Tank population guideline

[jeffL]

I'm a beginner in keeping fish, read about the 1" per gallon guideline so as not to overstock on fishes, do you guys really follow this rule?

I have a 1ft tank (about 2 gallons), if i were to follow the advice, i would have only 2 fishes inside Which is a waste of space really. Now I have about 6 fishes and 5 fry, all platys.

I saw the display aquariums at Yun Feng and Red Sea, they have so many fishes in a tank without problems, surely they didnt follow this rule.

[sheng]

At times, it is difficult to follow the rules.
By having a good filtration system & do frequent water change may allow you to keep more fishes.

I myself cant help it that i always ended up over-stock my tank.

By the way, you should know that 1ft tank wont allow you to keep much fishes.
Why not get a bigger tank

[jeffL]

At times, it is difficult to follow the rules.
By having a good filtration system & do frequent water change may allow you to keep more fishes.

I myself cant help it that i always ended up over-stock my tank.

By the way, you should know that 1ft tank wont allow you to keep much fishes.
Why not get a bigger tank

This tank was given by my colleague. I bought another small tank recently.

Glad to hear that you didnt follow this rule too

[chooz]

I have a 4 gallon tank. I find a good large capacity filter will allow you to have more fish. The problem is large filter also tend to have too high flow rate for a small tank.

Anyway, when you have a large capacity filter, you will be tempted to buy a larger tank. Then you will want to add in more fish and you want a bigger filter....So it is a vicious cycle

[jeffL]

I have a 4 gallon tank. I find a good large capacity filter will allow you to have more fish. The problem is large filter also tend to have too high flow rate for a small tank.

Anyway, when you have a large capacity filter, you will be tempted to buy a larger tank. Then you will want to add in more fish and you want a bigger filter....So it is a vicious cycle

Yes it is a vicious cycle. So care to share how many fishes you have in yr 4 gallon tank? If you follow the rule...only 4 allowed

[cyruslaguna]

for me there are 7 guppies and 1 otto and 1 ramhorn snail in my 1.1ft tank. Will more plants help make the place more suitable for such population?

[stormhawk]

I never followed the stocking rule, but what suits my liking at the point of time. My 4 foot tank looks empty most of the time, because I chose to keep Boraras and some Corydoras in there.

Like sheng says, good filtration and frequent water changes will allow you to keep more fish than is usually recommended for any size tank. It is true as well that in certain situations, the size of the fishes and their behaviour determines how many you can keep in any size tank.

[alas]

Yes. Bigger sized fishes tend to have higher bioload. Some fishes may also grow to many times their size when you first gotten them.

I like my fishes to have lots of space to swim. Even though I don't follow the rule, I do have 1 fish per gallon.

Side note, aquarium shops are doing business. They usually do not follow the fish per gallon rule.

[cyruslaguna]

What about the filteration system used? I'm using a 20 litre tank with a Boyu hang on filter; should I get a more powerful filter like Dolphin H300?

[chooz]

Yes it is a vicious cycle. So care to share how many fishes you have in yr 4 gallon tank? If you follow the rule...only 4 allowed

I have 6 white clouds and 2 otos, plus lots of java fern, java moss and nana. Almost like a jungle, can hardly see the fish.

[Aquanoob]

I have 21 fishes in my 2 feet tank right now, 10 are zebra danio,
10 are white cloud, and one lonely oto. (I lost 2 oto in the past
2 weeks) The tank still look quite empty to me, and I will add
more fishes like dwarf gourami and torpedo barb, and maybe
add some companions to the lonely oto.
As long as the filtration is ok, there are enough food for all
the fishes, I feel that you can have more in the tank.
One of my friend keep 37 fishes in his 1.5 ft tank without
fatality, only that he need to change water weekly.

[Blue Whale]

My rule is very very simple.

The more fish you have, the more retribution you get! Think of the food that you must feed, think of the water that you must change and think of how many times you will be changing within say two weeks?