85l Tank - How Many Fish?

[shade]

Hi. I've been keeping fish for years but I would still count myself as a bit of a newbie as there is still a lot to learn. Due to personal reasons a few months ago I had to sell my fish and I'm just starting up again. My question is how many fish can I have in an 85L tank (75cm X 30cm X 38cm)? I still have a bristlenose catfish (now about 8 or 9cm long) and I'm looking at a dwarf gourami, black skirt tetras, penguin tetras, mollies and/or platies/swordtails.

By the way, are any of these fish above suitable tank mates for a blue ram cichlid? I would love to get one if I can.

Also, what are your thoughts on plastic vs. live plants? I tend to stick to plastic plants as whenever I buy live ones I get an infestation of snails and find them quite difficult to get rid of.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[dwilli36]

Hi . You will have to do some calculating. General rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. So you will have to take into account the size of the fish when they are full grown. I myself like live plants. The color of them seems to be much more viberant. I too got a snail infestation. I was on top of it though. I would check my tank constantly and when I would see a baby snail I would pick them out. Had 9 baby ones, so it was a very small infestation.

 

[Kitty_Nin]

Live plants are best--plastic ones can have sharp edges. Silk ones are a good in-between but they don't produce oxygen or use up the nutrients in the water to help prevent algae. When you get your plants, soak them in a lukewarm, concentrated salt bath for about 8 minutes, then rinse them in cool water thoroughly before you put them in your tank. This should kill any snail eggs, but it may not work for delicate plants.

 

[shade]

Hi . You will have to do some calculating. General rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. So you will have to take into account the size of the fish when they are full grown.

So by that calculation I can have 9 - 10 6cm fish. But I've also heard 12sq. cm per 1cm of fish, and I'm not sure that I worked that one out correctly but that gave me 4 6cm fish??

I myself like live plants. The color of them seems to be much more viberant. I too got a snail infestation. I was on top of it though. I would check my tank constantly and when I would see a baby snail I would pick them out. Had 9 baby ones, so it was a very small infestation.

I do this too, but no matter how many I took out there was always more.

Live plants are best--plastic ones can have sharp edges. Silk ones are a good in-between but they don't produce oxygen or use up the nutrients in the water to help prevent algae. When you get your plants, soak them in a lukewarm, concentrated salt bath for about 8 minutes, then rinse them in cool water thoroughly before you put them in your tank. This should kill any snail eggs, but it may not work for delicate plants.

Actually I've got both plastic and silk. But next time I buy live plants I will try your suggestion. Thanks!

 

[waterdrop]

Here on TFF (back when the search tool was working), you could find many threads on the stocking "rule", such as it is. Most of the more recent theads concluded that we should be careful to call it a "guideline", not a "rule."

By what you've said above, looks like you've got about 20 inches of fish body in a 22 gallon tank, which would put you pretty close to fully stocked. And I am one who thinks the 1 inch of fish body to one USA gallon of water is a reasonable guideline to help beginners (sorry, know you're experienced) just go ahead and have a starting point from which they can later maybe decide to change somewhat.

The guidelines are quite difficult because they break down completely with larger types of fish and somewhat with very large and very small tanks I think and of course with various species of fish. All the fish you have mentioned up there though would fall nicely within the guidelines I'd say.

Snails also are a big discussion topic of course. Tropical fish can do fine with every other or every third day feeding and it can be pretty light. Perhaps you could look at whether you're getting some excess food in there. As mentioned, take every opportunity to either crush snails and feed them to your fish or get them out. Try the trick of a half cucumber or some try other vegatables to attract them over night for collection. Make sure your weekly gravel clean water change is good as that should help reduce food for the snails.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[shade]

Thanks for your help In the past I have tended to understock, but it's so hard trying to choose only a few fish when there are so many I love! I need a bigger tank I think...