# Can I add 9 fish at once?



## JordynMurdock (Sep 6, 2011)

I know there is a general rule to adding no more than 3 fish at once (per week), but are there exceptions? I want to have a total of either 7 or 9 Rummynose Tetras in my tank. Does that mean I have to add 3 each week for 3 weeks if I wanted 9? Or could I add them all at once? Thanks!


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## Jbrofish8 (Jul 7, 2011)

Is your tank heavily planted?

I added 8 rummynose to my heavily planted tank and I didnt lose 1 of them. I think as long as your tank has enough plants to assimilate the ammonia from these fish, you should be fine.


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## guppy371 (Oct 14, 2011)

If your still using the 29g my worry would be that you are adding alot of bio load (fish waste and co2) at once. This could drastically affect your water parameters. It can be done but you will need to monitor your water very close, and may need to do daily water changes for a week or so until things balance out.

An ammonia spike shortly after adding new fish could really be bad for them.


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## JordynMurdock (Sep 6, 2011)

Jbrofish8 said:


> Is your tank heavily planted?
> 
> I added 8 rummynose to my heavily planted tank and I didnt lose 1 of them. I think as long as your tank has enough plants to assimilate the ammonia from these fish, you should be fine.


Well all of my plants are artificial so I don't think they would do anything to the ammonia levels. I assume you were talking about live plants. So with artificial plants like I have, should I stick to adding them in small numbers?


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Most of these "general rules" are best forgotten. I've not heard this one before. But the biology of each aquarium is different, and this is solely what determines this.

Live plants would as Jbrofish8 mentioned eliminate any issues with adding fish (within reason, i.e., not overloading the tank's limit). Without live plants, the next question is how long the tank has been running; a new tank will have minimal nitrifying bacteria, whereas an established tank has a more mature and established biological system that can absorb more without detriment. Third, your pH has a role in this; in acidic water there will be no ammonia issues.

In your case, I would add the rummys at once. Monitor the ammonia, be prepared to do a 50% water change. Using a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia and nitrite in such situations is also beneficial. Prime and Ultimate do both.

With the mentioned fish, live plants should be considered. Even something as simple as floating plants will make quite a difference to the water quality, and perhaps equally importantly, the fish. These forest fish always are more relaxed with a "roof" over them.

Byron.


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## trombonedemon (Sep 9, 2011)

Plus 1 on the above mentioned.

The only problem I see with adding that many fish is that if you would have a bunch of different species, but of if they are the same species of fish then there hierarchy has already been worked out in the tank you have gotten them from.

I'm not a big fan on the smaller aquariums; I'm willing to leave the smaller aquariums to the more experienced hobbyist. The equalibrium changes to fast and one would have to pay much, much, closer attention to your pet fish. 

If I read correctly, you want 14 fish in your 29 gallon aquarium. You have grossly overstocked your aquarium.


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## JordynMurdock (Sep 6, 2011)

trombonedemon said:


> Plus 1 on the above mentioned.
> 
> The only problem I see with adding that many fish is that if you would have a bunch of different species, but of if they are the same species of fish then there hierarchy has already been worked out in the tank you have gotten them from.
> 
> ...


"grossly overstocked" is a quite rash thing to state. Seeing that all of the fish I have in my tank grow around 2 inches (rummy noses even smaller), then 14-15 fish in a 29 is just about perfect. 

I'm quite aware of the overstocking rules for fish, that is not my question. I also just added some more Cory's today after posting this thread, so I will not be adding 9 Rummy Noses. I am now thinking about 5. Now the issue is if that is enough Rummys (they like bigger groups).


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## Jbrofish8 (Jul 7, 2011)

I think you need at least 8 or 9. They do better in larger groups. You should be fine to get that many even with the extra corys since they occupy different areas of the tank. 

