What do you think of my stocking?

[big b]

5 gallon I have 1 mid size endler fry, 2 cherry shrimp, and about a dozen small ramshorn snails.
5 gallon I have 1 betta and 2 assassin snails
10 gallon I have about 3-4 dozen endlers of varying sizes. Mostly babies
10 gallon, java moss and some ramshorn snails(I plan to move the endlers here)
10 gallon 6 blue guppies and a few tiny fry
20 gallon 4 otos, 3 red guppies, 1 betta( in prison(a 1 gallon tank floating at the top of the tank) for nipping my guppy) and a bunch of fry, some mid size and a few new born fry.
38 gallon 9 red eye tetras,1 blue gourami, 5 kuhli loaches, about 10 mystery snails, 2 male bristle nose plecos( I thought 1 was a female), 1 siamese algae eater, 5 pristella tetras, 7 cory's.

I do a 50% water change on the 5 gallon about 1 every month or so.
I do a 50% water change on the 2nd 5 gallon every 2 weeks or so.
I do a 50% water change on all the 5 gallons except for the one with java moss every week
I do a 50% water change on the 20 gallon every week,
I do a 20 gallon water change on the 38 gallon every week.

The 38 gallon is heavily planted and bout to get more plants.
The first 5 gallon is planted medium
The 20 gallon is about to become planted medium-heavily
I run a marineland 360 canister on the 38 gallon along with a smaller hob filter, I can find the name of it later.
I run a whisper 10 on all of the 5 gallons and 10 gallons or a sponge filter rated for 10 gallons.
I run an aqueon quiet flow 20 and an aqueon quiet flow 30 on the 20 gallon

What are your opinions? Do I need to do more water changes? Do I need to change anything?

[big b]

Any body?

[LizStreithorst]

Not me...I let the fish tell me if it's right.  It's the only way I know how to do it

[big b]

How?

[LizStreithorst]

B, You watch the fish.  You know if they like the situation by the way they act.

[Mugwump]

B, You watch the fish.  You know if they like the situation by the way they act.

+1....observation will tell you a lot about your fish...

[Ron Sower]

What they are saying, B, is to watch for changes in the fishes behavior. Example: your guppies are probably very active most of the time. Their tails' edges should be pretty even with no red (bloody) or white (fungus) on them. If you see a change such as they become lethargic and the back end of their bodies droop, something is wrong. If their tail edges are red or white, or become raggedy, there is something wrong!

Your water chemistry is going to be different than any one of ours. However, I seldom measure the water chemistry that some people keep close check on. If you have an overcrowded tank, the water will soon be unhealthy without frequent changes.  These are just a few.

I have a 55g community tank that is way overstocked with small fish species. It's heavily planted and I run a 3 tray Rena canister filter on it. I change 30-60%
of the water every Sunday.  The fish are healthy and swim all over the tank. If I see lethargy in them or see them at the surface, I immediately check things out. Usually it's a clogged up filter. So I'll do an immediate water change & rinse the filter.

I also have 2-5g tanks with red cherry shrimp that are also heavily planted. I change 20-40% of their water also on Sundays. They just hum right along and produce a lot of little shrimp and plant cuttings.

I do have some algae, but it only becomes a problem when I do massive plant cuttings and keep fertilizing as normal or overextend the length of lighting. I use 3 species of fish for algae control: Otocinclus, BNs, and Siamese Algae Eaters (SAE) NOT Chinese Algae Eaters.

I have also known people that NEVER did water changes. They just kept topping off the tank. Many times, with good filtration, the fish did fine, but these fish had grown up in this condition. When the water evaporates the minerals don't. When they top off the tank they are adding water with more minerals and so the fish adapt to the gradual increase of the minerals in the water. After a few years of this they would have a tough time getting a newly acquired fish to survive in the tank unless they came from similar conditions.

Oh well, B, this is a lengthy but really a simplistic explanation of how and why some of us do the water changes.

If you've noticed Liz's posts, she does DAILY water changes for her beloved and beautiful discus.

[Mugwump]

Thanks Ron.......Ok, I'll add a few things...

  The amount that you feed is important too. Watching to see if all the food is being eaten and adjusting the amounts can save you grief. Your bottom feeder clean up crew can't be expected to do all the work. Decomposing uneaten food, and fish waste, not removed often, can cause ammonia spikes, and either a mini-cycle or a tank crash. So observe how your fish eat.

Observation of your fish eating habits can help avoid health issues too. If you see any occupant off there regular eating behavior, it could be a sign of the fish being ill.

Lethargic fish may also be being picked on, and not allowed to eat....sometimes they're chased to a corner or behind a filter/plant/rock...this is a behavioral problem that could cause you to lose a fish....

Deportment of all your fish shows clues to any troubles....watch to see what's going on....bullying? mating?....you may want to remove one or the other to avoid it escalating to a casualty, or including other tank mates...it even indicates incompatibility of species...while some species get along...it may not be so in a smaller crowded tank....

Your fish can tell you a lot...I'm sure others will chime in too...

[Ron Sower]

Awesome additions, Mugs.

[big b]

Thanks for your posts guys and gals .