New Fish

Personally, I think 70 litres is a bit small for 4 Bolivian rams - assuming you still have the two in your signature and want another two as well. I also wouldn't get any other species of dwarf cichlid as the floor space won't be big enough.

How many fish do you have left  of each species? Your sig says you have cherry barbs, flame tetras and glowlight danios, and 2 bolivian rams. If you were to have six of each of the shoaling species (tetras, danios and barbs) together with a pair or bolivians, the community creator puts the tank at 92% stocked. Which means that there is no room left for stiphodons, I'm afraid. Exchanging one of the shoaling fish for stiphodons and increasing the remaining 2 species to 6 would be OK.

You need to increase the shoals you have now rather than get another species. 6 of each of the tetras, danios and barbs, and the 2 rams would take your tank to just about full. I know that the profiles on here say you don't need 6 of the cherry barbs (it says min of 3) or flame tetras (it says 5) but they do better with more of them. And the profiles do say you need at least 6 glowlight danios.

Using 6 of each of the shoaling fish and 2 bolivian rams, and "oversized internal" filter as you say you usually have an extra one in there, the community creator says that all comes to 92% stocked. And the CC is usually regarded as over generous. Using standard internal filtration, the tank would be 111% stocked.
Oversized filtration means filters rated for double the tank size that the filters are in. If your filters combined are rated for tanks of at least 140 litres, use the 92% stocked figure. But if the combined rating is for tanks under 140 ltres, you need to look at the 111% stocked figure.

The CC also says the tank is too small for bolivian rams as they need a tank at least 75cm (30 inches) long.

If you make sure you do a fairly large water change (40 to 50%) every week without fail, it should be OK. When a tank is overstocked, all sorts of things can build up in the water. We can measure nitrate but not things like fish hormones, and high levels of these can be detrimental to the occupants. Doing largish water changes will help keep the hormones etc down to a reasonable level.
Having live plants in the tank, especially fast growing ones like elodea (though that will soon be banned by the EU according to one shop) and floating plants, will help.

Do you know if your rams are male, female or one of each? It is very hard to tell with this species until their breeding tubes are visible. The time you may have problems is if they are a male/female pair and they decide to breed. The whole of the bottom of your tank will become a no-go area for the other fish. This is the main reason for the CC saying your tank is too small.


If it was a shop that told you 60cm long was the minimum, be warned that shops often haven't a clue. The best research site is Seriously Fish - they have more species than the profiles on here!