Thinkfish.co.uk

[alexdallimore]

Hi questions the stocking level advise on this site and thought people may be interested in the answer. I personally find the site excellent but was unsure of the stocking levels. Add your own aquarium in community creator and see what you think. Anyway, heres the email anwer I recieved.


The figures are correct on the stocking level calculator, although
they are much higher than you would get with old guides.
The traditional rules for stocking such as by surface area, are well
over 30 years old and don't really apply to modern aquariums
(Stocking according to surface area for instance, is based on the
amount of oxygen which can be passed through the waters surface,
which was the vital factor before powered filters were created which
agitated the surface - i.e. a long time ago!) The old formula for
stocking levels was something like 30cm of fish for every square
foot, which for example in a 4x1x1 foot (113litres) tank would give
you 120cm of stocking. If you think that 30 odd years ago, the guide
was 120cm without any decent form of filtration or aeration, you can
easily stock twice that amount with todays powerful filters.
Unfortunately, as is the case with these things, they tend to get
continually copied over and over, until everyone has the same guide,
but no-one really assesses it properly.

This old formula is based on surface area and available oxygen
supply, but does not take into account the bacterial capacity or high
flow rates (oxygenation) of modern filters. The calculator on Think
Fish does take these into account, and bases its calculations on
formulas which include factors such as the amount of protien
converted to waste in food products, amount of waste produced per
fish per cm of body length, and the bacteria carrying capacity of
surface areas associated with typical filtration medias.

As the note on the calculator states, the guide only applies to
communities of smaller fish, and where correct feeding regimes are
employed. In addition, always use the fully grown size of your fish
when working out your stocking level.

Hope this clears things up a bit, like any other formula, it is a
guide, and needs a little bit of common sense to be applied.


Think Fish - The Online Tropical Fish Resource
www.thinkfish.co.uk

 

[OohFeeshy]

Interesting answer, although not entirely true. They say they take into account filters used, but that's not true- they only have basic options like UGF, internal, external and oversized ones of both. Which doesn't help when under those options you could go from a Fluval 2 on a 6x2x2 to an Eheim Professionel 3 2080 on a 2ft tank.

'The calculator on Think
Fish does take these into account, and bases its calculations on
formulas which include factors such as the amount of protien
converted to waste in food products, amount of waste produced per
fish per cm of body length, and the bacteria carrying capacity of
surface areas associated with typical filtration medias.'

To be honest, I'm not sure that's true. It seems to me it's just a traditional 'add up the sizes' thingy as, for instance, when I inputed my 2ft stocking, which has a very large amount of very low bioload fish like kuhlis and sparkling gouramis, once the inches added up to beyond whatever it had come up with it said I was overstocked. Which would have happened in the same way if I had said I had the same inches of poop machines like swordtails.

 

[three-fingers]

Hmmm, according to that calculator, my 16 gal is understocked. I chose the 'oversized internal filter' option when really i have and over-sized internal filter, UGF and i regular sponge filter . Now i can stop feeling bad about it being overstocked, since Ive never have any problems.
I don't think ill try putting any more fish in there though .

 

[Bloo]

There have been threads about Thinkfish and their calculater here before. They became quite heated and Thinkfish admin even came across to post and clarify some questions. These threads were however removed (as far as I know). So best stick to your own research, common sense, guidlelines and if in any doubt, just ask here on TFF directly and people will give advice

 

[dwarfgourami]

Thinkfish are speaking as if new filtration were the answer to all the fish's needs. When I tried their calculator with peaceful non-territorial fish like platies, I still felt the high levels recommended by them would turn the tank into a sardine tin, not leaving room for the individual fish's need to swim around and explore. Surely even the life of a fish involves more than basic sanitation.

 

[scubadoo]

Calculators like this are what they are - just guidelines as Thinkfish point out.

Whether you're either under-stocked or over-stocked according to these and other guidelines, the bottom line is so long as your water stats are good and your fish are healthy and happy in a tank that suits their basic needs (in terms of size / territory / compatability etc.), then you're OK.

These guidelines are useful when you're first starting in the hobby, but after a while you soon learn that people can get hung up on numbers not on their fish, and its always safer to have less rather than more.

 

[CFC]

lol, if i were to follow their guidelines i could have nearly 8 meters of fish in my largest tank and still only be using up half of they say it can hold!!

15 meters of fish in a 66x30x24" tank is madness, i'd need a shovel to squeeze them in!!