[elTwitcho]

So often I see people considering overstocking, and so often I see the responses of "well maybe your fish will kill each other, you could try going bare though or lowering temperature" and yet not once have I seen someone bring up water quality. Having one tank that is overstocked, I can only assume this is a result of people not giving advice based on practical experience but that's not the point. The POINT, is this, if you are considering overstocking, fish aggression should be the least of your concerns.

The tank in question of mine is a 48 x 12 tank that holds 40 gallons of water. In setting it up I knew I could manage aggression because of the large footprint but I hadn't taken water quality into consideration and truth be told it's been my biggest pain in the ass tank of all the ones I own. I change my water in my tanks about 20% twice per week, in my red belly tank this means pristine water quality, in my cichlid tank that is overstocked, it means just passable water quality. From the 7 tiger barbs, three convicts, 1 green terror, 1 kribensis and two plecos I can just keep up with polution or the water begins to stink within a week. Keeping in mind people, this isn't a piranha tank, this is a cichlid tank. This means floating pellet foods that get completely eaten up and don't foul the water, and all that polution is from fish poop only. In a piranha tank that will have shredded fish meat from feedings contributing to waste buildup the situation is only going to be much worse.

If you're considering overstocking a tank with piranhas, f*ck only thinking about wether you're willing to risk losing a fish or two, that's something that MIGHT become a concern, consider instead if you're willing to do a water change every two days to prevent your tank from becoming a swamp. This is something that WILL become a concern and CAN NOT be avoided. My cichlid tank believe it or not is more work to keep up than all my other tanks combined and nobody ever mentions this aspect. Not everybody is the kind of person who wants to spend a few hours per week on just one tank, consider if that's really for you because you won't be able to avoid it. If you don't believe me do a search for HOLLYWOOD and his overstocking projects as he's basically the master of overstocking pygo tanks. You'll also see him mention stuff like forgetting to take out one small piece of food and having ammonia burn on some fish the next morning.

Food for thought, and something that needs to stop being overlooked.

 

[ReDraGon->]

sometimes i wonder what u be smoking to be thinkning up good sh*t like this...u do have a piont....yet People will keep "overstocking theyre PIRANHA TANKS" scince most of the people here on this site OWNS PIRANHAS....and not CICHLIDS.... some species of Cichlids can be crowded together with almost No problems .... yet crowding in a piranha tank is different compared to some cichlids.....

5, 4-5inch pygos in a 60gal in p-fury terms is OVERSTOCKING
but
5, 4-5inch african cichlids in a 60gal is not and u can even add 3-4 more

 

[elTwitcho]

No I just used the cichlid example because wether a fish is a cichlid, pleco, piranha or pacu, it still shits and fouls up your water. The more fish you've got, the more work you're gonna have to put into keeping your water clean

 

[SERRAPYGO]

My (ex) cichlid tanks always required more attention than my piranha tanks. Cichlids are messy. I'm not sure I fully get the jist of this thread though.

 

[elTwitcho]

Seems pretty straight forward...

 

[Atlanta Braves Baby!]

Your point is dont overstock unless you are willing to do massive water changes. Dont reallly think you needed to write an essay to get that accross. It is know already, but I guess you havent seen it talked about enough?

 

[elTwitcho]

Your point is dont overstock unless you are willing to do massive water changes. Dont reallly think you needed to write an essay to get that accross. It is know already, but I guess you havent seen it talked about enough?

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There's alot of things that "is know already" by somebody on the website, maybe you don't spend much time reading the forums though as there are people asking questions about all sorts of things assumedly because it "isn't know already" to them. Overstocking comes up at least on a weekly basis and if all that stuff was known to everybody who showed any interest in piranhas then there wouldn't be any threads about it now would there? People ask for advice, I wrote it to share knowledge with people who might not know such a thing as I'm 100% positive there are such people on the website. If you find a thread you don't like, click that crazy ass looking red x button at the top right of your screen as I understand there are alternative methods to leaving a thread than writing an unconstructive reply to tell someone their post was useless. While we're at it, if you're really into pointing out what threads are necessary or not, there's a whole bunch of stuff that is know already right here. I can assure you, every thread topic you'll find there has been discussed before and is probably also common knowledge to you.

