A call to the species experts !

[virus]

hello all!

This is a thread deticated in hope of making a A sticky concerned with newbies on a guideline for their new aquariums, or for advanced fish keepers. the sticky will consist guide's on individual species In example pufferpunk would complete the questions below on puffers and any extra info that he/she has. (ohhh and kudos to pufferpunk for me putting his name in my post XD) and this goes for anyone that knows alot about certain species not listed here there is a another thread that made this thread possible http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=59410&start=20


here are the questions
water parameters, pH, KH, GH?
DOCs?
Nitrates from tap water?
plants?
CO2?
substrate?
UGF vs. HOB vs. canister?
aireation with air stones?
footprint of the tank (tall, hex, long)?
Tank mates (lg fish will eat small fish)?
LFS? (LFS will encourage more fish because that's how they make money, not because they're right.)
Likelihood of getting diseases (fish more prone to illness should be lightly stocked)?
What fish do better with others? (A school of tetras will draw out a shy discus)


This is will be the intial “species profile”
Then more advanced




Things that figure into stocking:
1. The amount of work the aquarist wants to do. For example, I know someone who put two FW angel fish in a 90 gallon tank. He automated the lights with timers and filled an auto feeder once every two weeks. Not much work to do for that tank. Heavier stocking requires more work.

2. The experience of the aquarist. One with more experience will be able to recognize when things are going downhill in a tank faster than a newbie. Thus perhaps a newbie should stock more lightly to start off.

3. Filtration equipment. If someone has a lot of extra filtration on a tank then perhaps more fish can be happily housed in it. If someone has a canister on a 30 gallon would they be able to house more fish than for an HOB? .)

4. Plants. Do plants affect stocking plans?

5. The type of fish. Large bodied fish need more tank space than smaller ones.l (e.g., goldfish
need more tank space than a guppy). It would be good to give guidelines according to the kind of fish.

6. Some fish are schooling fish so there should be at least 6 of them (e.g., tetras). I didn't know that you really should count on having multiples of some kinds of fish. In a stocking guideline this would be good to mention.

7. Tank size. Some fish need more swimming room than what can be had in a particular tank. For example two african ciclids make up about a total of 10-inches of fish. But to put them in a 10 or 15 gallon tank would be cruel because they need something closer to 55 gallons to be able to swim around.

8. Aggression. If a fish is more aggressive/territorial, then it needs more space in the tank, not just more hiding places.


Credit to Cool chinchilla for all this cool info!!


P.S. i made this in responce to the 1 inch per gallon rule....which i think is not very bright, as you could keep a full grown bala in a 10 gallon tank .



SO EXPERTS WE NEED YOU!!!

 

[virus]

Hmm

ohh and on a note, this does not include Saltwater, and does include brackish

 

[Guest]

you can get most of that info from www.liveaquaria.com... also that would be a huge sticky there is a section on the site with FISH PROFILES which list exactly that, info on certain fish. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewforum.php?f=26

 

[flamingonhot]

liveaquaria is pretty good but hey mess up a lot of things like tank size,fish sizes,and other things. And there is a fish profile forum but only moderators can post in it,this is for all people to post.

 

[Guest]

you can submit an article to the moderator/advisor, and they will detiermine if the info is correct and will then post it as a profile. Most of the profiles are written by AA members.

 

[flamingonhot]

Oh sorry i didn't know you could do that lol.

 

[virus]

ok mabe i did not clear this up correctly, we are looking into sepices as in puffers as an example, you want to describe it like your makeing a puffer only tank with diffrent verietys of puffers like F8, spotted and others, then you would use the post of mine to tell about theses species, but i guess what it looked like i was saying was certain types of fish like just Rummy nose tetras or Just a certain type of gourami, so this was directed twords ALL tetras

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The only problem with it is that not all species are the same. For example, some African Cichlids can not be kept with non-Africans. Whereas some can. Each individual fish specie is different. Plus, not too many people actually read stickies.

 

[Jchillin]

I believe what virus is looking for is suggestions on a specific species and what types of fish, tank sizes, etc. in order to set up their tank. Of course everyone knows that their are a tremendous amount of variables to consider so, by referencing the sticky, they can get some idea of what to do.

Sort of a pure compatibility chart from members who have experience of that particular fish.

 

[virus]

yes, j-chillen thanks for the help, i was just trying to make a sticky in responce to 1 inch per gallon, i mean its a very very general rule, but i want to expand this to what me and jchillin were talking about. i mean instead of when somone says can i stock my tank with blah blah blah and how much fish this could be better to be referd to instead of saying 1 inch per gallon, im doing this out of convinece

 

[coolchinchilla]

Maybe there can be one stickie that gives the general newbie info about stocking an aquarium. Of course people have different stocking ideas, I'd just think we'd like to make up something fairly simple that a newbie could comprehend. This kind of information would REPLACE the "1-inch per gallon" rule for newbies or maybe expand on the rule. 8)

I remember being told the "1-inch" rule followed by the statement that "it was a VERY general rule so not to follow it too closely." ??? huh? So you give me a rule then say it is a very poor rule at best? So what fish can I have? What other things affect how many fish I can have? I had no idea. I was certain to make a mistake. Actually I inherited a mistake from someone else. I bought a 15-gal tank from someone complete with fish. The tank came with a 6 inch ornamental goldfish (HUGE) 8O, 2 corys, 2-3 swordtails and about 8 guppies. I'm sure everyone would agree that this tank was VERY POORLY stocked. All of these fish died and I felt terrible.

I would have loved general info like tank size, body size, aggression, schooling, etc. It would make better sense to me. I didn't know anything about "bio-load" or compatible species (they're all community fish, right?).

After this general stocking sticky for newbies (which replaces the 1-inch rule) is in place, then other stickies can be created to provide guidance for specific species.

Then when someone comes asking about what more to put in their tank, you can refer them to the general sticky. Once they've read that you can tell them they can add maybe 2 fish even though they wanted to add 10.

What do you all think?

coolchinchilla

 

[virus]

i think is a very helpfull post, well im going to start reserching and makeing shur i understand somthings and im posting about platies/mollies in that area

 

[inspiringmind]

Funny...everywhere I was reading I was reading this "1 inch rule" I have been posting on this forum for under 12 hours and I already had someone telling me but "THE 1- INCH RULE!! and how I am overstocked with what little fishies I have. And my fishies are still alive after 3 weeks of not cleaning the tank and just topping off the top (I am changing that now though!!) Of course the one inch rule is totally going out the window once my mollie has her fry, but I am letting nature take it's course and if one or two live I am fine with that, if none live then there will be a next time. Anyways, I was glad to read this cause honestly I don't think my tank is overstocked.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It's not that it is necessarily overstocked. Mollies just need more swimming space than a 10 gal has to offer.

 

[Jchillin]

This thread inspired an article in the Articles Section regarding setting up a tank and what the 1" rule really means. Good reading and lots of information.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=47

 

[Tiffi]

I think that is one of the biggest problems of the 1"-Rule. People do not use it as a little guuidiace, they really stick to it. That how 5 male Cichlids may end up in a 10g and none of them has enough space for a decent sized stomping ground/patch.

So please try to also get info on how the fishes you're interested in will behave, if they can be agressive and need more room therefore, if they will be all in the same swimming zone (top middle bottom) or if they will multiply that often/much that your aquarium is flooding (e.g. with guppies), etc.

 

[BrianNY]

All one needs to do to to gain information on a certain species is start a discussion in this forum. There are people here who are experienced in a great variety of species.