Stocking Levels?

Jim Miller · Post by **Jim Miller** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:18 pm

I suspect that I'm near or over some rational fish stocking level for my tank. It's very busy in there but I know I need to remove some fish especially if I want to add some additional ones.

My question is where is the (perhaps fuzzy) line? Is there an online calculator somewhere that can give guidance?

I know about the 1"/gallon rule of thumb but it seems a little ignorant of morphology: a slender little waif of a b.briggitae can't possibly contribute as much per body inch as a big fat gourami.

It would seem that volume or inches rated for body type per gallon would make more sense.

And when taking into account gallons does it mean tank capacity in general or should deductions be made for substrate?

Thanks

Jim (collectoritis afflicted...)

halak · Post by **halak** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:41 pm

The 1" per gallon rule makes no sense as you have realized it. I don't think there is a way to calculate fish per gallon. One way to determine if your tank is overcrowded would be to set up a regular maintenance routine and then keep measuring the water parameters. If they are good, the tank is not overcrowded. Well, also take into consideration the size of the fish (so they can turn around, for example).

Jim Miller · Post by **Jim Miller** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:09 pm

Hi Viktor

Which water parameters would you measure? NH4, NO2, NO3?

Or something else?

Agree on the size vs swimming length. I also try to take into account not only the body length but how many body lengths are needed to traverse the tank if they are fast swimmers.

Thanks!

Jim

halak · Post by **halak** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:23 pm

NH4 and NO2

However, I never measure these because I always keep stock levels low and lots of plants.

Post by **krisw** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:33 am

In a heavily planted tank, even those tests are going to be problematic because plants will use them as nitrogen sources. The nature of the fish is also important, particularly with cichlids. In a 90G aquarium, you might be able to physically fit 50 dwarf cichlids, but if you added more than 2-3 pair, you could be dealing with a territorial blood bath. If you respect fish temperament, only add fish whose adult size is appropriate for your size aquarium, do your water changes, feed appropriately, clean your filter as needed, and keep a heavily planted tank, you likely won't see many health problems. But, there are points where the tank is so busy with fish, that it distracts from the aquascape. That's usually what keeps me from going overboard with fish.

150EH · Post by **150EH** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:04 am

I like the inch per gallon rule as a starting guide, if the tank is heavily planted, and has good/big filtration with a large amount of bio media you may be able to increase the load a bit, some fish, shrimp, clams, & snails really don't count if they are cleaners only, example I have never fed an Oto. It also depends on the tank & fish size, a large tank with micro fish maybe able to double the rule but the same tank with one giant Gourami and you may have to cut the rule in half.

There are many things that can change the amount of stock and I think everyone has made valid points on æsthetics, bio-load, and fish health & temperament, just use common sense and don't add too many at one time.

I use a software program called Aquarix to keep track of my tank and changes made, it uses the IPG rule but at the same time records P04 levels or other measuements that would overstocking apparent.

Like Kris has mentioned, if you look in some of the photo galleries you'll see tanks that look awful due to over crowding.

Jim Miller · Post by **Jim Miller** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:01 pm

So as long as we like our tank and the water is OK it sounds like I'm good. I'm still going to remove some fish before adding others. I just tested Nitrites and they are 0.0.

Here's what's in the tank now:
24 b.briggitae
24 sundadanio axelrodi
24 microdevario nanus
6 c. habrosus
5 colisa chuna (honey gourami)
12 zebra loaches
2 otos
48 RCS
24 Amanos
oodles of pond, ramshorn and MTS snails

The tank really is heavily planted with both ends a complete jungle and much of the back as well. There's lots of swimming room however since the fish are mostly around 1" in size except for the gourami which are a bit less than 2".

At any one time a goodly number of the fish are noodling around in the jungles and about half are cruising around. It's definitely a busy tank and perhaps not to everyone's liking but we like it.

I'm definitely getting rid of the gourami and likely as many of the m.nanus as I can catch.

In the future I'd like to add the melanotaenia praecox that I mentioned elsewhere and perhaps a single BN pleco.

Thanks to all

Jim

seiji64 · Post by **seiji64** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:29 am

Here's an online calculator that is supposed to use a bioload algorithm "based on the attributes of individual species stored in the tropical fish knowledge database." It doesn't account for plant biomass, but does have some interesting fish data features like pH, temp, and hardness compatability: http://www.aqadvisor.com/articles/AqAdvisorIntro.php

http://aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php

Noting the recent power outage, also consider stocking levels that could survive a few days without power/filtration. Unless you have a generator...

Doug

150EH · Post by **150EH** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:26 am

That was pretty cool being able to add your filters and getting different types of feedback, but it was dead on with my Aquarix software with my stocking a 77% and it works on the inch per gallon rule with fish measured at their mature lenths.

seiji64 · Post by **seiji64** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:17 pm

Lol - so much for the special algorithm.

Stocking Levels?

Stocking Levels?

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