# Do more plants = more fish carrying capacity?



## KShoes (Sep 29, 2009)

It sure does, but make sure the fish still have room to swim!


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

Sort of. But so will extra filtration. And fish are still limited by size restrictions, as KShoes said. Schooling fish need a little less room per fish, and bottom dwellers have their own scale of stocking. Fauna that hide in the plants all the time need less swimming room but more hiding room. Community fish need more room if there are aggressive fish in the tank. No single criterion determines how many fish you can have in a tank.


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## Carrie.a.gordon (Mar 16, 2011)

Thanks guys. I was thinking I had rather overstocked already but I haven't had a single problem with ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. I don't really understand what I'm doing right. I have a lot of plants but I added a lot of fish early in the tank's life, if you will. The plants are growing visibly and the numbers are all great.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Think of the worst case:
What happens to a tank when the power fails? 

No filtration: Not a problem for a short time, as long as the bacteria survive.
No water movement: VERY BIG problem if the tank is overstocked. The fish will use up the oxygen pretty fast, and without light the plants will not be producing much O2.
No light, or just window light: No light = no Oxygen from plants. 
No heater: Not a problem for a short time, but if the house is also cooling off, I would wrap the tank in a thick towel.

A well run tank can support a very large fish population when everything is going well, but when there are problems an overstocked tank will go bad a lot faster than a lightly stocked tank.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Diana said:


> Think of the worst case:
> What happens to a tank when the power fails?
> 
> No filtration: Not a problem for a short time, as long as the bacteria survive.
> ...


IMO very good advice.

You CAN stock a tank more heavily if it's planted, but IMO in most cases it's usually not a wise idea.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

my 10 gal is overstocked, but everything is healthy. Very very planted though lol, my 36 not so much anymore after a problem wiped out a school of glow lights 

Keep an eye on your params, have a backup plan for power outages IE battery operated air pump, or generator and you should be ok.


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## matt12 (Jan 16, 2011)

KShoes said:


> It sure does, but make sure the fish still have room to swim!


 thats my problem lol:icon_mrgr


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## matt12 (Jan 16, 2011)

seriously tho... Yes and no. plants do use fish waste and absorb nitrates in the water colum, but these can still add up, even in a heavily planted tank. if you do wanna overstock a bit make sure you keep up on weekly water changes. i do 50% weekly on my 40g with great results


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## Carrie.a.gordon (Mar 16, 2011)

Thanks everybody. I've seen some battery powered air pumps around. They all seem kind of... Small. Anyone have a good recommendation?


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## Safez (Mar 4, 2011)

Keep a bulkhead of fresh, sterilised clean water so you can do periodic water changes if the power goes out. I mean lets face it, pending disaster how long do most of you expect to be without power? I wouldn't recommend wasting money on battery operated devices and such... seems kinda pointless... I would not find a battery operated device large enough to do anything useful in my 145 gal... but then again, the more water the longer you have to play with I guess.


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## DerCribben (Mar 15, 2011)

You know, I expect an APC battery backup like the ones you use for a computer would run a single airpump for quite a while, and then you could use any airpump you could plug into any outlet you normally would.


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## palufreak (Mar 1, 2011)

Like everyone else said, yes and no... Another advantage is that you can put slightly more aggresive fish with less aggresive because there are more hiding spots for the shy fish... Works well with shrimps too!!


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

There is one thing I always notice about the best looking PT's, less is more. They mostly will have only 3 to 4 types of plants with some great looking rocks or driftwood and only one or two different species of fish. That's why I have 35 fish and 7 different species, I picked up a m/f pair of wild Kribensis and 10 tiny little Green Neon's yesterday they were so tiny and shiney I could not resist, but my tank has had up to 110 fish at times but they are all very small and mostly not longer than 1.25 inches with some exceptions up to 3 inches, Kribs & Kuhli's.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

When I first started with planted tanks, my goal was to create a stable healthy tank using plants as an extra filtration element in the tank. But now, they've turned into decorative elements that I have to feed with fertilizers.

The fishes also feel more comfortable and at ease in a planted tank.


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## SeaSlug182 (Apr 1, 2011)

Safez said:


> Keep a bulkhead of fresh, sterilised clean water so you can do periodic water changes if the power goes out. .


Ummm... how big is a bulkhead of water? lol


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I think the consensus is that planted tanks will support fewer fish than non-planted, assuming both tanks are set up and maintained correctly. Plants do make some fish more comfortable, but not all fish - African cichlids come to mind. But, I don't think it is a good goal to try to stock a tank with the maximum number of fish that can live in it. 

Intuitively I would say the plants make it possible to have more fish in the tank, but intuition isn't always or even often right.


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## Safez (Mar 4, 2011)

SeaSlug182 said:


> Ummm... how big is a bulkhead of water? lol



Usually 25-50% of your tank capacity. 

couple of clean 44's or non-BPA plastic water drums.

As for plants allowing u to keep more fish... If not for plants I wouldn't be able to keep convicts, perch and tiger barbs in an oscar tank!


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