HOW MANY FISH

[FOGGY]

I HAVE A 42 GALLON TANK, WHATS THE BEST AMOUNT TO BE KEPTIN A COMMUNITY TANK?? ITS WELL PLANTED AND I HAVE A GOOD MIXTURE OF BOTTOM FEEDERS MIDDLE AND TOP BUT WHAT IS THE LIMIT? )

 

[William]

Well really we need the dimensions to calculate a more precise number of fish - it depends on the surface area of the water in the tank, a rough guide is 1" of fish for every one gallon of water, this does not include the fish's tail. I'm going to move this to hardware as you'll probably get more accurate help there this forum is strictly for livebearers

 

[Great Lakes]

Foggy. Here is an aquarium calculator that you just plug your tank numbers into and it will tell you all you need to know.

 

[CFC]

Well that is certainly a useful little gizmo,but one thing struck me as odd It allows you more inches of fish in tropical tanks than in cold water? Ive always thought it was the other way around and now im puzzled

 

[Great Lakes]

Maybe they are considering a coldwater sytem might have less filtering and such, like a golfish bowl??

 

[FOGGY]

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE HELP, THE CALCULATOR WAS GREAT HELP, IT TELLS ME I CAN KEEP 64INCHES OF FISH, I SUPPOSE THAT IS A ROUGH GUIDE, GREAT SITE AND VERY HELPFULL.

 

[Macquatic]

It is just that a rough guide If you have very efficient filters and have an excellent maintenance regime, you can keep many more fish such as Rifts which need to kept at a high density. Mac.

 

[Pondlady]

Maybe in cold water the bateria action is slowed down and you get more ammonia, etc buildup?? Or maybe coldwater fish are usually stockier and use more oxygen?

 

[DizzyDezzy]

Well the most common coldwater fish are goldfish, and they produce way more waste than any of the tropicals - the minimum for them is 10 gallons a fish, and much more for large goldfish...