# stocking levels and seasonal variation for a 5 gallon El Natural



## helenf (Mar 24, 2008)

I have 4 endlers (actually they are hybrids, but the size of endlers rather than fancy guppies) in my 5 gallon NPT so far. They are tiny little things! 

Only had them in there for 5 days so far, and I've been overfeeding them (because I can't work out how to feed only 4 such tiny fish so they actually find the food, or maybe these fish are just dumber than average) but I haven't seen even a hint of an ammonia peak, which I take to mean that the plants are doing their thing as they should, even though they aren't growing much yet. 

I'm thinking of adding another 4. Would that be too much for the tank size, for a NPT, do you think? 

How about if I also added a couple of otocinclus? That would be a total of 8 guppies and 2 otos. Would that be too much? 

I don't know how to judge stocking levels for this sort of tank. 

Also I have been wondering the following, so those of you with NPTs that use daylight rather than artificial light, please can you tell me: does the stocking capability of your tanks vary much with the seasons? In winter there will be less light, so less plant growth, so less consumption of nutrients produced by the fish. Do you find this effect noticeable in your water quality, or not? 

Maybe letting the temperature drop in winter and feeding a bit less is enough to cope with this? I dunno.

Any advice would be welcome


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

Even though endlers do not produce much waste, I would wait a week or so before introducing anymore fish. If anything should go wrong, you won't lose more fish! For an NPT, or any sort of aquaria, patience pays off. 

I made a mistake too when I first started. Stocking too many neons and rasboras at a time. 85 percent mortality rate.  
I would also wait on adding the ottos. Since the tank is fairly new, there won't be much algae for the ottos to munch on.


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## helenf (Mar 24, 2008)

Thanks for the advice 

I'm not planning on adding anything else immediately, just trying to plan for the future.

Indeed I have no algae as yet and if I don't get any I won't add any algae eaters, certainly not otos which I haven't had before and which I believe are often sensitive. 

What I don't want to find is that I get to a point where I am at the max stocking level I can take in the tank and then I have an algae outbreak and no room to add the otos. Which is why I am soliciting opinions as to how many fish I can plan to have in this tank eventually.


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

helenf said:


> Thanks for the advice
> 
> I'm not planning on adding anything else immediately, just trying to plan for the future.
> 
> ...


Planning for the future is good 

If you want, you could save some room for some sort of algae eaters. In new tanks, some algae outbreaks are inevitable. The degree of algae outbreaks differs with each individual tanks though. 
Besides, you should always leave some breathing room in your stocking level. It's always better to have some sort of room for mistakes.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

You know what? I've had nothing but bad luck with heavily stocked NPT... I'd keep a low, very low stock. 

I got really tired of treating the tank parasite & infections constantly. Lesson learned.
right now my 10G tank has 3 ottos... And I'll add shrimps.. That's it.


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

mistergreen said:


> You know what? I've had nothing but bad luck with heavily stocked NPT... I'd keep a low, very low stock.
> 
> I got really tired of treating the tank parasite & infections constantly. Lesson learned.
> right now my 10G tank has 3 ottos... And I'll add shrimps.. That's it.


LOL. you have it worse than I do. 
WEll at least your otos are alive. three of mine died. I still have 2. (Death rate from two tanks).


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## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

i have a five gallon hex right now been set up for about a lil over a month. i have a pair of dwarf gouramis a pair of otos and 5 white clouds the tank is going great! your list should be okay.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

^^^ that's a bit much for 5G..

They might be ok at the moment but that much creates an unstable environment... You'll get algae blooms & infections if one little variable is off.


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## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

been that way for one month now i have not lost a thing( knock on wood)


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