Stocking Guide
- Thread starter Beasts
- Start date
A very interesting and informative discussion at this site. Much of the article is spent calculating length as related to volume stocking numbers and modifying these calculations based on behavioral factors, much as I suggested. But then the authors go on to indicate that these calculations lose relevance in reality as other real world factors are taken into consideration. I would agree and include such variables as water surface area, type and volume of filtration, availability of hiding places, effectiveness of rocks, driftwood, etc. in creating territories, intra species as well as inter species relationships and water depth for species which occupy different depths. The list goes on but I think that maybe we have laid out a starting point for a serious neophyte, as well as the rest of us, to use as a guide in a search for stocking answers. Being aware of the relevance of a lot of these parameters is half the answer to keeping our aquariums comfortably populated. Contributions from others regarding additional factors to consider would be helpful.
Beasts
After nearly 40 years of keeping fish, I can fill a book on overstocking mistakes I have made. But I have also reached a point where, in the past 25 years or so, I have been able to pretty consistently “get it right” stocking wise. I have had some good success and have bred lots of our aqueous friends over the years. As you have stated Beasts, there are many variables that enter into the discussion. However, being the impatient animals we as humans are, we desire quick and easy answers tied up with a bow for all life’s questions, fish stocking included!
The fact that this question has come up on a daily basis on this and every fish forum shows that there is no clear cut method and that exceptions abound. The “rules” are not neatly packaged, nor do they always work. They can’t. How can you consistently predict the behavior of an animal that arguably (and I don’t care to debate this point) has some degree of thought process behaviorally speaking, when that animal is placed in a glass box that will NEVER even come close to its natural environment – even if it were a neon in a 1,000 gallon tank. On top of that are the physiological requirements that biologists are still learning about.
So where does that leave us? I would argue that we should follow GENERAL guidelines based on the experiences of the most seasoned and successful aquarists. Am I one? HELL NO! After all these years, I still consider myself a student, and for my sake, I hope I always do. However, over the last 4 decades, I have had the good fortune to meet some of the most respected aquarists in the world, and many “old timers” that were lesser known yet equally as skilled as their more famous counterparts. Here is, up to this point in time, what I have learned from these folks and my personal experience…and, trust me, it’s not that amazing, but it is affective….
The one inch per fish rule does kinda work! BUT ONLY FOR FISH THAT ARE ONE INCH OR LESS IN LENGTH! Knock your socks off neon keepers of the world!
You need to factor in the social behavior of the fish – wow, that’s a surprise! Again, though, there are exceptions – I’ve seen wussy cichlids and terrorist danios. But generally, the experiences of seasoned aquarists with a certain species will PROBABLY be the experience you will have with that same species.
You need to factor in the waste production of the fish – this is crucial for proper growth and health – always filter heavy and keep up on water changes. With the exception of some alkali puddle in the desert or what have you, water is generally always moving in the “wild”, by stream flow, lake or ocean currents, etc. In other words, the fish is never in the same water twice. (A good argument for under stocking and/or RELIGIOUS water changes).
Give ‘em room! Fish gotta swim, as the old song goes (I’m seriously dating my self here). Let them have enough room to get a head of steam up and go. I have always been more concerned with tank area over volume. Get the longest tank you can fit in the space you have. AND, IF AT ALL HUMANLY POSSIBLE, BUY THE TANK THAT FITS THE ADULT LENGTH OF YOUR FISH BEFORE YOU BUY THE FISH! Life has a funny way of queering (appropriate yet funny word added for snicker affect for the kiddies) your best laid plans and well intentions. Here is a quasi-rule that I have found to generally work….get a tank that is at least 5 times OR MORE the adult length of the fish, by at least 1.5 times its length in width. More is better in tank size. An obvious corollary of this point is BE REALISTIC - buy fish that fit your tank!
If your tank looks crowded – it is! With the exception of fry tanks (with daily water changes!) or a tank full of male mbunas, leave the mass affect to the LFS tanks. If you have to use a “formula” other than just looking at the tank to see if it crowded, how about this…..keeping in mind the length and width and poop requirements stated above, and thinking ADULT sizes, give a 1 inch fish about 20 square inches of tank surface area, give a 3 inch fish about 60 square inches, a 5 inch fish about 100 square inches, and a 12 inch fish about 440 square inches. You can extrapolate the rest. Add up all da fishies in the tank, and try to keep it reasonably close to the total surface area of the tank. Now, you may ask “YoFishboy, did you pull that info. out from where you sit?”, whereas I shall reply “Kinda!” What I have done is work backwards, looking back at my most successful tank set ups over the last 40 years, and doing the calculations on what was in those tanks. Now, I have definitely cheated the devil on numerous occasions and stocked A LITTLE heavier, but, again, this in the context of understanding compatibility, heavy filtration and frequent, large water changes.
