# Overstocked 10 gallon.....crap!



## rdale2 (Nov 16, 2011)

I started a 10 gallon tank about about two months ago and it was going great. I had 5 bloodfin tetras in there and a few live plants. The plants were doing ok, but not thriving so I've been adding SeaChem Flourish each week and I've just completed a DIY CO2 system.

Unfortunately I got a little carried away in the last little while. I ended up getting 3 Amano shrimp to clean algae, and also a Dwarf gourami. For some reason I wanted another schooling group so I added 5 glow light tetras. To top it off, my girlfriend really wanted an Oto so we added that as well.

When I was going to add the glow lights I checked aqadvisor.com and my stocking level was just barely over 100%. I figured with diligent water changes it would all be ok. On top of that, I have an S15 filter (meant for a 15 gallon tank) and I also just bought an Elite Mini for my DIY CO2 rig (which is another filter meant for 3 gallon tank). But then I got the Oto, so I'm well above 100% (mind you, that doesn't take into account the additional filtering capacity of the Elite Mini).

So, I know that I shouldn't have added so many fish. On the other hand, my tank has lots of filtering capacity (18 gallons for a 10 gallon tank). If I do regular water changes do you guys think it will be ok, or is it doomed? So far the tank is really interesting to watch, and nobody has died yet....

Here's pics:
Aquarium - a set on Flickr

Thanks for you advice...

-Aquarium no0b


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

you will be fine. Just don't over feed and don't add any more fish.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

+1 to what Charles said above. The most important things to keep in mind is the water volume. If you have 10 gallon ~ 20 gallon, the water quality can degrade faster than say a large 50+ gallon tank. Having said that, just keep in mind that the quality of the water will degrade fast and I mean within a day or two.

Looking at your bioload, I'd say it's good since the livestock doesn't poop as much.

Just make sure you do not overfeed and I'm sure the livestock in your tank will do well. I would not pushing it by adding any more fish.

Good luck and welcome to BCA.


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## mdwflyer (Jan 11, 2011)

Beautiful tank, and +1 to every word posted above


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

I also overstock my tanks.
I try to keep aged water on had to do my water changes with.

I have a clean large garbage can that I fill up nightly with water.
I put an air stone in the bottom of it to help get the chlorine out.
I also add Aqua-Plus according to the containers instructions.

In the morning I use the room temperature water for make up water when doing water changes.

I also have 200 gallons of rain water outside ready to use but it is getting lumpy (frozen) these days<G>


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## Ebonbolt (Aug 12, 2011)

With schooling fish, I find that going over by 20-30% isn't a huge problem as long as you don't feed too much and keep up with the water changes. IME, overstocking is much more of a problem with territorial fish, like cichlids and damsels, since they'll kill each other for territory.


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## rdale2 (Nov 16, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm pretty relieved, it sounds like the tank will work out so long as I don't over feed and do regular water changes. Definitely no more fish though!

And thanks for the tank compliment. It's my first aquarium and I'm loving it, really addictive. Great hobby!


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Welcome to the forum. Super nice for a 10g. Ditto to comments above. Never hurt to up the filtration a bit like an AC30 if you have any concern.

Stay on this forum and you will likely get a bigger tank any way :lol:


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Very nice little tank. Congrats.


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## raeven (May 12, 2011)

I find that overstocking with tetras usually isn't that big of a deal. They like to stay in close proximity with each other, and therefor take up less room than say five other fish that like their space.

My 45 gallon is currently overstocked, but I do weekly water changes and be careful not to feed too much, and everything works perfectly fine.


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