Serra - The "jist" is that I doubt most people considering overstocking realize how much work is involved and as I mentioned, I rarely if ever see that mentioned in threads on the topic because most of the people giving the advice do not overstock and don't have an appreciation of that fact. I thought I made that pretty clear in the post, apparently I didn't.

 

[Atlanta Braves Baby!]

There's alot of things that "is know already" by somebody on the website, maybe you don't spend much time reading the forums though as there are people asking questions about all sorts of things assumedly because it "isn't know already" to them. Overstocking comes up at least on a weekly basis and if all that stuff was known to everybody who showed any interest in piranhas then there wouldn't be any threads about it now would there? People ask for advice, I wrote it to share knowledge with people who might not know such a thing as I'm 100% positive there are such people on the website. If you find a thread you don't like, click that crazy ass looking red x button at the top right of your screen as I understand there are alternative methods to leaving a thread than writing an unconstructive reply to tell someone their post was useless. While we're at it, if you're really into pointing out what threads are necessary or not, there's a whole bunch of stuff that is know already right here. I can assure you, every thread topic you'll find there has been discussed before and is probably also common knowledge to you.
Serra - The "jist" is that I doubt most people considering overstocking realize how much work is involved and as I mentioned, I rarely if ever see that mentioned in threads on the topic because most of the people giving the advice do not overstock and don't have an appreciation of that fact. I thought I made that pretty clear in the post, apparently I didn't.

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Goodness dont get all defensive

Of course there is all kinds of threads that are made that have been answered millions of times. How many Ps can I fit in my tank comes up every other day. whoopy do ! We both know that. Thats why you were one of the people working on the FAQ forum.

 

[elTwitcho]

Maybe it's a bit defensive but I'm not really upset, I just don't honestly appreciate that comment. I never implied that this was going to be some awe inspiring revelation to everyone, or that it was some wild and crazy theory nobody has conceived of yet, but it's my belief that this is something that is barely mentioned let alone stressed enough when the topic comes up. I notice alot of people repeat "common knowledge" without having the basis of experience themselves to draw upon when answering alot of questions, so if something else can be added to the pool of common knowledge that someone is going to spit out next time the topic comes up, I would say that's a step in a positive direction. Unless it's covered in a pinned topic, I don't see any thread as being "unecessary" even if it's basic knowledge to me or the average person.

 

[NavinWithPs]

i have an overstocked tank. and i agree that the maintenance to keep up good water quality is a bitch. i do water changes every other day as well as gravel vac. i do have a bare tank (which makes it a whole lot easier) with a lil bit of gravel on one corner so the waste can accumulate, and i can just vac that area. the only reason i keep up with this maintence is because i like the look of a big shoal of ps. this is my personal taste, other than that reason, i wouldn't put up with maintence.

 

[Atlanta Braves Baby!]

Maybe it's a bit defensive but I'm not really upset, I just don't honestly appreciate that comment. I never implied that this was going to be some awe inspiring revelation to everyone, or that it was some wild and crazy theory nobody has conceived of yet,

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I dont beleive I said that either. Do you tend to do that? Is that why you are mentioniing this?

I notice alot of people repeat "common knowledge" without having the basis of experience themselves to draw upon when answering alot of questions,

How do you come to this conclusion? Do you know what people have and havent experienced? I dont. And not everything fits under this canopy of "common knowledge" Im sure as you know, there is tons of grey areas in this hobby. Some things work for some people, that doesnt work for others. People typically give advice on the safe side because newbies dont really need to experiment when they are "learning the ropes".

I would say that's a step in a positive direction.

I couldnt agree more!

I dont really want to debate this any further because this topic does contain valuable information to anyone in the hobby.