I am wondering how many plecos/fish are too many for my tank. I've got a lot of thoughts about this and I need someone that really knows what they are doing to set me straight. I need to know and learn the reasons, if I am or am about to overstock.
I have stocked my 120 gallon tank with the following:
5 harlequin rasboras, ~7 zebra danios, 5 hatchetfish, 6 red minor tetras, 5 black mollies
All of these fish are almost *ALWAYS* on top/middle of tank. Sometimes they come to the bottom for brief excursions, but not really. The top of my tank is not 'crowded', and these fish don't stand to get much bigger. I am thinking of adding more fish up here (i just saw some leopard danios and boy are they cool looking!!!), but I tell myself 'i don't want to overcrowd it.' But why? These fish aren't going to get any bigger, and there is still tons of room.......
I also have
4 angels, 2 bala sharks. These fish swim in the middle mostly, of course going between top and bottom. I know that both of these species, specifically balas, get pretty large. I don't really want to crowd this area up more than it already is, because I know these fish need room to expand (the balas are ~3inch and angels 1-2+ inch), and I know they share the middle with fish a lot of the time.
Now here is my PROBLEM area, the bottom.. where I have:
7 clown loaches ~2.5inch, 2 pimelodus pictus ~3-4inch, 1 LDA008 gold bristlenose ~2inch
I know the clown loaches 'get to be 12 inches', but while everybody is quick to say this, I have learned that they grow at a rate of ~1inch per year, and further it seems EXTREMELY rare to get them to grow that large. As it stands they all have a wide choice of hiding places that all are way larger than they are (one cave sometimes all 7 hide in!). The pim pictus will get to be about 6 inches, and these are somewhat active fish so I understand they need some territory.. and the LDA008 needs practically nothing as far as space or anything goes. With all these fish right now, there is still a huge amount of space empty.
Okay so all of this stuff I listed fits with everybody acting normal, and shy fish having all the hiding space they could want. Now the real kicker comes in, that generally only about HALF of my tank even has fish in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have concentrated feeding on one side, and as a result (i assume) almost all of the fish are on this side, leaving 55 gallons always vacant except 2 or 3 fish. To me, this feels like I should be able to add more fish.
What I want to stock next is a queen arabesque, which reaches 3.6inches maximum. At that small size, I know its not going to take much real estate in my tank. I also want to get a king tiger pleco, and at 4.8 inches maximum I don't really see it being a big deal either.
Another fish I plan to stock is leop. galaxis (vampire pleco) which can reach 10 inches. This is a sizeable fish and I know its going to need some serious area. Also, I am looking at a L014 'goldie' which reaches ~12 inches. Both of these fish are so striking, but I don't know if I can have either of them (or both of them), because I don't know if that is going to be seriously 'packing' my aquarium or not. When I see these large plecos in tanks I see them sitting still lodged in a corner or under a rock sucking on something, sometimes a few of them side by side. They seem unbothered by this and don't act aggressive or do much of anything.. so this is why I feel like I can stock a few of these 'big guys'
I am also thinking of stocking a school of otocinclus, and from the stories and pictures I see these guys just stick to the walls/plants.. so I don't feel like this will crowd either.
Finally (BOY this got long), I had but lost due to medicine a few snails and shrimp, and I want to add some trumpet and mystery snails, and also some more shrimp. Should I be concerned about adding these for any reason as far as making the aquarium have less 'room' in it?
I sincerely thank anybody who reads this and replies, it is a long convoluted bunch of questions but I have no experts to turn to except forums.
Robert