I think Byron brings up a good point though. Is this tank cycled and how long has it been set up? Id pick up some floating plants if I were you. They're super easy to grow and the effect it will have on the rummys is so worth it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## trombonedemon (Sep 9, 2011)

JordynMurdock said:


> "grossly overstocked" is a quite rash thing to state. Seeing that all of the fish I have in my tank grow around 2 inches (rummy noses even smaller), then 14-15 fish in a 29 is just about perfect.
> 
> I'm quite aware of the overstocking rules for fish, that is not my question. I also just added some more Cory's today after posting this thread, so I will not be adding 9 Rummy Noses. I am now thinking about 5. Now the issue is if that is enough Rummys (they like bigger groups).


Yea, that is what I was thinking, "rules for fish," the inch per gallon is a joke rule. First, some fish grow larger and others stay the same size for longer periods of time even if they are the same species. 

O.k. if you don't mind water changes every other day, then yea 14-15 fish is fine. That many fish belong in at least a 50 gallon tank.

That mistake has already been made by me, first it was a 10 gallon, then I thought 20 gallon tank for like 10 fish was good. Nope. To keep the fish alive until I got the 50 gallon tank, I had to do water change every other day, b/c my fish were constantly crapping every where.

Yea, grossly is still the correct word for 15 fish in a 29 gallon tank. I'm just thinking about the fish.

P.s. My Molly's were supposed to grow only 2 inches, they are now 2 1/2 inches and growing.


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## Jbrofish8 (Jul 7, 2011)

I have 20 fish in my 29g and all is just fine. And I plan on adding 3 more soon. 

I change my water once a week and my ammonia and nitrite never move above 0.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## trombonedemon (Sep 9, 2011)

Jbrofish8 said:


> I have 20 fish in my 29g and all is just fine. And I plan on adding 3 more soon.
> 
> I change my water once a week and my ammonia and nitrite never move above 0.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


:shock:Best of luck.


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## Jbrofish8 (Jul 7, 2011)

Oh thanks.

My first tank has about 25 fish and its a 29g as well! I've lost 1 fish since its been set up. And that fish died within the first 10 hours so I'm guessing it was sick or weak coming in.

My point is.. there is no clear cut number for every tank. It depends on the aquarium as well as the bioload of the fish you have. 

You can check my tanks in my profile on the left. Every one of my fish is well taken care of and thriving.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## JordynMurdock (Sep 6, 2011)

Thank Jbro, good to hear someone else with more than 14 fish in a 29g. My corys are always on the bottom, and the black skirts in the middle/top part of the tank. they never get in each others ways and everything is perfect in the tank. The tank has been running for almost 2 months now, and the levels are all 0. I feel like about 15 fish is perfect for my 29g


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## jennesque (May 11, 2011)

Just wanted to post and say that I personally have a 28 gallon tank which had 23 fish in it.. I recently rescaped my tank and I've been having problems with two fish dying because of that, but when I restock I will again have 2 blue rams, either 7 neon tetras or 9 rummynosed tetras, then either 7 or 9 harlequin rasboras - depending on if I have rummys or tetras, as well as 5 corys. Most of those fish have such a small bioload the tank will not be overstocked. When I did have the full 23 fish my tank had zero ammonia and zero nitrite and there was not constant fish waste at the bottom of my tank.


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## JordynMurdock (Sep 6, 2011)

jennesque said:


> Just wanted to post and say that I personally have a 28 gallon tank which had 23 fish in it.. I recently rescaped my tank and I've been having problems with two fish dying because of that, but when I restock I will again have 2 blue rams, either 7 neon tetras or 9 rummynosed tetras, then either 7 or 9 harlequin rasboras - depending on if I have rummys or tetras, as well as 5 corys. Most of those fish have such a small bioload the tank will not be overstocked. When I did have the full 23 fish my tank had zero ammonia and zero nitrite and there was not constant fish waste at the bottom of my tank.


Thank you for the post. Just another example. 
I guess when I am able to, I will add a few Rummynoses and see how it goes. I might get 7 now after hearing all these stories. Then I will have:

6 Black Skirts
5 Corys
7 Rummy Noses

thats 18 fish total.


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## jennesque (May 11, 2011)

Oh, I meant to say, Byron (and others) say that rummys are one of the tetras that need at minimum 9 in a group to be happy. Most other tetras though you'll be fine with just 6-7..

