Advice On Stocking Levels Please!

[j mac]

Hi
Am I correct general rule for stocking levels is 1" of fish per US gallon of water. I have Juwel 55l and currently have:
2 White cloud Mountain Minnows
3 Black skirt tetras
5 penguin tetras
3 red eyed tetras
1 chinese algae eater
Things is 55l works out at approx 14.5 US gallons therefore 14.5 inches of fish (measured nose to tail) doesn t give me much more scope for adding new stock (allowing for growth of fish) and I think tank still looks a bit bare.
Have I got this right?

Thanks

 

[lilfishie]

The algae eater & Blsck skirts are too big adult size for your tank, as are the red eyes i think *know nothing about them* the penguins would appreciate more space though as they get a decent size and are very active.

It will look empty because there all small young fish and none of your shoalers have a decent shoal number *penguins are near enough there*


In my opinion you either need to be upgrading to atleast a 3ft or rehoming your fish for others more suited

 

[CezzaXV]

Most tetras are shoaling fish and should be kept in groups of at least 6, as are the minnows.

The 1 inch per gallon rule is a guideline and is helpful for newbies, but you can break the rules with caution. For example, I have a 60L with cardinal tetra, cories and guppies. The numbers I have means the tank is technically overstocked, but it works because the cories are bottom dwellers, the cardinals are mid swimmers and the guppies are surface dwellers so each species very rarely gets in the way of the others.

Pretty much all your fish are mid-dwellers though. If you are able, it may be beneficial for your fish to rehome some of your species to allow you to up the numbers of other species.