scubadoo
Fish Crazy
As it says on the tin (well title).
I'm fairly sure that my fishless cycle is near to completion (just over 2 weeks) since my ammonia and nitrite are both 0. The only possible issue is that the nitrate is only reading 5ppm, but that could be down to the fact that there are a few live plants and a juwel green nitrate filter sponge which may be skewing the readings - or the nitrate test kit is just lying!
Either way, I'm going to keep a close eye on things this week, then intend to buy my fish at the weekend.
Now I know about the 1"/gallon rule of thumb - and that there are numerous variables that can affect the guidance, but I've also read that 1cm/litre is a decent stocking rule of thumb. Well that just doesn't add up.
My tank is a 190l Juwel Trigon (50 US gals), therefore at 1"/gal I could get about to 50" of fish (this equates to about 127cm), but at 1cm/l I could get about 190cm - big difference!
Anyhow, the intended stocking list something like this:
Cardinal Tetra (10 no.) = 20" or 60cm
Cherry Barbs (6 no.) = 12" or 30cm
Zebra Danio (6 no.) = 12" or 30cm
Small Cory (sterba or similar) = 12" or 30cm
Boesmani Rainbow (2 no.) = 8" or 20cm
Bristlenose catfish (1 no.) = 5" or 12cm
Total fish length therefore is about 69" or 182 cm.
Now this is greater than the "/gal but lower than the cm/l guide.
Using the PFK calculator, they recommend stocking about 40" or 97 cm, but also state that a maximum density of 76" or 193cm could be ok.
I have purposely selected a high number of small thin bodied fish to minimise the amount of waste produced per unit length, which I hope will allow for a greater number of fish in the tank.
I also know that the maintenance regime may be pretty heavy when the tank is fully stocked.
So here goes - I'd love to hear your opinions please [ducks now behind very big parapet]
I'm fairly sure that my fishless cycle is near to completion (just over 2 weeks) since my ammonia and nitrite are both 0. The only possible issue is that the nitrate is only reading 5ppm, but that could be down to the fact that there are a few live plants and a juwel green nitrate filter sponge which may be skewing the readings - or the nitrate test kit is just lying!
Either way, I'm going to keep a close eye on things this week, then intend to buy my fish at the weekend.
Now I know about the 1"/gallon rule of thumb - and that there are numerous variables that can affect the guidance, but I've also read that 1cm/litre is a decent stocking rule of thumb. Well that just doesn't add up.
My tank is a 190l Juwel Trigon (50 US gals), therefore at 1"/gal I could get about to 50" of fish (this equates to about 127cm), but at 1cm/l I could get about 190cm - big difference!
Anyhow, the intended stocking list something like this:
Cardinal Tetra (10 no.) = 20" or 60cm
Cherry Barbs (6 no.) = 12" or 30cm
Zebra Danio (6 no.) = 12" or 30cm
Small Cory (sterba or similar) = 12" or 30cm
Boesmani Rainbow (2 no.) = 8" or 20cm
Bristlenose catfish (1 no.) = 5" or 12cm
Total fish length therefore is about 69" or 182 cm.
Now this is greater than the "/gal but lower than the cm/l guide.
Using the PFK calculator, they recommend stocking about 40" or 97 cm, but also state that a maximum density of 76" or 193cm could be ok.
I have purposely selected a high number of small thin bodied fish to minimise the amount of waste produced per unit length, which I hope will allow for a greater number of fish in the tank.
I also know that the maintenance regime may be pretty heavy when the tank is fully stocked.
So here goes - I'd love to hear your opinions please [ducks now behind very big parapet]
