Fish Per Gallon

[mitch Mack]

Hi
Please tell me is it really 1 fish to 1 gallon of water?
I've stuck by this, but seem to have loads of room and my water is fine.

 

[brian1]

Hi, it is 1 inch of fish per gallon,so smaller or bigger is easy to work out, however I think 2 or 3 more would be ok.....

 

[Cazgar]

It depends on what fish you want to stock, it's just a general rule, not set in stone.
How big is your tank, what filtration do you have & what fish do you want to stock?

 

[Blitz]

There are exceptions, what kind of fish? Now, with fish like cichlids, 10 gallons for one cichlid is MUCH too small! An adult Black Convict needs at least 40 gallons, although the fish itself is only 6 inches. Guppies? Sure, one male guppy is only about 2 inches big, I reccomend 3gallons + for at least one guppy. 5 gallons can hold a max of 3 males, I say. A platy is exceptible to be kept in a 5 gallon, but a 10 is always better, since they aren't very small live bearers. TO sum it up, it really depends on the fish.

 

[anney]

It depends on what fish you want to stock.

 

[mitch Mack]

Thanks guys

 

[Essjay]

One inch of fish per gallon for fish that grow no bigger than 3 inches. Any bigger and the rule goes completely out of the window.

Having said that, the rule is not really true anyway, it's best use is to stop newcomers going mad and severely overstocking.

 

[Wanderer]

Hi there, what about regular water changes? Would, say 12 per cent daily water change keep fish in an "over stocked tank" healthy? I keep Garra Rufa fish. The 2 tanks have a big filter with a UV filter also. I have been a bit worried about the fish but I think what happened when I got the second hand aquarium/ spa was that the good bacteria in one of the tanks died because I didn't add water until the next day....I also made the mistake of washing one of the sponges and part of the ceramic media.