My New Tank Size Theory

[jayjay]

so here it goes, to cut a fairly long story short, i was wondering about getting some new fish yesterday and rearranging my tanks when i was thinking were those tanks big enough.

Btw i know there are lot's of exceptions to my rules and this is all for FW.

so i think that the tank size for:

anything under 1inch should be, length = fish length x 15, height = fish length x 7, width = fish length x 9

anything up to 2 inches should be, length = fish length x 10, height = fish length x 5, width = fish length x 6

anything up to 4 inches should be, length = fish length x 9, height = fish length x 3, width = fish length x 5

anything from 5 inches to 8 inches should be, length = fish length x 8, height = fish length x 2.5, width = fish length x 3

anything from 9 inches to 18 inches should be, lenght = fish length x 5, height = fish length x 2, width = fish length x 3

anything from over a 18 inches should be, length = fish length x 4, height = fish length x 2, width = fish length x 3.

i've tried to make sure theres enough room in each of them for most fish that grow that size.i know things like angel fish will need tanks alot higher and that there are more exceptions to the rule aswel.

fish length = body length excluding fins.

so what do you think? any comments welcome.

 

[andywg]

As you mentioned there are so many exceptions.

This makes any sort of rule redundant. You are close to having the more important one that once you have larger fish (over 12") you should always make sure the tank is 4x their length in length and the other two dimensions are double its length (though your 3x is always good).

 

[jayjay]

i'm trying to make sure it's to big for fish but i know there are just too many exceptions, i'll have to sit and think about it some more.

cheers for your opinion.

 

[BOD]

were you bored lol!

 

[jayjay]

seriously bored!! i couldn't sleep last night so i was thinking about where i could move my fish around, between my tanks.

 

[GuppiesRGr8]

So are you saying 1 inch of fish per litre?

 

[Qays]

Too complicated

 

[OohFeeshy]

Still makes as much sense as any other of the stocking guidelines.... Ie, about as much use as a krypton teapot.

 

[geo7x]

is a krypton teapot useless then? sorry i dont know lol

i think its good, at least i did when i first saw it, but now it confuses me, been a long day.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Well, a krypton teapot is fairly useless, yes. Considering krypton is a gas

 

[jayjay]

well you take the total lenght of the fish as multiply by the guidelines.

fairly simple really.

a fish of 1 foot should have a tank 5foot long 2foot high and 3foot wide.

so no definetly not 1inch per litre! you just need to know the total lenght of a fish find which numbers to multiply by and then you have tank dimensions big enough for nearly any fish in alot of cases it's big than need be but better than smaller than it needs to be.

btw i had given up on this along time ago.

tell me what you think is wrong with it then i'll either explain it or correct it.

 

[oneponygirl]

The book that I have at home (I'm not there currently) doesn't talk about 1" really at all. It gives 3 different formulae for measuring the surface area and then dividing by another number to determine how many fish you can have. The number you use to divide by is different for coldwater, tropical and marine. Coldwater allowing you the least number of fish per square inch of surface area and tropical the most. If anybody is interested I can look it up later when I return home and post it. I might be curious as to what people think about it anyway.

 

[jayjay]

oneponygirl - that is using surface area completely different lol.

any your talking about in inches length x width and dividing by 12 for how many inches of fish you can keep which i find doesn't work as if you have a tank say; 24inchesx12inchesx12inches you have 24 x 12 / 12 and that means you could have 12 inches of fish but doesn't work with large of very active fish well it says you could keep a 12inch fish in a tank that is only twice it's length.

coldwater fish really need 3 times as much surface are so in the case i just used 24inchesx12inchesx12inches you have 12inches of fish / 3 and that means you could keep 4 inches of fish in that tank but that only works for small fish not goldfish.

 

[SamUK]

so here it goes, to cut a fairly long story short, i was wondering about getting some new fish yesterday and rearranging my tanks when i was thinking were those tanks big enough.

Btw i know there are lot's of exceptions to my rules and this is all for FW.

so i think that the tank size for:

anything under 1inch should be, length = fish length x 15, height = fish length x 7, width = fish length x 9

anything up to 2 inches should be, length = fish length x 10, height = fish length x 5, width = fish length x 6

anything up to 4 inches should be, length = fish length x 9, height = fish length x 3, width = fish length x 5

anything from 5 inches to 8 inches should be, length = fish length x 8, height = fish length x 2.5, width = fish length x 3

anything from 9 inches to 18 inches should be, lenght = fish length x 5, height = fish length x 2, width = fish length x 3

anything from over a 18 inches should be, length = fish length x 4, height = fish length x 2, width = fish length x 3.

i've tried to make sure theres enough room in each of them for most fish that grow that size.i know things like angel fish will need tanks alot higher and that there are more exceptions to the rule aswel.

fish length = body length excluding fins.

so what do you think? any comments welcome.

think ill jus stick to what it says in the fish index.

 

[jayjay]

lol but not all fish are in the index .....

and if people find it confusing don't use it lol.