How many fish?

[PETE A]

My Wife always ask's the same question, how many fish have you got in your tank?

Can anyone give me any guidelines on how many fish can be kept in a 36'' tank and when should I stop adding with fear of over crowding.

I would list my full stock in the tank but I am a bit scared of the answers what may come back because it's quite well stocked now, but everything seems to be okay

I always do weekly water changes and do regular water tests which indicate everything is fine, and the plants I added recently are still alive.

 

[William]

The general rule of the thumb is one inch of fish for every gallon of water you have and after 6 months you can take it up to 1 1/2 inches per gallon. 36" tank should be about 20 gallons and so about 30" of fish is probably what you should have. Remember not to include the tails

And if the fish seem fine and the tests indicate good conditions don't change anything I think (see my signature) I may be slightly overstocked but when I take my babies off to the LFS (they have to be about 1") I should be ok.

William

 

[Duncan]

Hi Pete A

my wife always says that I like to make things difficult for myself

I'm working to a metric system mine is 1cm of fish length per 30sq. cm of water surface.

My tank size is 60cm long x 40cm high

2400 / 30 = 80 cm of fish body length

here's my allocation of fish
1pr Dwarf Gouramies 10cm
7 Neon Tetras 31.5cm
6 Black Widow Tetras 30cm

that leaves me with 8.5cm of fish body length to work with. I used the size the fish can grow to in the aquarium.

Hope this helps

Duncan

 

[adeyc]

It's nest to work out the surface area and use that. A deep tank say 30 gallons but a surface are of 24" square cant hold anymore fish than a tank half as deep withe the same surface area. the water gets O2'd from the water on top and movement of it. Have a try of this Aquarium Calc It works in inches/cm, us/uk gallons and litres.

 

[Davy Reynolds]

It all depends on diffrent things.

I've got about 100 Congo Tetras in my 47gal. So it's a bit over crowded but I've got good filtration so that solves it.

Please, tell us what you got

 

[PETE A]

Well to your question Davy and everyones sheer horror here it goes:

4 Clown Loach ( my fav, just brilliant so cool)

3 Silver Dollars

20 Neons (although I only counted 18 they always dart about)

2 Sissor Tails

1 Gold Gourami

4 Little Assorted Corys

1 Tiger Loach

9 Rummey Nose Tetra

5 Tiger Barbs

Thats It and as I mentioned on another fourum all doing superb :grin: :grin: :grin:

Please feel free to rib me to bits

 

[adeyc]

PeteA. How you getting on with the Tiger barbs? they're a bloody nuisence when they start fin nipping which is common with small numbers of them. If they start try isolating them in the tank for a while, it should work to stop them nipping the other fishes fins.
Apart from that I've not yet met anyone that doesn't like Clown loaches.
Rummies are good to.

 

[William]

Well you do seem slightly overstocked there!

But if the tests are ok and the fish are happy then everything is cool

Clown loaches do grow quite big so watch out with them.

I agree with adeyc about the tiger barbs, I don't want to be mean but for a community tank I would really get rid of them because they become such a nuisance!!

If they are not troubling you know wait who knows maybe you got some less evil ones than usual! But if they start nipping there is no stopping them

Ok Keep up the good work!

William

 

[PETE A]

adeyc and William,

Thanks for your replies but up to now the tiger barbs just keep to themselves and dont show signs of any aggression to any other fish in my tank.

Quick note adeyc I have begun with my first piece of writing on my first experiences of fish keeping I will send you and Davey a draft copy. I am really getting into it and as usuall with good sense of scouse humour added into it to add a bit of interest.

Cheers Pete A

 

[Great Lakes]

Pete, the surface area calculation is the best rule to go with.
However, as Davy said, good filtration can add to the number.
only the water on the surface can bond with oxegen, so the more water you roll over as you filter, the better you are. Also, live plants help the overall oxegen content as well as giving the little guys something else to munch on :hmm:
On the tiger barb situation. I had six of them once. They would terrorize everything to death that I put in a tank with them. Once, after they proved particularly hostile in one tank, and were the sole tenants, I cruelly added two piranahs to their world so I could be free of the mayhem they caused. Next morning, two dead piranahs!! I know people that have them with no troubles though, so maybe they were from a broken home or something :laugh:

 

[Xcrown]

Heres my opinion. Althought the 1 inch rule seems to be a good idea, especially for newer aquarium hobbyists, its not completly true. Remember that in the wild, that number is nowhere near the truth.

There are many things to take into consideration. Your filtration type, live plants, types of fish and water temp. Ideally, with exceptional filtration, you can have more fish, and live plants add to that. Some fish are stressed if in crowds, while schooling fish would much rather be crowded. And water temperature adds or relives stress, depending on your fish.

One thing that most new hobbyist tend to do is get excited and try to get in as many fish as possible, because as we all know, its quite cool. If you think you might be crowding, then you probably are. Get another tank, and add more. In the long run, youll be better off.

From the fish you have, thats alot. But if they are all fine, and not stressed, then dont worry about it. Just think like the wild.


Xcrown

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Xcrown, look in the FAQ forum and see the post about pete, you'll get his hard learned lesion there

 

[pete]

Thats PETE A by the way not this pete lol

 

[Great Lakes]

If anyone else has overcrowding concerns, I'm sure Davy will take them off your hands as soon as his fish hut is done!

 

[Davy Reynolds]

:laugh: At the price of a grand it might not be that soon