How Many Fish?

[puckthefairy]

Currently have a 60 litre rectangle tank with:
5 x neon tetra
2 x black phantom tetra
3 x harlequin tetra
3 x black tetra
3 x ottocynclus (sp?)
2 x guppies

i am interested in getting some more but am worried about overstoking the tank, ideally how many should i have?

 

[ox5477]

If you go by the 1 inch of fish / 1 gallon of water rule, I would say your maxed out if not overstocked. So I would keep things as is

 

[rabbut]

I wouldn't add anymore, thats quite heavily stocked...

5 x neon tetra 10 inches
2 x black phantom tetra 6 inches
3 x harlequin tetra?! 6 inches (if rasboras? I'm not aware of Harlequin tetras..)
3 x black tetra 6?inches (could be one of four or five types, some getting larger and nastier than others)
3 x ottocynclus (sp?) 6inches
2 x guppies 4 inches

Thats 38 inches of adult length fish in a 13 gallon. The guideline is one inch of fish per gallon of water. In a mature tank, you can get between 1.5 and 2 inches per gallon if you are an experienced keaper. You are stocked at arround 2.9 inches per gallon. In all honesty, I'd look to re-home a few, as this tank will become high-maintanance when all the occupants are adults

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Starfishpower]

first off, welcome to TFF .
the inch per gallon rule was developed by a naturalist in the early 1900's to be used in reference to goldfish in a tank. goldfish are extremely messy compared to most all fish readily available in the aquarium hobby. so it stands to reason you could ignore it a bit. the important thing when attempting something like this is that you take it at a good pace and dont get ahead of yourself. just keep picturing the final product and tell yourself if you dont do this right its likely that wolnt come true. remember that most of these fish should live for half a decade at least if properly taken care of and maybe a lot longer, im not sure on the lifespans of these types; so try to plan out a set up you think you will still be happy with three years from now. a couple of key steps can help you though this process:

1. decided what you want, what you will really be happy with ~~~ within the means you presently have

if you decide you still want to do this...

2. make sure you are fully cycled right now.

3. add the new fish slowly, only a few at a time, and give the beneficial bacteria a chance to catch up. i suggest maybe 4" of fish every 3 weeks and do water tests at least twice a week to ensure a spike doesnt sneak up on you.

4. continue adding (or maybe even removing) fish until you are happy with the set up -which includes the number of water changes you have to do a week -~~~~ or until the tank seems to no longer be leveling out and properly dealing with the amount of waste being produced (at which point you would be officially overstocked).

have a backup plan if you get overstocked. have a place to move some fish to in a hurry like a 10 gallon quarantine tank or a lfs that will allow you to give them fish that you no longer want. take into consideration the future set up and the work required of it. try to think of specific situations that might become a problem, like if you went away on vacation and left the tank by itself or in the care of someone else... how would it do while you were away? is it relatively easy to explain to someone how to take care of it? stuff like that. good luck oh, and a hint: if you heavily plant the tank it can handle a much higher bioload. properly planting is a whole other field of conversation and would take me forever to properly explain here. there are some very good articles on it though in the Planted section of this forum. im presently planting my 10 gallon and so far its doing pretty well. good luck with your tank.

 

[OldMan47]

I agree with Rabbut on this one. You are as stocked in that small tank as you want to get. As Starfishpower said, the "rule" is not a very useful rule in many respects. It will keep a new fishkeeper from overstocking until they get a feel for when they are overstocked by looking at the tank.
I must caution about what Starfishpower said about getting to a point where you don't have trouble keeping up with the bioload. If you push your stocking that far, you will have trouble every time anything happens to your tank. If you lose power for a few hours you will find out that the filter has become not just a cleaning tool but an absolute necessity to keeping the fish alive and healthy. In my opinion, a tank is overstocked if you have any problems when the filter is off for 12 hours. Power outages do happen and I don't want my stocking level that high.

 

[Starfishpower]

If you lose power for a few hours you will find out that the filter has become not just a cleaning tool but an absolute necessity to keeping the fish alive and healthy. In my opinion, a tank is overstocked if you have any problems when the filter is off for 12 hours. Power outages do happen and I don't want my stocking level that high.

agreed. it is very wise to leave your tank just the way it is. power outages can be very detrimental to fish. beware of them and be prepared ahead of time by either not stocking too much or getting a backup power supply system for your whole tank set up. they make a device that is used for just this purpose. it's a box that you can plug up to your regular wall socket and then from there plug in all your aquarium accessories. its kind of looks like a power strip except that instead of it being a simple a strip its a box. my friend has one on one of his cichlid tanks. i think that they actually make them not only for aquariums but also for computers and either one will do the job for both so you might want to look in computer stores for this setup. and to be perfectly honest i - with my own tanks - wouldnt stock it any more if my set up was like yours. simplified, just have fun and be responsible. take everyone's advice for what you think its worth and then make your own decisions. there will be exceptions to every rule. but then again generalities do work for a reason so dont just ignore whatever you hear. and if you really wanted to you could stock it a little more if you are very carefull good luck

 

[Starfishpower]

the main issue is that if you stock much more than you have now you are liable to turn your tank into a high maintenance aquarium... more frequent water changes. thats all. some ppl do that, like discus keepers do a 50% water change everyday.