Now, here is the most important “rule” of all – have an escape plan! Have extra tanks around to put fish in if things don’t work out. Have a deal with the store, person, etc. that you got the fish from that they will take them back if things don’t work out. DON”T assume that you can easily get rid of the fish if things don’t work out right. Do this for the fish’s sake, not your own.
Well, there is my 2 cents worth – think about, take from it, ignore it, round file it, whatever. My best teacher in ALL aspects of my life has been hands on experience. If any of the above works for you, and saves a fish or two, I’m happy. Best of luck to all of you, be good to each other, be good to your fish, and have fun!
The fact that this question has come up on a daily basis on this and every fish forum shows that there is no clear cut method and that exceptions abound. The “rules” are not neatly packaged, nor do they always work. They can’t. How can you consistently predict the behavior of an animal that arguably (and I don’t care to debate this point) has some degree of thought process behaviorally speaking, when that animal is placed in a glass box that will NEVER even come close to its natural environment – even if it were a neon in a 1,000 gallon tank. On top of that are the physiological requirements that biologists are still learning about.
So where does that leave us? I would argue that we should follow GENERAL guidelines based on the experiences of the most seasoned and successful aquarists. Am I one? HELL NO! After all these years, I still consider myself a student, and for my sake, I hope I always do. However, over the last 4 decades, I have had the good fortune to meet some of the most respected aquarists in the world, and many “old timers” that were lesser known yet equally as skilled as their more famous counterparts. Here is, up to this point in time, what I have learned from these folks and my personal experience…and, trust me, it’s not that amazing, but it is affective….
The one inch per fish rule does kinda work! BUT ONLY FOR FISH THAT ARE ONE INCH OR LESS IN LENGTH! Knock your socks off neon keepers of the world!
You need to factor in the social behavior of the fish – wow, that’s a surprise! Again, though, there are exceptions – I’ve seen wussy cichlids and terrorist danios. But generally, the experiences of seasoned aquarists with a certain species will PROBABLY be the experience you will have with that same species.
You need to factor in the waste production of the fish – this is crucial for proper growth and health – always filter heavy and keep up on water changes. With the exception of some alkali puddle in the desert or what have you, water is generally always moving in the “wild”, by stream flow, lake or ocean currents, etc. In other words, the fish is never in the same water twice. (A good argument for under stocking and/or RELIGIOUS water changes).
Give ‘em room! Fish gotta swim, as the old song goes (I’m seriously dating my self here). Let them have enough room to get a head of steam up and go. I have always been more concerned with tank area over volume. Get the longest tank you can fit in the space you have. AND, IF AT ALL HUMANLY POSSIBLE, BUY THE TANK THAT FITS THE ADULT LENGTH OF YOUR FISH BEFORE YOU BUY THE FISH! Life has a funny way of queering (appropriate yet funny word added for snicker affect for the kiddies) your best laid plans and well intentions. Here is a quasi-rule that I have found to generally work….get a tank that is at least 5 times OR MORE the adult length of the fish, by at least 1.5 times its length in width. More is better in tank size. An obvious corollary of this point is BE REALISTIC - buy fish that fit your tank!
If your tank looks crowded – it is! With the exception of fry tanks (with daily water changes!) or a tank full of male mbunas, leave the mass affect to the LFS tanks. If you have to use a “formula” other than just looking at the tank to see if it crowded, how about this…..keeping in mind the length and width and poop requirements stated above, and thinking ADULT sizes, give a 1 inch fish about 20 square inches of tank surface area, give a 3 inch fish about 60 square inches, a 5 inch fish about 100 square inches, and a 12 inch fish about 440 square inches. You can extrapolate the rest. Add up all da fishies in the tank, and try to keep it reasonably close to the total surface area of the tank. Now, you may ask “YoFishboy, did you pull that info. out from where you sit?”, whereas I shall reply “Kinda!” What I have done is work backwards, looking back at my most successful tank set ups over the last 40 years, and doing the calculations on what was in those tanks. Now, I have definitely cheated the devil on numerous occasions and stocked A LITTLE heavier, but, again, this in the context of understanding compatibility, heavy filtration and frequent, large water changes.
