Overfiltration and overstocking

[Ashnia]

Can you overstock an 8gallon tank if you put a liter of seachem matrix in a shiruba xb303 canister filter and a bottle of matrix purigen in a M sized gex hof?

Livestocks:

6 celestial pearls danios, 6 marbled hatchet, 6 boraras brigittae, 3 cory, 2 otos, 2 threadfins, 2 zebra danio, 1 puffer , 3 assasin snail and xxx crs.

The mechanical and chemical filter should be in theory be enough to keep the water clean right?

Every time I go to aquatic avenue to buy plants I always end up buying fishes instead. Their collection is really great.

[mUAr_cHEe]

Then I'd suggest you upgrade to a bigger tank.

Over-filtration does not compensate for overstocking. End of the day, it is a simple question of whether your fauna has enough space to swim or not.

I think your fish combination is also a little risky. I am not sure if the puffer may cause the Hatchet to jump out of the tank or not.

[Mookie]

Your fishes seem to be pretty small. I overstock my 10G with similar numbers but with electric blue Rams , swordtails etc. and I'm just running on a external canister. I think if you do weekly wc, there shouldn't be a problem.

[Ingen]

I supposed you are thinking about the pea puffer? Either way, puffer and snails/shrimps don't do well in the same tank. The favorite food for puffer is snails, followed by shrimps, if I'm not wrong.

[Urban Aquaria]

Using more filtration to handle higher bio-load is workable... but you have to be aware that even with the best filtration, the end product of the beneficial bacteria cycle process is still nitrate. Nitrate will accumulate in the water column until it is used by plants or removed by water changes, so you'll still need to keep up with tank maintenance to avoid those parameters raising too high over time.

With higher bio-load, you'll also have to remember to clean your filters more often (and recharge the Purigen more often), as the organic waste that accumulate inside them will tend to pile up very fast. Water conditions can turn bad more quickly if you miss or prolong the intervals between filter cleaning. Just remember that what ever you put into the tank (ie. food for the fishes) has to go somewhere and be converted to something else, the filter doesn't just make it disappear.

Some fishes are okay with crowded conditions, but some are not so good with it, either they get stressed out with all the movement and competition for food, or they get territorial and start getting aggressive, so have to stock the right combination of livestock.

[Ashnia]

Upgrading the tank isn't really an option right now, which is why I added the filters, thanka for the input.. I shall be removing the fast movings danios and puffer to avoid undue stress and competition to an already crowded tank. Thanks UA Ill be keeping up with the water changes.