Why?

[carney]

Hi
My dad has a 35 gal tank (48x12x15)
he has had teh tank up and running for 18 months now so is very established.
He has 50 fish in there (granted, most are small tetras and corys etc nothing really big, with the exception of 3 silver dollars)
the tank is beautiful, no illnesses or problems whatsover.
Why?
is it because he is running 2 fluval 700s in there (capable of filtering a combinced 700 litres when teh tank only holds 150??

 

[Truck]

good maintenance, in my history of fishkeeping, ive never had a disease or illness, and IMO 1 WC a week keeps a tank ticking over. and dont skip WC

 

[carney]

he does a 25% waer change every second sunday apparently

Its just that i bet if you calculated th inch per fish rule in his tank he is massively over

he has

4 cherry barb
5 checker barb
6 corys
2 kuhli
5 red eye t
5 black phantom
5 neon
5 black neon
4 platy
1 plec
3 b heart t
3 silver dollar

 

[Truck]

inch per gallon is old , i use 1 cm a litre

 

[markandhisfish]

agreed with truck good filtration/maintenence the inch per gallon rule isnt a concrete rule more a " beginners guide" if you will with experience you will find that as long as there is enough swimming space etc that with good filtration and staying on top of maintinence that stocking levels can in fact be raised a bit .

 

[Hawkins]

1cm / litre ??

does this mean you get 4cm per gallon rather than 2.5cm? i like your method

 

[Truck]

only for a mature tank though, and only applies to small fish

 

[stang1]

Good filtration certainly helps and with a more mature tank, it is possible to change the water every fortnight.
I only water change mine every 2-3 weeks as it's been running for two years and has two external filters.

 

[carney]

Thanks
He has run tanks for 40 yrs now and always says he hsnt used any rules he said "you will know yourslef if a tank is overcrowded or poorly filtered"
He said teh same as colin T once said that sometimes you can have 10 times the stocking guide so long as you filter correctly and chaneg water regularly and check that the fish can swim freely and happy

 

[carney]

?

 

[guidedbyechoes]

only for a mature tank though, and only applies to small fish

Where is the cutoff for small?