide for their tank. And even if that "rule" worked, people never seem to take into account the individual species' needs, like whether some of their fish are too active for the size tank.

How do you tell if you're overstocking?

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