But yes, you're welcome.  If you've got small, 'clean' enough fish you can absolutely have that many fish in an appropriately sized tank! You can easily keep 10 appropriate fish in a 20gal tank, you could even keep 5 of the appropriate fish in a 5gal! Just make sure they're tiny enough -- and not goldfish or oscars lol



Also, as a reference when stocking, I always check aqadvisor.com. They try their best to take fish bioload into consideration when calculating how stocked your tank is. It'll also tell you preferred ph and temp for each species, and give you alerts on any incompatibility issues, including temperament. 

Here, I did a 29 gal tank with 9 rummys, 6 black skirts, and 5 peppered corys and it's showing you at 92% stocking level.

http://aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php?...AqSpeciesWindowSize=short&AqSearchMode=simple


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Yes, I would definitely go with 9 minimum for rummys. And that will be fine in your 29g.

A general observation on fish stocking. As someone said, the "inch of fish per gallon" is not reliable. Many (especially beginning) aquarists want "rules" for this and that, but in this hobby such rules are sometimes impossible to formulate. This hobby deals with living creatures, and each aquarium is different from the next. Even among my 7 running tanks, I have different biological actions occurring in each that makes it unique.

The number of fish that any given aquarium will safely and comfortably hold depends upon several factors. The tank volume obviously; whether or not live plants are included; filtration; environmental decor (wood, rock, decor); specific fish species, both from its size but also its needs in terms of space, environmental decor, filtration/water movement. All of these factors interact.

Within reasonable limits, you can have more of some fish compared to fewer of others, even if they might be the same mature size in the same volume of water. The other factors impact.

To the subject case: Nine rummynose tetra will fare much better than will six, all else being equal. The reason is simply because the fish will be less stressed with more, and thus healthier. The immune system is weakened by stress; less stress means a stronger fish. So even if one were to exceed the "limit" of a tank by 2-3 fish, it may actually be a healthier environment than not. At the same time, adding one very small but "trouble" fish can make the same aquarium a death-trap for the fish, solely because a negative element is present.

Hope this makes some sense.

Byron.


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## JordynMurdock (Sep 6, 2011)

Byron said:


> Yes, I would definitely go with 9 minimum for rummys. And that will be fine in your 29g.
> 
> A general observation on fish stocking. As someone said, the "inch of fish per gallon" is not reliable. Many (especially beginning) aquarists want "rules" for this and that, but in this hobby such rules are sometimes impossible to formulate. This hobby deals with living creatures, and each aquarium is different from the next. Even among my 7 running tanks, I have different biological actions occurring in each that makes it unique.
> 
> ...


That all makes perfect sense. So now on to the final question that will determine what I get at the LFS next week. If I end up wanting to do the 9 Rummy's, should I add them all at once? Or in groups each week? Keep in mind that at the moment I don't have live plants, and don't think I will be getting any anytime soon. I could get floating artificial plants if you really think that would help.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

JordynMurdock said:


> That all makes perfect sense. So now on to the final question that will determine what I get at the LFS next week. If I end up wanting to do the 9 Rummy's, should I add them all at once? Or in groups each week? Keep in mind that at the moment I don't have live plants, and don't think I will be getting any anytime soon. I could get floating artificial plants if you really think that would help.


Yes, I absolutely do. Floating plants are immensely beneficial both for improving water stability and providing shade. No forest fish like bright light overhead. One can easily see the difference, believe me. Someone in another thread last week or the week before wrote that they took my suggestion for floating plants and were amazed how the tetra suddenly came out and brightened up in colour.

I would get all 9 rummys at once, as I said previously; monitor ammonia and nitrite, be prepared for daily water changes, and preferably use Prime or Ultimate water conditioner as they deal with ammonia and nitrite.


