Does This Sound Like A Decent Stocking Method?

[ZephyrStarPlaties]

I haven't been using this method, but how does it sound for future reference? I'll use 1 dwarf gourami and three platies to demonstrate what I mean.

First, find the suggested tank size for the biggest fish in the tank. In this case, that's the dwarf gourami, which people suggest a 10 gallon minimum for.
Then, add the remaining fish by inch per gallon provided that your tank has big enough dimensions for the fish's size.

So that would be a minimum of about 15 gallons.

What do you guys think? If you look at anyone's tanks, they wouldn't give a 20 gallon to just two dwarf gouramis, even though the suggested size is 10 gal. per individual.

 

[ZoddyZod]

it simply doesn't work. Let's take your 1 dwarf gourami and add an Oscar, so an additional 12g are needed for a 12" fish making the required tank size 22g. Minimum size for an Oscar is 75g (more or less).

the inch per gallon rule is far too vague to be considered as a solid method of assessing how many fish you can place in any tank.

 

[CezzaXV]

She did say use the biggest fish in the tank, so the Oscar would come first.

I'm still not really understanding the method though. Is this not just the inch per gallon rule while making sure the tank is big enough for all the fish to be happy?

 

[ZoddyZod]

She did say use the biggest fish in the tank, so the Oscar would come first.

that's a very fair comment!