undercrowding

[Dean]

i know it's not a common word in the aquarium hobby but what are the neggatives to having a undercrowded tank. Iam planning on buying a 55+ gallon tank. Do small schooling fish fell scared if the tank is too large, even if they are in a large school, say 28 white clouds. This would be just to start of course. i dont want to fill the aquarium with more fish (especially expensive ones) untill it is established and stable.

[blitzen25bm]

i have a colony of endlers maybe like 50 or so in a 60 gallon. yea pretty close to the inch per gallon rule but that rule is dumb. i have have about 250 or so in that tank and be fine. it dosent seem to matter except 97% of the fish stay on 1 side probably only on the far left 15% of the tank

[Locust]

Any aquarium is going to be small in comparison to your fish's natural habitat. If they did seem stressed you could probably alleviate that by planting or decorating the plant to limit any wide open areas.

[Matak]

Personally I think that undercrowding would be an ideal rather than a problem. As long as your fish have enough of their own kind to be content, there will be less social related stress, less chance of disease to spread, less stress on your bio-systems.

Also, IMO, a tank with less species variety somehow looks more natural. Look at Amano's tanks.

If it were my tank, I would go with the white clouds with a few good tank cleaners, like my tank below V.

[Tiger15]

One problem with undercrowding is potential overfeeding. A small fry tank or abundant fry in a bigger tank can prevent overfeeding and allow more efficient destribution of food.

[beviking]

If the tank is overfed, it isn't the population density (too many or too few) that is at fault, it's the one doing the feeding.

Possibly T15, you were suggesting that with current and all that space, food isn't e-fish-iently consumed by the fish? That's certainly something to consider.

Dean, sounds like you're on your way to being a successful aquarist!

[Captain Hook]

I don't think there is really such a thing as undercrowding an aquarium. It will only look undercrowded to you not to the fish.

[wetmanNY]

Probably all my tanks are undercrowded: I like to see a 'place' formed by wood and plants and rocks, even leaf litter, that is inhabited by fish.

A few small fish in a planted aquarium is always a pleasure for me.

[rich]

mabye an understocked tank wouldnt be able to support much of a bacteria colony. that would only be a problem if one day you decided you needed to add a ton of fish and then the bacteria wouldnt be able to handle the waste load.

[Matak]

Originally posted by rich
mabye an understocked tank wouldnt be able to support much of a bacteria colony. that would only be a problem if one day you decided you needed to add a ton of fish and then the bacteria wouldnt be able to handle the waste load. If you only plan to keep X amount of fish and plants, then your bio load handling bacteria will adjust to that level, so, no problem. Also, if something extraordinary happens and your bio load increases, you have a better buffer zone than the guy with the 'fill to max' tank.

Wetguy! Good to see you again. :)

[funkifish]

I think it depends on opinion. Just opinion, just dont put one lone neon in a 50 gal :rolleyes:

[Matak]

Your right! But like I said above, "as long as your fish have enough of their own kind to be content..." So one lone neon wouldn't qualify.