shawmutt
Aquarium Advice Addict
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?
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?