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## JordynMurdock (Sep 6, 2011)

Byron said:


> Yes, I absolutely do. Floating plants are immensely beneficial both for improving water stability and providing shade. No forest fish like bright light overhead. One can easily see the difference, believe me. Someone in another thread last week or the week before wrote that they took my suggestion for floating plants and were amazed how the tetra suddenly came out and brightened up in colour.
> 
> I would get all 9 rummys at once, as I said previously; monitor ammonia and nitrite, be prepared for daily water changes, and preferably use Prime or Ultimate water conditioner as they deal with ammonia and nitrite.


Artificial or live floating plants?


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## jennesque (May 11, 2011)

I think he's probably talking about live floating plants. If you can find wisteria at petco or petsmart, I had a lot of luck with that plant sucking up a lot of waste from the water column. I wouldn't recommend planting it unless you've got a lot of light in your tank, but it'd be fine floating.. You can also look for pennywort, I personally love the look of it. 

I found it to be pretty difficult to find plants that are 100% floating plants.. so, I'm trying to think of things you may be able to find easily at a normal pet store. If you can find amazon frogtbit I think that's a decent floating plant too.

A lot of the floating plants grow very quickly once they settle in to your tank, and so they eat up a lot of nutrients in your tank very quickly, limiting ammonia, and nitrite/nitrate..


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## JordynMurdock (Sep 6, 2011)

jennesque said:


> I think he's probably talking about live floating plants. If you can find wisteria at petco or petsmart, I had a lot of luck with that plant sucking up a lot of waste from the water column. I wouldn't recommend planting it unless you've got a lot of light in your tank, but it'd be fine floating.. You can also look for pennywort, I personally love the look of it.
> 
> I found it to be pretty difficult to find plants that are 100% floating plants.. so, I'm trying to think of things you may be able to find easily at a normal pet store. If you can find amazon frogtbit I think that's a decent floating plant too.
> 
> A lot of the floating plants grow very quickly once they settle in to your tank, and so they eat up a lot of nutrients in your tank very quickly, limiting ammonia, and nitrite/nitrate..


I have never wanted live plants because they grow, and I don't want to have to deal with them. People say they are easy to maintain but I don't want to have to deal with them at all. Plus my tank has several nice artificial plants in it and mixing artificial and live plants would just look retarded in my opinion. But I would like to add a floating plant like suggested to help the Rummys (since they dont like too much light). Can I just get some artificial floating stuff and add it in? My ammonia levels and everything are fine right now, so I am not worried about it and do not need the live plants to help with the levels. I just want to make the Rummys happy with plants to dim the light coming through the surface. The other worry I have about floating plants is that they catch all the food that I add to the surface. Would all the food get stuck up there?


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## Jbrofish8 (Jul 7, 2011)

I have floating plants and have never had issues with the food. If you have tetra, they will find the floating food. lol.


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## Chevelle (Sep 28, 2011)

You shouldn't have a problem, keep Prime on hand in case of a spike. Rummynose have a low bioload, maybe just feed sparingly for the first few days.


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## jennesque (May 11, 2011)

I'm not sure if it might get caught in a fabric floating plant, but it should be fine in plastic. I have never used fake floating plants, even when I had fake plants in the rest of my tank.
Right now the whole top of my tank has pennywort growing on it, and the fish have no problem finding the food. I actually like it because, as slow as my rams eat, they get a chance to eat more food now because the tetras and rasboras are at all different areas of the top of the tank looking for the food. The food doesn't really get stuck, and what very small amount may is picked up by my ghost shrimp, who swim upside down on the surface looking for the food -- too cute! I love having the pennywort because it reminds me of lilies, but since it's a stem plant it's very easy to maintain. If it grows too much, you just clip off part of then stem and toss/share the unwanted part.

Sorry, I guess I'm still trying to convince you to go live, at least on the floating plants. They're really very, very easy plants to take care of and since they are at the surface you don't need too special of a light, any co2... idk of you'd NEED liquid fertilizer or not.. someone else can confirm or deny that. But I think it's the beautiful roots that dangle inside the tank that really made me love floating plants, as well as the fact that they can be a useful buffer if some of your params do spike a but. As far as the look of the roots, it's very delicate, something they'd probably never duplicate properly in any fake plant, and it's a great place for fish to explore.


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