one inch per gallon rule

[wrs]

so I know alot of people here go buy that one inch per gallon "rule". well lately it occured to me that its very wasteful. If you go by that rule you could have three danios in a 10 gallon tank because they get up to three inches. we all know that danios should be kept in groups of six. some of us dont do that, but we do know, lol. So also you could have one molly in a 10 because of there adult size.

what do yall think on this.
If you are going to call me stupid for my opinios though, dont reply.

 

[Dwarfs]

Danios get 2 inches, the inch per gallon only works for fish under 4 inches, although some fish may have more mass (dwarf puffers), or may be messy (dwarf puffers), so should be counted as more than their actual size EXwarf Puffer=1 inch, should be counted as two or three

 

[The-Wolf]

there is a metric rule
0.9cm of fish per liter for small fish, 0.74cm of fish per liter for medium fish and 0.58cm of fish per liter for large fish.
which IMHO is more acurate but it is still a rule of thumb and not set in stone

 

[Aquascaper]

Stupid

Only joking I agree that the 1" per Gallon rule is a bit silly (20 neon tetras in a 30g!!!!!!!!!).

As i've said before IMO if the fish are happy and healthy then you're ok & as long as you can control the parameters of the tank you're not overstocked.

 

[Buglet]

After reading these boards for a couple of months now, I think that the 1" fish per gallon rule is a great rule of thumb to keep new fishkeepers from getting into trouble.

I suppose if you are very experienced (by that I mean you know what bioload your fish are producing; whether they are top, mid, or bottom dwellers; and how up to snuff you keep your water params), then experimenting by SLOWLY and RESPONSIBLY adding more than 1" per gallon is probably fine.

Just my $.02

 

[Cheese Specialist]

It's not only down to that. I don't follow the rule at all, I think it's nonsense but not for the reason that you do.

It's not the only thing that is to be taken into account and everyone should be aware of that. There are much more important factors.

 

[csr mel]

of all the aquarium books i have recently read, they recomend 2-3 inches per gallon. 1 book even said 4 is ok provided the right requirements are met.

this website is the only place i know of that says 1 inch per gallon.

 

[CFC]

The inch per gallon rule is ONLY a rough guide for newbies to prevent over stocking of newly set up immature tanks. Experienced fish keepers who have strict maintainance schedules can stock their tanks with as much as 3" per gallon depending on the temperment of the fish and the ammount of filtration supplied.

 

[silver]

I love the 1" of fish per gallon rule.....for fish 3" and under of course!!

If they are bigger than that I count there width and height too.....

Example......my BP are about 5 inches long, 2 inches tall and 1.5" wide.....therefore I go something like this:

5+2+1.5= 8.5" of fish get it??

I don't just count them as 5".....same goes for my Silver Dollars......they are 6" long by 1" MAX width by about 5" tall......therefore their space goes something like this:

6+1+5= 12" of fish......




Just how I do it......of course I believe in over filteration as well (Hi Freshmike )

 

[Whiskerz]

well I can honestly say i dont go by the inch per gallon, but i dont overstock my tank THAT much...this is what i think of the inch per gallon....I think that if u take EXTRA care of the tank, like clean it out more and if the fish are happy then i'd overstock a little bit but not by much, i would never do what they do at the pet stores tho..NO WAY!!! their tanks are terrible.. but anyway, i think the rule an inch per gallon doesnt matter as long as u dont keep too many fish in a tank all at once and if the fish are happy and if u clean the tank out more then u should than i think it would be fine
but thats only my opinion and everyone has their own opinion so dont get mad at me for sayin its alright to overstock a little lol (but my opinion only goes for ppl that take very good care of their tanks..which im sure most of the ppl in this forum do)

 

[ger87410]

I go by the 1" rule to an extent. The larger fish, I try giving them a touch more room. Adding the width and the heighth aint a bad idea.

 

[wrs]

alot of newbies just jump into fish keeping. a bunch dont even know about things fish need and rules like this until its too late. so i dont think that its a newbie rule.

 

[Tropjunky]

I find that it's a v.good guide for the bininers and it allows fish personal space.

 

[FishDan]

It's not a rule, and you shouldn't call it that. A better term is guideline. And as a guideline it is perfect. A new fishkeeper is going to be overwhealmed by everything in this hobby. Getting into complex measurements for keeping a few small fish is only going to serve to discourage them. Used resposibly this guideline is great. More often than not, those people who are bound to start off folling the guideline are interested in the best homes for their fish. They will learn that there is a lot more to consider than the size of the fish.

\Dan

 

[tear-scar]

I think it's a good beginner guideline . . . however, there are things just as important to consider in the parameters of the tank than just VOLUME. Filtration and water parameters are important too (though we seem to be obsessed with them on this forum ). There are other important factors we don't talk about much,

SURFACE AREA is VERY important to consider! Is the tank a elongated tank with lots of surface area, or a very tall tank that will be low on oxygen no matter how deep it is?

Is the tank planted or not? The oxygen added by plants is another factor to consider. A well planted tank also keeps fish from having to face each other constantly. Often, fish do well when the plants do well.