Kashim

Okay, I know it's not really a rule, more like a guideline. Here's what I have in my 55 gallon tank right now: 7 guppies, 7 cherry barbs, 6 cories and 5 ghost shrimp. The guppies are mostly hanging out in the left side and the cherries on the right side. Even though I'm near the 1" per one gallon limit, my tank feels empty. There's rarely much activity near the center (both horizontally and vertically). I was thinking about getting 7 neon tetras since they look so nice and possibly a couple more female guppies. That would pretty much put me over the limit (unless I cheat and don't count the ghost shrimp). What should I do? I would like a little more activity out front and I was hoping the tetras would do it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

mrsmuffin

I wouldn't count the ghost shrimp at all, they really don't have much of a bio-load.

Butters

Neons dont produce a whole lot of waste so as long as you have good filtration and do regular water changes, you can easily get a school of 7-10 in there. as for the females guppies, they might just end up overstocking your tank with all those babies! Ghost shrimp dont add to the bio-load at all really, unless you have like 500 in the tank. How long have you had your fish in the tank? Fish that I buy usually take a while before they come out alot, but when they do it sure is entertaining!

Alessa

yes, ghost shrimp dont really add much to the bioload of a tank, you dont need to count them like a fish.

and the rule is more of a guideline, it works for fish up to 3 inches, after that it starts increase exponentially. its like, you wouldnt have an 18 inch pleco in an 18 gallon aquarium. Right now youre around 46 inches, you have like 9 inches to play with, so you caould add a school of 6 neon tetras, and you would pretty much be stocked.

Butterfly

When using the 1 inch per gallon guideline you have to consider the mass of the fish and bio load produced also. The fish you have are all small streamlined bodies with a small bio load. They don't move around much either thats why the tank looks empty. Do you have lots of plants (real or artificial) for them to hide/sleep in? this will make them more comfortable and more active.
The Neons will be a nice addition to the tank, and since they move back and forth in the tank will give it more activity.
Carol

Blub

That rule is not very strict at all... If you know what your doing. Look at my 48gal (when fully stocked)...

8 Hatchets - 16"
5 cherry barbs - 10"
5 bleeding heart tetras - 13.5"
1 BN - 5" (Counting his extra bio load)
1 SAE - 6"
1 Angel - 6"

56.5", but probably more like 59" counting my nerite snails. However, the tank is heavily planted (no spare substrate style!) and the plants act as a massive filter.

I think 6 neons would fit perfedctly into that. No female guppys - guppys need a 1 male - 3 female ratio in order to not have much fighting - and 7 males 2 females would not only be overstocking liek crazy but unhappy guppys.

sirdarksol

As far as bioload goes, if you've got the ability to do the water changes needed to keep the nitrates at an acceptable level, the guideline isn't hard and fast at all.

You've also got to worry about overcrowding, but you're working with small, sociable fish, so you've got quite a bit of room to work with there, as well.

Just remember to keep a close eye on your nitrates for awhile, just to be sure everything's okay.