10lt Tank - How Many Fish?

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Jozlyn

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I have a fully cycled 10 litre tank with a Bumble-Bee Goby in it, filter, heater etc.

How many fish can I put in this tank? Is there a method that can be used to calculate how many fish per litre?

Thanks for any help, I'm still new to this and researching madly.
 
So if my calculations are correct (cough, google's calculations) that's 2.64 US Gal. So, basically, not too much. I'm not a goby expert, but I think a 5gal is the minimum recomended.... so your tank is pretty stocked right now. They do need some salt as well. I'd keep up with water changes and save up for a bigger tank :D
 
A 10 litre tank is no good for anything as a permament home, the only thing it could be used for is a photography tank to temporarily hold fish while you photograph them.
 
A 10 litre tank is no good for anything as a permament home, the only thing it could be used for is a photography tank to temporarily hold fish while you photograph them.
I don't like to disagree with a fellow mod but.......

I have kept a shoal of ten Microrasbora nana in a 10 litre / 2.5 gal. with success. Jeremy Gay (PFK editorial team and author of two books) has seen my tank in the flesh and reckons the fish have even spawned.

As long as you keep suitably small and appropriate fish, keep a close eye on water quality by doing regular water changes with ideal water and good bio-filtration then small nano aquariums are fine, in my and many other's experience.

However, I certainly wouldn't recommend tiny volumes to those with less experience, but to dismiss them out of hand as unsuitable for anything long-term is simply not right IMO.
 
A 10 litre tank is no good for anything as a permament home, the only thing it could be used for is a photography tank to temporarily hold fish while you photograph them.
I don't like to disagree with a fellow mod but.......

I have kept a shoal of ten Microrasbora nana in a 10 litre / 2.5 gal. with success. Jeremy Gay (PFK editorial team and author of two books) has seen my tank in the flesh and reckons the fish have even spawned.

As long as you keep suitably small and appropriate fish, keep a close eye on water quality by doing regular water changes with ideal water and good bio-filtration then small nano aquariums are fine, in my and many other's experience.

However, I certainly wouldn't recommend tiny volumes to those with less experience, but to dismiss them out of hand as unsuitable for anything long-term is simply not right IMO.

Thanks very much
 
Personally i wouldnt put any fish no matter how small into a tank of less than 10 gallons on a permament basis and even a 10 gallon tank only offers a floor area of 18x12" (1.5 square feet). 10 litres is the volume that the average household bucket holds and im sure if someone said they were keeping fish in a bucket there would be a few choice words said.
 
Personally i wouldnt put any fish no matter how small into a tank of less than 10 gallons on a permament basis and even a 10 gallon tank only offers a floor area of 18x12" (1.5 square feet). 10 litres is the volume that the average household bucket holds and im sure if someone said they were keeping fish in a bucket there would be a few choice words said.
Then I guess we have a difference of opinion, that I of course respect.

I agree, that if one admitted to keeping fish in a bucket then something might be said. But I suspect this is probably because of the image of no filtration, heating, decor etc. that one possibly visualises with a "fish in a bucket". Volume, I suspect would be less of a concern is the fish size/species and equipment were appropriate to 10 litres.

You may have already seen my 10 litre aquarium. I think the tank size is quite suitable for my fish, in the long-term too. Many experts agree. If I suspected the fish were not suited to such a small volume then I would of course re-home them in a larger tank. Although I am a plant "nut", my top priority is the health and well-being of my fish.

It is worth re-iterating that this size is not suited to all levels of fishkeeper. I perform 50% water changes every other day, the filter is effective, and the plants themselves are great water purifiers. Oxygen production is massive. There's plenty of swimming space for the tiny fish (16mm adult according to Fishbase). The hairgrass provides security, and combined with riccia are both excellent spawning mops. All in all an ideal environment for the inhabitants I would like to think.



I'll leave the betta issue to the betta crew.
 
got to say while i agree with George that it can be done, i don't think it's a point we should labor too much, there's always a danger people will look at your tank and go right, i can have 10 fish then and go out and buy 10 bala sharks for they're 10l tank.

I appreciate you've made it clear that you have to be fastidious with maintenance and very careful selection and set up has gone into keeping this going. But unfortunately a lot of people who come on here only read what they want to and conveniently ignore the rest. For that reason although it can be done, I'd still say on a public forum that it shouldn't be.
 
Fair point Miss Wiggle.

I think though that a public forum is an ideal place to share with others how things can be done, and how they can be done safely, even if they are perhaps a little unorthodox, such as stocking tiny tanks.

The fact that there is potential for a member to not fully understand my points is always a risk and you are right when you say some will only read what they want do read.

So for those members -

PLEASE DO NOT STOCK INAPPROPRIATE OCCUPANTS IN SMALL AQUARIUMS, DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE BUYING ANY FISH AND ENSURE YOUR AQUARIUM VOLUME AND EQUIPMENT ARE SUITABLE.

I hope that clears that up. :)
 
Personally i wouldnt put any fish no matter how small into a tank of less than 10 gallons on a permament basis and even a 10 gallon tank only offers a floor area of 18x12" (1.5 square feet). 10 litres is the volume that the average household bucket holds and im sure if someone said they were keeping fish in a bucket there would be a few choice words said.
Then I guess we have a difference of opinion, that I of course respect.

I agree, that if one admitted to keeping fish in a bucket then something might be said. But I suspect this is probably because of the image of no filtration, heating, decor etc. that one possibly visualises with a "fish in a bucket". Volume, I suspect would be less of a concern is the fish size/species and equipment were appropriate to 10 litres.

You may have already seen my 10 litre aquarium. I think the tank size is quite suitable for my fish, in the long-term too. Many experts agree. If I suspected the fish were not suited to such a small volume then I would of course re-home them in a larger tank. Although I am a plant "nut", my top priority is the health and well-being of my fish.

It is worth re-iterating that this size is not suited to all levels of fishkeeper. I perform 50% water changes every other day, the filter is effective, and the plants themselves are great water purifiers. Oxygen production is massive. There's plenty of swimming space for the tiny fish (16mm adult according to Fishbase). The hairgrass provides security, and combined with riccia are both excellent spawning mops. All in all an ideal environment for the inhabitants I would like to think.



I'll leave the betta issue to the betta crew.

Your tank looks fantastic, what type of fish do you have in there?
 
Fair point Miss Wiggle.

I think though that a public forum is an ideal place to share with others how things can be done, and how they can be done safely, even if they are perhaps a little unorthodox, such as stocking tiny tanks.

The fact that there is potential for a member to not fully understand my points is always a risk and you are right when you say some will only read what they want do read.

So for those members -

PLEASE DO NOT STOCK INAPPROPRIATE OCCUPANTS IN SMALL AQUARIUMS, DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE BUYING ANY FISH AND ENSURE YOUR AQUARIUM VOLUME AND EQUIPMENT ARE SUITABLE.

I hope that clears that up. :)


Please don't forget that when you decide to get fish for the first time you rely on what the people in the shop tell you! The shop owner let us purchase the tank and 6 various fish and did not tell us ANYTHING about cycling, Ph, Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate etc etc etc. I've only found all this since we got the tank and I started to research the fish in it. Like most people, I thought tank+fish+food, jobs done!
 

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