Fish

[Jazee B]

I know the obvious answer!! but I'm just trying to work out the number of fish using the inch per gallon rule but I don't want to pick fish that all swim in the middle of the tank. Is there anywhere that will give me this information, I've looked on the individual fish profiles but it's not listed.

At present I'm debating either cardinal or rummy nose tetras (5/6 of which ever I pick), maybe 2 dwarf gourami possibly 2 males (if thats ok??) a clown plec, and maybe guppies. This would be too many according to the rule but I've not completely decided which ones to go for. any info or other ideas would be most appreciated. thanks becky

 

[Colin_T]

The inch rule is out of date and doesn't really work on small fish or really big fish. You might be able to have 6 inches of fish in a 2ft tank but the tank can be too small for a 6 inch oscar. Yet you could keep 12x 1inch neon tetras in the same tank.

Most tetras & barbs will hang out in the middle and bottom layers. Gouramis usually hang out near the surface. Catfish generally live on the bottom. Danios and livebearers tend to hang out in the top half of the tank.

Your best bet is to tell us how big the tank is, what sort of filtration it has and how long it has been running for. Then tell us how much food you are feeding and how often you feed the fish. Also how often you plan on doing water changes and how much water you plan on changing.
These factors are what really dictate how many fish you can have in a tank. An easy way to tell if a tank is overstocked is to measure the nitrates. If the nitrates go up rapidly between water changes then you need to reduce the amount of food or number of fish. Or you can do more water changes to compensate for the rise in nitrates.
If the nitrates stay low between water changes then the tank is fine.

 

[Jazee B]

The inch rule is out of date and doesn't really work on small fish or really big fish. You might be able to have 6 inches of fish in a 2ft tank but the tank can be too small for a 6 inch oscar. Yet you could keep 12x 1inch neon tetras in the same tank.

Most tetras & barbs will hang out in the middle and bottom layers. Gouramis usually hang out near the surface. Catfish generally live on the bottom. Danios and livebearers tend to hang out in the top half of the tank.

Your best bet is to tell us how big the tank is, what sort of filtration it has and how long it has been running for. Then tell us how much food you are feeding and how often you feed the fish. Also how often you plan on doing water changes and how much water you plan on changing.
These factors are what really dictate how many fish you can have in a tank. An easy way to tell if a tank is overstocked is to measure the nitrates. If the nitrates go up rapidly between water changes then you need to reduce the amount of food or number of fish. Or you can do more water changes to compensate for the rise in nitrates.
If the nitrates stay low between water changes then the tank is fine.

Thank you for your quick reply. I have a juwel rekord 96 its 81x36x46. I'm at present doing a fishless cycle. my nitrite has just dropped to 0 for the first time so I will be looking at getting my fish next weekend. I've been reading up on water changes and will plan to do a 20-25% water change every week once it's up and runnning. I started the fishless cycle 12th May.

 

[Colin_T]

not sure how big the clown pleco gets but if it stays around the 4-5 inch mark then it should be fine to have that, 12-15 cardinal or rummynose tetras, a couple of dwarf gouramis and 6 or so guppies in the tank.
2 male dwarf gouramis should be fine if you have lots of plants in the tank. If you don't have many plants, etc then only get 1 male or a male & female (pr).

 

[Jazee B]

not sure how big the clown pleco gets but if it stays around the 4-5 inch mark then it should be fine to have that, 12-15 cardinal or rummynose tetras, a couple of dwarf gouramis and 6 or so guppies in the tank.
2 male dwarf gouramis should be fine if you have lots of plants in the tank. If you don't have many plants, etc then only get 1 male or a male & female (pr).

I've been researching the clown pleco and they grow to max 5 inches. Would it be ok to put them all in together or should I perhaps do it in stages due to the newly cycled tank?

 

[Colin_T]

once a tank has cycled you can theoretically put them all in together. However, I prefer to introduce a few of the cheaper fish just to make sure the tank is safe. Then if they are fine after a week I add the others. The more expensive fish are left till last.

 

[Jazee B]

once a tank has cycled you can theoretically put them all in together. However, I prefer to introduce a few of the cheaper fish just to make sure the tank is safe. Then if they are fine after a week I add the others. The more expensive fish are left till last.

I think I'll go for 6 cardinals and 6 rummy nose to start with and my lovely little clown plec and take it from there. thanks for the advice. Does anyone have any opinions about whether you should have 2 clowns together or can you have 1? Its just I've heard they can be territorial and my tanks only 20 gal. becky

 

[ALW]

The clown pleco will be fine on his/her own. Most people keep plecos on there own anyway.

EDIT: just make sure you have more than one piece of bogwood in the tank for the clown pleco (as they are a wood eating pleco)

 

[Miss Wiggle]

once a tank has cycled you can theoretically put them all in together. However, I prefer to introduce a few of the cheaper fish just to make sure the tank is safe. Then if they are fine after a week I add the others. The more expensive fish are left till last.

problem with this is the bacteria colony will shrink and grow to the size needed for the amount of food they have (i.e. amount of ammonia produced) when you've cycled the tank it cna handle 5ppm of ammonia production a day, even a fully stocked tank will not give this so it gives a safe cushion allowing you to stock fully. However if you don't and you just add say enough fish to produce 2ppm of ammonia a day, the bacteria colony will die off to the point where it can only support 2ppm of ammonia. If you then add fish which produce 3ppm of ammonia to take it up to a fully stocked tank then you'll find yourself cycling with fish as the filter cycles to catch up. Wouldn't be a problem with a mature bacteria colony which can double in 24hrs, however a newcly cycled colony can't do this. So doing this basically defeats the point of fishless cycling.

now obviously if you're going for sensitive fish you shouldn't put them into a newly cycled tank, but you should stock the tank to something like two thirds full or you'll have to then wait a couple of months for the filter colony to mature before you can safely add more fish.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I would consider a banded/Indian gourami rather than the dwarf. They are ever so slightly larger, but much hardier; a lot of dwarf gouramis are sickly and don't last long.

 

[rabbut]

Two male dwarf gouramis will likely fight, often to the death, in a record 98. I made the mistake of putting two to gether in the same model tank, and I can assure you that I won't make the same mistake again Either get a male on his own, two females or a male and two females. A male female pair will usualy result in the females death, often due to the male gourami killing her either directly or by the stress he puts on her by pressuring her to breed. I've also made that mistake
As surgested, the indian gouramis are a better choice, being slightly less agressive towards each other

All the best
Rabbut

 

[dwarfgourami]

And it should be added that there is absolutely no reason not to keep a single gourami. These are territorial fish, not sociable; they won't get lonely.

 

[ALW]

And it should be added that there is absolutely no reason not to keep a single gourami. These are territorial fish, not sociable; they won't get lonely.

, My Dwarf is happy on his own (swimming around like he owns the place)

 

[Jazee B]

And it should be added that there is absolutely no reason not to keep a single gourami. These are territorial fish, not sociable; they won't get lonely.

, My Dwarf is happy on his own (swimming around like he owns the place)

Thank you for all of your replies and info. I think I've made up my mind on my fishy friends.

6 cardnial tetras
6 rummy nose tetras
1 banded gourami
1 clown plec.

Then when I'm a little more experienced I will add another couple of gourami. Would you say that this is ok for a newbie? My nitrite is now dropping in about 18 hours so fingers crossed it shouldn't be long now.

 

[rabbut]

Looks good I was of the belief that that clown plecs needed a group? Mebe it is me that is wrong though

All the best
Rabbut