Tank Stocking

[Lord Fishheart]

Anybody use this site? Ive been on it all day. I have been on the Community Creator, it's good stuff. Anybody use it?

What is the process for working out stocking of tanks?

I have a 90 litre and 200 litre

 

[bordercollie05]

I really like that site, its fun, even for pretend tanks.

 

[kubora666]

wow that sites great i just put in all my fish im planning in my tank and i thought i may be slightly overstocked but not according to this.
and the only problems that occured were one i already know about and can handle

 

[Lord Fishheart]

wow that sites great i just put in all my fish im planning in my tank and i thought i may be slightly overstocked but not according to this.
and the only problems that occured were one i already know about and can handle

LOL in my fluval 200 tank it seems I could go on forever with the stocking till I reach my limit

 

[fifefish]

i think the site is a great resource if u want to know the limits of your tank and the compatibility of your fish..though it said that may fish would not get on but they do somehow. i suppose it just depends from fish to fish. is it possible that fish have personalities?

 

[Corleone]

i think the site is a great resource if u want to know the limits of your tank and the compatibility of your fish..though it said that may fish would not get on but they do somehow. i suppose it just depends from fish to fish. is it possible that fish have personalities?

It is - it's very prevalent in cichlids and bettas, but it happens in all fish. You'll get individuals that are more tolerant of tankmates, and you'll get rogue individuals of a peaceful species that become highly aggressive.

Thinkfish is a nice site if you really want to push stocking limits or do a bit of theory testing, but as much as I push the stock on my community, I don't think I'd be comfortable with as many as they say I could have. I'm already quite highly stocked, and have considered pushing it to as much as 85 inches, but by their calculator, I could have 160+, just over 3 inches per gallon, which is well beyond what I'm willing to try.

My only real complaint is that it's tough to pick "alternates" when they don't have the same species you have. I substituted a golden wonder for my blue panchax and upside down catfish for my petricolas, for example.

 

[quantumnerd]

I have a problem with that site though...

It said paradise fish wouldn't eat tetras.

If I'm not mistaken, tetras look like food to paradise fish!

Also, I thought that red swordtails (especially males) were fighting, agressive nippers. The stocking guide said "no"

... Are they really compatible like that? That would be cool if they were =P

 

[Corleone]

The commonly sold species of paradise fish shouldn't be big enough to eat neons, though they're not a great community fish because of their tendency towards aggression.

Swordtails aren't that nippy, you can get fights between males, and they're the most aggressive of the common livebearers, but they're still not as bad as some bigger tetras or tiger barbs. I had a male lyretail sword in my community tank for quite a while before he took a carpet dive and got eaten by my cat. He was a tough guy, and would bully my male platy (tried it with the molly, who took a chunk out of his tail for it), but didn't get nippy with angelfish or gouramis.

Thinkfish does have quite a few compatibility shortcomings, though. It's no substitute for more extensive research, but then, no single site can be, as there's always differing experiences, confused species, and other trip ups.

 

[murphyk32]

ive looked at it before, a long time ago.. good site for an idea of ur situation.. but has some issues. but asking people on this forum will get u a much better, experienced and knowledgable answer in most cases.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I tend to steer clear of these sites, what you have to remember is they are made by 1 person, no 1 person is infallible or has experience in keeping every sort of fish, so there will always be inaccuracies.

By all means use it to get a general idea but it's always best to do your own research and post up stocking lists here then some people who've actually kept those fish and the combinations will be able to give some more detailed advise.

There's a good link in my sig which explains how to work out if fish are compatible and what exactly you need to research so take a look at it and look up the fish you liek yourself.