stocking rule with an eel

[pluchinsky]

i'm upgrading to a 125 & might go aggressive. i don't know much about aggressive fish so i'm posting in the newbie section. do the stocking rules about inches of max. fish length per gallons of water apply the same to eels? i thought about getting a snowflake eel but that's 24" of max. length. every aggressive setup i look at has one squeezed in somehow.

[Robert]

IMO the inches of fish per gallon isn't the best guide for stocking an aquarium. The main issue with an aggressive species tank is territory. Another concideration is bioload and waste production in comparison to the filtration capabilities of your setup. Someone explained it to me kind of like this. Take an 8" oscar and four 2" danios and although they both equal a total of 8" worth of fish the one oscar place a much heavier bioload on the filtration system than all four danios.

[stephenray75]

I agree. As far as eels go with a 125 you could keep snowflake or zebra with good filtration. I dont like the gallon versus inch because in realaty the eel will only occupy a small portion of the tank. my snow flake stayed in one corner of the tank. (90 gallon).