tony

I know that the rule of thumb for stocking a tank is about 1 inch of fish per every gallon of water, but i was wondering if it is the fishes comfort that limits this, or the water quality. So, really what I'm asking is can you have more fish than this if you have plenty of filtration and you can keep your fish happy?

Jacko

In my opinion, the inch-per-gallon-rule is really outdated. You can get away with 10 inches of neon tetras in a 10 gallon tank, but you can't get away with 10 inches of an Oscar in a 10 gallon tank.

It really depends on the fish, given proper maintainance schedule you could overstock a tank slightly but try not to overdo it.

Just out of curiousity, what is in your tank?

Butterfly

What Jacko said
Fish are more likely to be nippy when crowded and they tend not to show their natural actions and interactions in an overstocked tank . There are other reprecussions to overstocking also. Here is an interesting Thread we had a bit ago.
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/ge...ave-chart.html
And heres another
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/fr...more-fish.html
Carol

Neville

Yeah, 1" per gallon rule always doesn't work, i have 2 4" fancy oranda in my 10g; that is 8" of fish in 10g but it is overstocked, because goldfish need much bigger space and excellent water quality, that's why i'll upgrade my tank soon and if i couldn't do that i'll exchange the goldies for other fish. but Tony i'll suggest not to add any more fish in your 20g...........

COBettaCouple

That guideline is for most small fish and is about water quality. A noteable exception would be dwarf puffers - tiny fish, BIG waste producers and they need at least double what the guideline recommends.

For larger fish, it can be 3g-10g or more per adult inch, and they are more on a species to species thing than a general guideline. Oscars are great fish, but a 75g would pretty much be a bare minimum for 1 and I usually say 3 Oscars in a 120g is a good start. They need lots of swimming room.

Filtration is a consideration and you generally want at least 10gph for each gallon of tank capacity.

0morrokh

As long as you have sufficient filtering, adding more doesn't actually help your water quality. The end product of filtering is nitrate which can only be removed with water changes. If you have too many fish then the nitrate can build up to harmful levels in between your weekly water changes.

It is also definately stressful for fish to be overcrowded. I mean, I'm sure you wouldn't like having 50 other people live in your house with you...you'd feel crowded and probably get crabby with each other. Same thing with fish.

swords3711

well i know that i am over stocked, but with regular water changes u should be fine.
Example-Pet stores

jsalemi

Pet stores aren't a good example for justifying overstocking -- they have a high turnover of the fish, and their tanks don't stay overstocked for long. Plus many of them (the good ones anyway) have large filter systems that constantly change the water in the tanks.

Chief_waterchanger

Overstocking one's tank is less than an intelligent move, in my opinion.

Joe is right, the good fish stores will have sump systems (generally not visible to the public). A sump system is like having a huge tank attached to several smaller ones, the larger acts as a filter of sorts. Imagine having a 200g tank attached to 20 ten gallon tanks. That would mean there is 400 gallons of water there. So it would essentially make it able to house fish as though the 10 gallon tanks were 20 gallon tanks. (dividing the sump size by number of tanks)

0morrokh

Umm on the contrary I think most pet stores would make me not want to overstock...I mean the fish in overstocked tanks at stores generally don't look especially healthy.......

swords3711

well also, look at all the dead, dying or sick one's. Take for example, Walmart.

COBettaCouple

It's pretty easy to see the effects of overstocking, even for relatively short periods of time. That's where pet stores are a good example to look at (of what not to do.) It's like shoving 10 Rottweillers into a small closet and closing the doors - doesn't take long for things to get ugly.

Chief_waterchanger

Dave stop channeling Michael Vick.


(BACK ON TOPIC)

I agree, overstocking is a terrible idea. You compromise the quality of your stock when you overstock the tank in which they are housed. The quality is what any aquarist should strive to improve. The fish of higher quality are more pleasant to watch and enjoy, and the higher quality fish tend to live longer, healthier lives.

I'm sure there is enough fact and opinion in the thread for people to make up their minds, but it is interesting to see the primary reasons people state for one side or the other. Getting everyone's mind working is definately what topics of this nature are good at doing.

darkwolf29a

I think of it this way, and try to use this example all the time: I can live with 3 other people in a 2 bedroom apartment. Hey, it would cut down on rent payments. However....do I want to? No, because I wouldn't have enough space.

Fish are the same way, really. If you want them to thrive and prosper...understock a tank. If problems begin to happen, you have more time to fix it, because the bioload isn't bad.

If you overstock...you HAVE to be very attentive to ANY change in the tank. I'd rather enjoy my fish, than worry over them. I enjoy my understocked 20.

COBettaCouple

I'm glad i wasn't drinking something when I read that one!

Another way to look at it is: what's more work for you? An overstocked tank means more cleaning, more water changes, more testing the water.. is it really worth all the extra work just to maintain the same water conditions when you're more likely to have sick fish for your trouble. The more tanks you get (and MTS keeps that number growing ) the more you think about every way possible to make it easier to have healthy tanks running.

swords3711

my tank is overstocked, but not severely like some.
Mainly cuz of my stupid mollies where u get 1 and then u get 10 from that