Now, here is the most important “rule” of all – have an escape plan! Have extra tanks around to put fish in if things don’t work out. Have a deal with the store, person, etc. that you got the fish from that they will take them back if things don’t work out. DON”T assume that you can easily get rid of the fish if things don’t work out right. Do this for the fish’s sake, not your own.
Well, there is my 2 cents worth – think about, take from it, ignore it, round file it, whatever. My best teacher in ALL aspects of my life has been hands on experience. If any of the above works for you, and saves a fish or two, I’m happy. Best of luck to all of you, be good to each other, be good to your fish, and have fun!
There used to be a great one on the tropicalresources.net forum and site, pretty close to what you describe. Unfortunately it appears sometime in the past month they have taken down the programmed interface, but they've left up the formula stocking guidelines in a text document which I still think is a decent guiding method.
Debra Mark
Wench Boots!
Yo, Fishboy - a few thoughts for you.
"It's not that I have all the answers, it's that I am willing to ask the questions."
"If you are curious you cannot be bored and only boredom makes you old."
"If you give a man a fish he can eat for a day. If you teach him how to fish he can feed himself for life."
All relevant to this discussion. A list of factors to consider will help everyone to ask more informed questions and make better decisions. I learned as you did but it would have been nice to have a list like the one that we are casually compiling here.
I too have been in the hobby for a very long time (in the neighborhood of 45 years). I have a bachelors degree in biology and have worked as a zookeeper, an aquarist at a marine aquarium and a veterinary assistant. I have owned a couple of pet stores and have parrots (5) and reptiles (4) which are over 20 years old. I have bred and raised many different species. And still this pursuit has its' hold on me. I remember that one of my first fish was an Anostomous anostomous and, consequently, had to have a trio for my 400 - talk about a species that needs a lot of space! Now I have seriously entered the realm of the planted tank and the growth curve is incredible! Hopefully, this will help to keep me young as nothing else seems to work.
Beasts
"It's not that I have all the answers, it's that I am willing to ask the questions."
"If you are curious you cannot be bored and only boredom makes you old."
"If you give a man a fish he can eat for a day. If you teach him how to fish he can feed himself for life."
All relevant to this discussion. A list of factors to consider will help everyone to ask more informed questions and make better decisions. I learned as you did but it would have been nice to have a list like the one that we are casually compiling here.
I too have been in the hobby for a very long time (in the neighborhood of 45 years). I have a bachelors degree in biology and have worked as a zookeeper, an aquarist at a marine aquarium and a veterinary assistant. I have owned a couple of pet stores and have parrots (5) and reptiles (4) which are over 20 years old. I have bred and raised many different species. And still this pursuit has its' hold on me. I remember that one of my first fish was an Anostomous anostomous and, consequently, had to have a trio for my 400 - talk about a species that needs a lot of space! Now I have seriously entered the realm of the planted tank and the growth curve is incredible! Hopefully, this will help to keep me young as nothing else seems to work.
Beasts
Beasts;771188[I said:
That's a realm I'm also about to dip my feet in as well, and I am at square one!
And you are absolutely right....keeping youself mentally engaged is the key to staying vital....and I have learned a lot from my friends here at AC!
My best to you!
I only have one question. Why is this in the Aquatic Plant forum? Otherwise, I enjoyed the discussion. When we think that we know everything we become dumb. Knowledge is the only thing that you can never get enough of. With the quest for knowledge many people can become wise and more respected. Please Beasts continue to find out what you do not know.
inch per gallon rule is how old?.
things evolve and advance as time goes on a people grow more educated.
i think it was only accepted because back then not many people knew otherwise, and to this day it has stuck around like a wivestale.
Just like the myth if you masterbate youll go blind.
Well i can still see just fine!!!! LOL, Sorry.
things evolve and advance as time goes on a people grow more educated.
i think it was only accepted because back then not many people knew otherwise, and to this day it has stuck around like a wivestale.
Just like the myth if you masterbate youll go blind.
Well i can still see just fine!!!! LOL, Sorry.
