# Stocking a planted aquarium



## ryanpb (Apr 24, 2013)

I have a 14 gallon planted aquarium, it's pretty moderetaly planted (picture in my gallery), and currently home to a few snails, 3 amano shrimp and 2 oto catfish. I plan on adding more, and have an idea what I'd like to do, but have a question on stocking/overcrowding, I've heard with planted tanks its ok to have more fish than what a non planted tank would support. I'm not deadset on having a bunch of fish, but most of the species I'm looking at prefer schools, wondering if it would be better for them to understock, or overstock but have "buddis".

I'm thinking about adding one more oto catfish, and would like to also get a group (3?) of smaller corys (false julli maybe?) the third and final fish species are where I can't quite decide. I'm torn between harlequin rasbora, pheonix rasbora, lamchop rasbora, green neon tetra, ember tetra, or cardinal tetra.

I have also thought about doing a group of scarlet badis instead of a schooling group.

Most of the tetra/rasbora are of a similar size/bioload, If I were to have a tank with 3 amano, 3 oto, and 3 cory, how many of these other fish would everyone recommend? I know theres the old 1" per gallon "rule" but it's a pretty outdated rule, and I have heard plants are a factor in stocking. any opinions?


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## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

No picture ? 

Plants go both ways. Also must consider the size of the fish. Yes, they may allow for overstocking, but they also physically take up space.

I couldn't very well overstock this tank with fish as there isn't much room to swim! 









I like neons, they stay at 1" max. 

I like otos, They stay very small too, 1.5" max and narrow bodies. 

I see people using this site alot to get into the ballpark for stocking.
AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor


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## ryanpb (Apr 24, 2013)

That you could'nt! Though I bet some little tiny rasbora would love that tank! 
Thanks for the link! I punched everything in, and not taking account of the plants as filtration It looks like with the 3 Amano, 3 Oto, snails, and 3 Corys (f. julli) I'm at 51% stocking level, Which should give me a good amount of space for a group of badis (harem 3-4), or a small (thinking 6?) school of tetra/rasbora.

Any other opinions/experiences would be helpful!

Here's the tank though:








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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

You could safely add 10 Ember tetras to that list, or 2 male and 6 female scarlett badis


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## ryanpb (Apr 24, 2013)

I'm leaning more towards a small (5-8) school of embers tetras; if I could get my hands on ruby tetras i'd get those, but none of the lfs seem to stock them. Down the road I'd like to add one "showpiece fish" Something more solitary, slightly larger and less prone to hiding, but that would still get along with everyone. I thought about a dwarf gourami, I had one some years back in a community tank, but worried about how it may get on with the shrimp and such small fish (embers).

Any ideas for a sub 3" fish that doesn't need to be in a school but works in community tanks?


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