Can of Sardines or Open Ocean?

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shawmutt

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Dec 21, 2002
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Location
Greencastle, PA
Perhaps this would be a better topic in the new "monster island" forum.

Population for tanks seems to be a sticking point lately in here about fish. Some say that a school of pacus can and will fit in a 10-gallon tank, others say one neon tetra should have at least a 50-gallon tank (exaggeration to make the point that this can and should be light-hearted debate). So...I ask you, make your case! Here's mine:

My current tank is a 30-gallon Lake Malawi biotope. I have 6 mbuna in there; max size 5" each at adulthood (6 x 5"). That is keeping with the 1" per gallon guide, but I find in order to keep up with their mess, I have to change at least 20% of the water once a week. I also need extra filtration in the form of a canister filter to keep the water clean. Furthermore, my fish are not grown to their full size yet, and I feel when they do I may have big problems with aggression.

The tank was setup before as a 30 gallon Amazon black water tank. I had a school of 9 cardinal tetras (9 x 2"), 4 cories (4 x ~2"), 3 ottos (3 x 2"), and a talking catfish (1 x 4"). They were in that tank for a good 8 months. And, for a month (before the :censor: things killed off my cardinals with ich) I also had 3 hatchet fish (3 x ~2"). At ~42", it went over the 1" per gallon guide, but none of the fish were messy. With the cories and ottos and cat on the bottom, the cardinals in the middle, and the stupid hatchets on the top, everyone had plenty of swimming space. I had a small HOB filter instead of the big canister filter, and although I did the same frequency of water changes (20% a week), I probably could have gotten away with doing them every other week.

Both setups are in my gallery.

I understand that the 1" per gallon rule is just a guide--hopefully I illustrated that in the prior examples. As an aspiring biologist and ecologist, my tank exists just as much for my fish as for myself. I try to mimic, as closely as I can, the natural environment for the fish I own--this includes taking the fish's population density in nature into account. It has worked for me. However, I understand that this is not everyone's priority for his or her fish tank. So, I'm asking what your experiences with stocking are. In order to have this debate, it is important to have a basis for argument, so I’m asking posters to use the 1” per gallon guideline as the basis of measurement.

According to the 1” (2.54 cm) of fish per 1 gallon (3.785 L) of water guide, is your tank overstocked, understocked, or just right? What are your experiences with fish population?
 
26-

This tank is just about right going by the rule, however sometimes when you look in the tank, you can only see two or three fish doing anything. People have looked in my tank before and asked where the fish are :roll: Everything in there gets along pretty good and I do not want to mess it up, so I just leave it the way it is in terms of popluation. I think my Pleco creates more waste than almost all of the other fish combined. When I started the tank off with 6 Cherries, there was almost no waste in the gravel for weeks, vacuuming felt like a waste of time. Since putting the Pleco in there and dropping in algae wafers for him once in a while, I get massive ammounts of waste going up the tube. At least he cleans the algae off the glass. Sometimes.

10g-

In the past I have had the 10g with twice as many fish as it has now, and it was a nightmare. I finally smartened up and have been managing the population (the Betta eats all fry). The 10g is a still a bit over, but gets along OK. There is constant move of the Guppies in there, they never stop swimming around. The Betta adds a good contrast to the plain looking females. There are a couple young males that will be going from this tank to the 26g once they get big enough. Once I do that and the Betta eats through a few batches of fry, I will have a rare batch of non pregnant female Guppies. I wish the Cory and Oto had some friends, but that is going to have to wait.
 
I just thought about it and accoring to the 1" deal I'm understocked, lol. Dangit! But with growth I'll be overstocked. I prefer overstocked tanks though. When overstocking I try to make sure I have a good mix of fish that will get along well in the tank so that fights aren't an issue. I do 30% weekly water changes currently, but I have no problems doing more changes if need be. And I'll buy more filtration, etc if need be.
 
My 26 gallon is significantly overstocked (see signature) but, with a diligent water testing and maintenance regimen, I manage to keep all of my water parameters in check. My fish are growing and thriving. I still make my weekly check of all the local fish stores to see if any 'goodies' have come in but, hard as it may be, I don't allow myself to buy any more fish. Once the house remodeling (aaaarrgh!!) is done I'll pick up a 75 gallon tank and I've already got a list of the fish that are going to be moving into it!!
 
This is one of the more interesting conversations shawmutt :D

Maybe you'll crown me the king of overcrowding 84 inches of adult fish in a 55g. To do this I'm changing a third of water almost daily. If I miss a day, I do 50% the next day. 2 sponge filters and a Penguin 330 bio wheel. Bare bottom tank, so no place for uneaten food to hide and decay. Believe it or not, this tank can accomodate even more. The fish (discus) are happy, healthy and even spawning.
 
I currently have:

10 gallon with just one fancy goldfish. This is temporary and was a necessity of cycling, but way under the 1" rule.

