Aquariums: Controversial/Hot Take: “Overfeeding” is not ALWAYS bad!

PSA: For any beginners, my strategy is NOT for you! My mission was to create as robust an ecosystem as humanly possible with the tank and resources I had, and I put a LOT of research into it.

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Okay, lower your torches and pitchforks, I promise there is a method to my madness!!

(Pics are random ones from the last couple months. My tank currently has the world’s most lucious amazon swords in the back, trimmed red plants, and a mildly annoying amount of green spot algae coating stones and wood.)

I have a 29G that is significantly over-filtered (BioMaster Thermo 350 + custom inserts), as well as high tech (CO2 system) and fully planted. It’s my first aquascape, and the tank is heavily stocked with, primarily, low bioload scavengers. I’m talking…

– A cherry shrimp colony numbering a couple hundo

– Juvenile bristlenose pleco

– 3 oto

– several nerite snails

– several bladder snails

– 1 rabbit snail

– 12 kuhli loaches

– 3 full grown amano shrimp

…. not to mention 40 chili rasbora & a pair of german blue rams

Because many of my critters are scavengers, as well as considering the temperament of other fish, and in favor of creating a diverse diet — I overfeed my tank. It typically takes them like 12+- hours o eat all the food, and that’s not counting the vegetable scraps I toss in to disintegrate like a damn soup. I don’t overfeed every day, but I do overfeed every couple to few days.

And you know what? My tank is SICK! In the healthy way. I have a bit of a GSA problem at the moment, just picked up some phosphate, but otherwise it’s thriving. I’ve never had a positive nitrate reading due to the stem plants, let alone positive ammonia or nitrite. And I’ve only ever done 1 50ish% (maybe 25%?) water change in over 6 months, tank set up in August.

And why else do I do it? To stress test my tanks biosphere. Listen, the way I see it— if you only have enough bacteria to process exactly what your fish put out, you’re 1 guest saying “they looked so hungry!” away from a total tank wipeout. You’re 1 bacterial infection & subsequent antibiotic round away from collapsing your cycle. One lost dead fish or shrimp away from disaster.

Because my tank is constantly processing a little bit of decay, just like a natural environment, I know it can handle a surprise. And that peace of mind is worth it.

(Plus, with a stratum capped in dark sand, I don’t even need to vacuum. Whatever isn’t eaten by critters is broken down by detritus worms (which are then eaten by GBRs) and absorbs into the soil.)

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I do have a duckweed problem though. Damn duckweed. Check out my LITERAL BIN FULL OF FUCKING DUCKWEED. 🤣🤣