125 Litre Stocking

Hey guys,

This is my second tank, and I was just wondering how the below stock sounds for a 125l tank. It's a jewul 125l rio with a large internal filter. Tank has been up 3 months, all water parameters are good. It has a few plants, but with more to come soon. Natural rock and spiderweb/ driftwood. Aquarium soil under a 2 inch sand substrate. 2 airstones are running.

According to the calculator, its 103% stocked. I keep on top of maintaining and cleaning, and test water weekly. Never change filter pads unless falling apart, and have a mini secondary filter / surface skimmer which also provides more oxygen.

Cherry Barb (
Neon Tetra (
Zebra Danio (7)
Peppered Cory (6)
Rummynose Tetra (4)
Pearl Gourami (1) - this was my largr feature fish

When I have added more plants, I would then add

Amano shrimp (6)
Brittleness Pleco (1)

Thanks all

I’ve replied on the other forum, about being fully-stocked not allowing for growth, so that 103% figure is rising all the time.
Also Pearl Gouramies should really be kept as either a group or a mated pair, and you need to at least double the rummynoses.

Agree with the others on the whole.  Also, 10% of a tank tends to be taken up by substrate and decor, so you should input your tank size as ~112 litres to work out its stocking capacity.  If there were a powercut or the filter were to malfunction, there is more scope for problems if a tank is heavily stocked.  To clarify/extend H's point, although the stocking calculator takes into account the adult size, fish do better and grow more which is healthier for them if they are not restricted by their environment / crammed into too compact a space for them. 

As for which fish to opt for, a couple of additional points that spring to mind:
* neon tetra are best suited to soft water, although their range is 18-225; however, if your water is very hard, then best not to have those;
* zebra danios are best suited to long tanks of 90cm+ for swimming length as they're active fish, whereas your tank is 81cm length.

If it were my tank, I'd probably have 8 cherry barbs, 8 rummynose tetra, a shoal/6+ cories (peppered or one of the species M suggests), but omit the neon tetras and zebra danios and feature fish (or include a mated pair or a group of the pearl gourami if space allows).

Edited to add: I was assuming you meant that your tank was still empty but has been cycling for the past 3 months, that these are your proposed fish, and that you're talking about your maintenance regime per se (eg as per for your 1st tank), rather than that you have the tank already stocked like this.  In hindsight, I realise that perhaps the tank is already stocked..?