125 gallon with (calculator...)
24 = 2 Oscars (2x12)
10 = Jack Dempsey
6 = Black Convict
12 = Green Terror (that's a guess... don't know how big he gets)
6 = Jewel Cichlid (another guess)
4 = Red Tailed Shark
12 = Common Pleco

That equals 74" of fish, so I'm currently under. I will probably add some clown loaches and another algae eater in the next few weeks, so I intend to fill out approximately the 125"... not so much due to the 1" rule, more because there's still a lot of room in there - even with aggressive fish, they're not arguing over territories at all.

Just my experience!

PS - those are max growth numbers for all the fish... most are still small though. I'm going to stick with adult sizes for my guideline.
 
Let's see... I think that according to the inch per gallon rule, I'm just about right. Since New Year's, I've added the 3 otos and 2 rosy barbs, so before that, it was a pretty spacious place for my guys. I'm depending on everyone to chow down on fry every so often, so that I don't get way too overstocked.
 
45 gallon, 2 dwarf puffers and 1 sae, big time understocked!

25 hex, 12 -15 white clouds (you try counting thse speedy little buggers in the planted tank where they were mostly born), 2 ottos, just about right

20 long, 10-12 white clouds, 2 ottos, 4 cherry shrimp, understocked

20 high, 4 blue rams, 3 white clouds, understocked

90 gallon show tank, 3 angels, 1 synodontus catfish, 5 cories, 4 cherry barbs, 2 lemon tetras, 4 silver hatchets, 2 marble hatchets, 6 SAE, understocked.

All tanks at least medium planted, I could get away with more fish in every tank. I do plan on buying more angels for the 90, no other fish plans right now.

Other than the Angels I got away from large fish a long time ago. Well, the SAEs are getting pretty big now too.
 
Note the forum name....
I pick from bottom, mid, and upper level fish and watch them often for signs of stress/unhappiness. I overfilter and vacuum/renew water weekly. I have a happy tank of fish and would have no probs in swapping out or dropping fish if needed but so far so good. I will be trading the Pleco out for a Chinese algae eater and because I never get to see the bumblebee cat I will trade him out for another cory. The 1" rule is a good rule of thumb though....lol!
 
Heh my turn:

55g: 5 adult angelfish, 3 juvenile clown loaches (3-4 inches), 3 juvenile yoyo loachs (1 1/2-3 inches), 1 liposarcus (type of plec) 8 inches. Once the plec reaches a foot long he will be found a new home. However, when I got the plec, I was ignorant and had NO idea how big it would get; found out 4 months later when he put on 4 inches! I'm not one to return fish; I figure he's my responsibility. Not worried about the clowns either - large clowns are in high demand here, although hopefully by then I'll have a place which can handle a 125g (and can keep em all).

25g: 2 adult angels, 4 juvenile rams (althought they think they're old enought to breed *grin*), 12 or so 1/8 inch angelfish fry

10g: 2 male dwarf gouramis, 2 otos, 4 neon/cards, 2 flagfish, a few shrimp.

The only tank I have that I consider overstocked atm is the 10g. However, its a well planted tank and STILL gets weekly water changes of 20%. Actually, all my tanks get weekly changes. I'd do more, but I'm lazy *grin*
 
I only have one grossly overstocked tank, and thats the tank with all the mollies.

and as some of you may remember, I had a tank break on me and all the fry are refugees that I had to relocate hastefully or have them die on me.

I have the tank to replace their old one and plan on putting them into it tomarrow, or this weekend.
 
I'm only going to do my newer 90 gallon. Here we go!!!

2 blue gourami morphs (Gold and Opaline): 2x4.5 = 9 inches
1 Paradise gourami: 4.5 inches
2 Dwarf Gouramis: 2x2.5 = 3 inches
8 long-finned danio zebras: 8x2 = 16 inches
7 glow light tetras: 7x1.5 = 11 inches (Rounded up)
4 african dwarf frogs: 4x1 = 4 inches (Not fish but anywho)
5 Clown loaches: 5x8 = 40 inches (People say 12, but 8 is more realistic for tank CLs)
8 Serpae tetras: 2x8 = 16 inches
6 otos: 6x2.5 = 15 inches
6 Green tiger barbs: 6x3.5 = 21
6 bronze cories: 6x3.5 = 21
1 rainbow shark: 6 inches
1 dojo loach in the future: 10 inches

Total: 176.5 inches in 90 gallons

Reason this works: Moderately (To soon heavily) planted tank, good filtration, weekly water change regiment, and most of the fish are small, even if the quantity is high. The loaches, frogs and cories have the bottom, the barbs and tetras have the center, and the gouramis and danios take the top (Except when the gouramis go to 'sleep' behind plants at the bottom).
 
Well at this point I only have 1 tank.
20 Gallon
6 Roberti Tetras
1 Bristle nose Pleco
2 upside down catfish

I am .5 inches over the 1 inch rule but am planning on being more over than that! None of my fish swim around. The tetras hide all day long in the back of the tank. The catfish (being catfish) hide during the day and come out at night! I am considering seeing if the lfs will accept the donation of my tetras and then I may do a school of rainbows.
 
