jgon_

Which fish do you feel produce too much or too little waste to be considered with the 1"/1g rule.


For example:
I feel goldfish produce a lot more waste than their size would suggest. On the other hand, I feel khuli loaches' long body type and little bioload impact would also not fit into the standard rule.

Any others?

Shawnie

pleco's , oscars, you can just about double their inch sizes if not triple

Blub

Goldfish are messy creatures - the acctual stocking rule for thriving goldies is 20gal for the first and 10gal for every one after that. A lot of larger cichlids produce more waste than a tetra school that size in ".

Allie

Malawi cichlids are very dirty fish too, due to the amount of fish needed to keep a tank happy.

Randall

I won't name specific fish but here is why the 1'' of fish for 1 gallon is not a good rule,and things to take into consideration when stocking,

Girth- wider fish take up more space
Aggression- aggressive fish need more space than peaceful fish
Temperature- colder water holds more dissolved oxygen than warmer water
pH- affects the toxicity of ammonia
Swimming Level- a balanced number of fish in the surface, middle, and bottom of the tank allows for more fish than loading up one level
Activity Level- faster fish need more space to swim
Schooling/Shoaling Habits- fish that swim in tightly packed groups take up less space in the tank than loner fish of the same size
Surface Area- greater surface area allows a greater potential for oxygenation (wide tanks are better than tall tanks) (for some fish, this is more important than others; if your fish can withstand low levels of oxygen, high oxygen content is less important)
Surface Agitation- greater surface agitation allows more oxygen into the water (for some fish, this is more important than others; if your fish can withstand low levels of oxygen, high oxygen content is less important)
Waste Production- messy fish make dirty water, which can support less fish than clean water
Maintenance Schedule- the cleaner you keep your tank, the more fish it can support (water changes and filtration)
Diet- fish that are closer to true herbivores or true carnivores (rather than middle-of-the-road omnivores) tend to produce more waste (or more dense waste) and so need more area to soak up bioload.

Chief_waterchanger

The rule doesn't even hold for small fish like guppies, mollies, platies, swordtails, etc.

You can get more than 10 guppies in a 10g and be just fine, as long as you maintain the water quality.

sirdarksol

Randall has it.
I'd add "diet" to the list. It seems like creatures that are closer to true herbivores or true carnivores (rather than middle-of-the-road omnivores) tend to produce more waste (or more dense waste) and so need more area to soak up bioload.

Conversely, if a fish doesn't have need for a lot of swimming space, you can actually go over the 1"/gallon guideline. To give an example: we'll consider neons to be 2" worth of fish (for the purpose of this thread). You could get 20 neons in a 29g long, and they'd probably be happy, because they school together and, as Randall said, 6 small schooling fish need less personal space than 6 non-schooling fish of the same size.
As the aquarist, you'd have to do more water changes to keep up with the nitrate production, of course.

Edit: I swear you're doing it on purpose, Chief. Do you sit in my profile, check what threads I'm looking at, and then post before I can finish typing, or what?

Allie

That's why you are Chief waterchanger. You know water changes are the most important thing to keep your fish healthy.

Randall

And to go the other way,a 10'' oscar in a 10g tank,well,need I say more,LOL
This would not be a good idea!

I am going to steal your diet and add it to my list,hope you don't mind!

Chief_waterchanger

So sweet Ms. Allie!

You figured me out.. awww poo.

Yeah.. Heh. Oscar and a 10g would get along about as well as an agoraphobic at a family reunion..

steveangela1

Lake Malawi Cichilds def need frequent water changes to keep them happy from being overstocked, and frequent vaccuming. They are very messy eaters and they poo a lot!

Jo3olous

There are quite a few bottom feeders that get very territorial with age (red-tail) sharks for example. These MFers will hog a 50G tank bottom by themself I've heard when they hit 6-7 inches and will be very very nasty to other bottom inhabitants that try to steal on their hiding spaces and such. They typically break the 1'' per gal rule when trying to fit in as many bottom feeders as you can. On the other hand you can put 3-4 ottos at the bottom of a 20G Long tank and its perfectly fine. I'm happy with my 1 RT shark though, I don't think I'll ever move him to my 60G (for my loach(es))

pinkfloydpuffer

Puffers, especially green spotted puffers. They need alot more than 6 gallons! More like 30