# What is "moderately stocked" as regards fish?



## Bumble (Sep 14, 2006)

I have read that it is recommended that an "el natural" planted tank should be "moderately stocked" to provide the necessary nutrients in order to satisfy the plants needs without overloading the system but I'm not sure what that actually means in practice.

Is the old ratio of 1" per 1 gallon moderate or should that be reduced somewhat?

I have a 170 gal tank and have stocked it as follows:-

5 x gold angelfish

2 x Pearl gourami (Trichogaster leeri)

15 x Roberts tetras (Hyphessobrycon robertsii)

6 x Albino Corydorus

6 x Ottocinclus

5 x SAE {Crossocheilus siamensis)

2 x Whiptail catfish (Rineloricaria parva)

1 x Bristlenose plec

I reckon that when these fish reach their full size they will make up about 150-160 inches in total which is pretty much adhering to the 1" per 1gal rule but is it too much?

I would appreciate your thoughts!


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## Anafranil (Mar 15, 2005)

Look,I believe there are no strict rules about stocking vs plant requirements since almost all tanks photosynthesize at different rate and thus require more or less nutrients.If you are into plant growing for good and have lots of fast growing plants like cabomba and balance light co2 and nutrients correctly then you will always have to fertilize even if your tank is overstocked.So if you ask me follow the rules for the fishes wellbeing and not as fertilizer producers,hey,that's why chemicals are there for


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## Bumble (Sep 14, 2006)

I am trying to run this tank as an "El natural" so I was hoping NOT to add fertilizers if at all possible and I'm not adding CO2 either.
I have 4 x 58watt tubes giving me less than 1.5 watts per gallon,I have a 1.5 inch topsoil substrate covered with 1.5 inch of small gravel. It is well planted with fast growing plants including green Cabomba,various Hygrophilas and Echinodorus.
The only way I have strayed from the Diana Walstad approach is by using 2 x fluval 404 external filters instead of just powerheads. This is because of my concerns about the number of fish I am stocking and the ability of the plants to take up the waste they produce.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Bumble said:


> I am trying to run this tank as an "El natural" so I was hoping NOT to add fertilizers if at all possible and I'm not adding CO2 either.
> I have 4 x 58watt tubes giving me less than 1.5 watts per gallon,I have a 1.5 inch topsoil substrate covered with 1.5 inch of small gravel. It is well planted with fast growing plants including green Cabomba,various Hygrophilas and Echinodorus.
> The only way I have strayed from the Diana Walstad approach is by using 2 x fluval 404 external filters instead of just powerheads. This is because of my concerns about the number of fish I am stocking and the ability of the plants to take up the waste they produce.


I'd consider your tank lightly stocked. Sounds like a nicely setup tank. Perhaps we'll see some pictures?

The soil, fishfood should take amply care of providing plant nutrients. I doubt you'll see nutrient deficiencies in this tank.

That's the great thing about using fishfood to feed plants. Your fish will never go hungry!


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## Bumble (Sep 14, 2006)

dwalstad said:


> I'd consider your tank lightly stocked. Sounds like a nicely setup tank. Perhaps we'll see some pictures?
> 
> The soil, fishfood should take amply care of providing plant nutrients. I doubt you'll see nutrient deficiencies in this tank.
> 
> That's the great thing about using fishfood to feed plants. Your fish will never go hungry!


Thank you very much for your answer Diana, that is just what I was hoping to hear. The tank has only been set up a little over 2 weeks and I am delighted with its progress so far. Here is the latest picture I took this evening.


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

That's nice! 
So what are you using for a foreground?


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## Minipol (Jul 4, 2006)

Sounds lightly stocked to me too.
Regarding the fishload: when you overstock, you need more plants or faster growing plants and to get them to grow fast, you would need to up the light requirements. but this could lead to faster usage of the components of the soil so you would probably have to add fertilizer to the tank.
So it's better to stay moderately stocked 

The tank looks very nice. It looks like a Rena tank


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Beautiful tank. It looks like a winner to me. 

Thanks for posting the photo. It's a pleasure to look at.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

It looks great, especially for a tank only a couple weeks old. Keep us updated on how it fills out.


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## Bumble (Sep 14, 2006)

Thanks very much to everybody for your kind comments.



> Posted by DataGuru
> So what are you using for a foreground?


The foreground plants are Echinodorus Quadricostatus. I'd never seen them before but they had them at my LFS and so I looked them up and saw that they grow between 4"-6" which I thought would be a good height for a big tank like this.



> Posted by Minipol
> The tank looks very nice. It looks like a Rena tank


Yes it is a Rena tank. I've had it about 3 years and I originally had it full of large cichlids but I've really wanted a large planted tank for some time,so I took the plunge and traded my cichlids to set it up as an "El natural".

I'll keep the stock level as it is and won't add anymore and hopefully the balance of Fish waste to plant growth will be stable.
So far I've only had a little algae develop and the 5 Siamese algae eaters and 6 Ottocinclus have been taking care of it. But its very early days yet so I expect I'll get some problems before long.
Thanks again


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## snowhillbilly (Mar 29, 2006)

Bumble what a super nice tank keep up the good work.


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## Bumble (Sep 14, 2006)

snowhillbilly said:


> Bumble what a super nice tank keep up the good work.


Thanks Snowhillbilly, I think I'm enjoying the "honeymoon" period at the moment. I'm sure I'll run into trouble fairly soon!


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