Hmm

lets see, there are about 1-4 fish per 10 gallon those are oceans?

So # 1 has 4 betta fish to 10 gal=5/10
#2 has 3 gourami fish in 10 gallons...6/10

10 gallon #3. exception...That has the 3 croaking gourami adults, 3 botias and 5 ghost shrimp. We have 5 adult inches and then the skunks and the zebra are currently a total 3 inches . Are we counting snails and shrimp?I will neutralize them in tank #3 to zero with my java fern and bamboo.PZZZT!
So #3 - 8 inches of FISH. Still okay.

20 gallon- is a growout tank, no telling the numbers yet. It won't finish cycling til about thursday. 0 inches fish 9 inches of snails and ghost shrimp to cycle second phase into third.
10 gal#4- breeding tank.Numerous test betta fry (maybe 50-60) inches unkown.

8 QT gallon- 1 Polypterus is 4 inches. 4in/8gal
And he goes into the ex breeder 10gal til the end Summer.(prolly 6in 10 then)

8 gallon QT #2 still has three clown loaches ..=7in/8g

Then the custom gallon long and shallow. ...
18 gal- 1 wee baby knife=5in,
...........12 tetras of 1.2 inch to a single 2 incher rummy=6.5 inches
{adding tomorrow)3 clown loaches at 2-3 inches=7inches
plus 2 very large 1 " snails.
Total inches of bioloading beasties until the new tank arrives in June/july?.... 20.5 in 18gal. >beep-beep-beep<

And my daughters tanks are 2 fish per 10 right now. Her customs will be 5-6 per 55-60 gal. For anabantids.... ^.^
My sons has 4 choco gourami in a 10=6/10 at adulthood

Oh I missed the other divided 10! #5- 2 betta +1 Wild Colisa lalia and 3 ghost shrimp= 7 in 10
Most of my labyrinth fish are adult or adult sized.
Now my brain hurts...
 
Let me see, I seem to have 1 Overstocked, 1 Understocked, 1 I'm not sure but it's working and one just (right for the moment, at least until they grow!) And I do 20% water changes weekly and check them out for health & happiness, so far so good!

55 Gal/ 3 tinfoil barbs, 7 buenos aires tetras, 1 rainbow shark & 2 clown plecos
29 Gal/ 2 silver dollars, 5 black tetras, 3 rosy barbs, 1 gourami, 1 rainbow shark
10 Gal/ 1 grumpy betta
Eclipse Explorer/ 3 white clouds
 
so far so good

So far my one sardine can isn't doing so bad (course i watch it like a hawk)
Despite the heavy bioload from the Knife, 3clowns, dozen varied 1 inch tetra and the snails, the 18 gallon's water quality is only fluctuating slightly.

always 0 ammonia.
the nitrItes only move up and down 0.01 every few days
The nitrAtes are the readings that fluctuate.
I don't know if they would level out because I always do a 30% change long before it approaches a 1.0. better to be safe than sorry. They will have a new tank this summer, I want them to live in it!
The ph also drops back to the tap 7 now (it used to stay at 7.5 in this tank til the clown were added).

I did have the mishap from overzealous gravel cleaning, but I got rid of that problem in 48 hours. The tank is the clearest since it cycled. I love this tank! I wish I had more of the tanks my grandfather made! The military has even shipped this one with a loose bowling ball inside.
And I am using it as I type.
but an update is that baby Wu Long the poly is now nearly 6 inches.
 
I know my 30gal is overstocked, but I'm keeping an eye on everyone in there everyday. My corys are small and stick together, the large featherfin hides in one spot all day upsidedown:) and the red tail loves his rock to hide in.

30gal

3 neon tetras ( had 20 but the angel had lunch )
1 dwarf gourami
1 white cloud ( survivor of my first fish 2.5 years ago )
1 B. badis
4 black skirt tetras ( 2 years old and don't move much )
1 adult angel ( 2 years old )
2 baby angels
1 brazillian FW puffer
3 corys
1 red tail blk. shark
1 common pleco
1 featherfin syno.

20gal Getting a larger tank for the clowns.

5 tiger barbs
1 black ruby barb
1 red tail shark
1 chinease algea eater
4 clown loaches
1 orange finned botia

10gal

8 guppies
1 clown pleco
 
ooh i think our 37 uk gal (?44 us gal) tank is overstocked as we have just added 6 teeny cardinal tetras + 4 little shrimp. but it never looks crowded all our fish have their own little 'patches at different levels,postitions,corners of the tank at certain times of the day/night.
we test our water at least once a week(sometimes more) & always do a 25% water change weekly & so far have had no ammonia/nitrite/nitrate problems. we've had it up & running for about 10 months now. we know we definitely cant add any more creatures though and id hate it if it did look overcrowded i want the fish to have some space to live in :D
 
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