ldsdbomber

OK, please take this thread in the spirit intended. I am not trying to "bend any rules", or "reinvent any wheel", I am just curious and interested about the concept of fish stocking. I have seen capacity quoted in many different ways, 1 inch per gallon, or based on surface area, or even a volumentric calculation. I realise that on average these probably all equate to the same thing, though obviously for example an odd shape (as I have) or extreme examples break any rules. A 10" fish in a 10 gallon hex, probably not happy!!!!! 10 1" fish in there, probably happier!

I have a Biube from reef one like this one
http://www.reef-one.com/biUbe-Pure

The specs have it as a 13" diameter cylinder, height 18 inches. With the subtrate and bubble tube and items, you basically get about 30L rather than the 39L quoted capacity.

I also realise that you can imagine this tank as two 13" diamater cylinders of 9" on top of each other, since fish tend to swim horizontally, so I totally understand why a 10g rectangle is better suited to some fish than a tall one.

When I use the stocking calculators online, e.g. aqadvisor.com, it basically says that

2 guppy & 2 platy = 100% stock, if I plug in a 10g hex and adjust the distances as 13 inch wide and deep, 18 inch high.

Also at 100% stock is 10 neon tetra, which since I know can reach 1.5", potentially breaks the 1 inch per gallon rule, however, I know neons are very thin, so I can imagine that this is why the calculator says 10 is OK.


All along I have had in mind, a pair of guppy, a pair of platy (all males to avoid fry probs, and they are smaller than females), and THEN have a small group of neons. The aqadvisor calculator is super sensitive to the values definining the surface area of the tank and I am not totally sure how to best equate a cylinder to a hex.


I think I will now decide between the two pairs of guppy/platy, with an amano shrimp in the bottom

OR

a group of neons. 1" per gallon would say 7 neons is full, so why the discrepancy with aqadvisor.com, is it the slimness of the fish.


Also, since the water volume is closer to 30L, that is actually only 8 US gallons, not 10, so maybe 6 neons would be OK in there. However, remembering when we had 2 guppies and 3 neons in before rehoming them prior to cycling the tank properly!, it looked pretty empty, I cannot imagine 6 neons "filling" that space


What do you think?
(as an aside, does anyone know how platys and guppies - male - fare when on their own, eg in a 1 guppy, 1 platy, 5 neon tank)




Just an update:
adjusting the "width and depth" of the tank to get the 9g capacity, it says the tank is only big enough for 3 neons. I just cannot believe that can be the case!

OK, for reference!

Assuming a "real" volume of water of 9g US, and with a radius of 6.5", the way to get aqadvisor to match is to set

length = depth = 12 inch, height = 14 inch.

This gives a stocking calculation of

100% = 6 neons (sounds more reasonable than 3!)

90% = just 2 platys OR just 2 guppies, OR 1 of each


Still interested to hear comments on this, but basically sounds like I am now down to a mini school of 6 neons, or a platy pair, or guppy pair

At a push, 3 platy or 3 guppy is 109%, "to me" it sounds like 109% would be fine, I am planting with several real plants and will be very active with maintenance. As to which combo will be more fun to look at and look after, well, what do you lot think?

ryanr

Welcome to fishlore

OK - so here's my 2c.

Just because the tank doesn't "look full", doesn't mean it is not full.... I've quoted examples on these forums, but here's another one: greyhounds race on a rather large track, but when they're together it looks crowded.

Horizontal swimspace is the most important aspect (unless they are column swimmers). If you were in solitary confinement (prison), you wouldn't survive, if you weren't allowed to get out and exercise.

Same thing for fish..... (you'll find a lot of similar opinions on these forums, we love our fish more than anything)

So for those biorb setups, it's extremely hard to recommend.

One inch per gallon is very subjective, and should only be used in very small fish and aquaria (as you've rightly pointed out )

I would be getting an airstone in there, and on my loose knowledge:
maybe 1 b/n catfish, and either Rasboras, or small tetras, max of 2-3 of ONE of these species, but even that's pushing it, I've seen these things, and whilst they look cool, they don't suit any fish that I'm aware of.... Maybe a betta (Siamese Fighter) would be a better option, with a b/n, but depends on filter as b/n are extremly dirty fish.

ldsdbomber

Yeah thanks Ryan, it does come with an air stone fitted in the bottom of the bubble tube, though I need to find out how often to change it! Unless I am mistaken about what an air stone is, it looks like a piece of chalk, and the air bubbles come through it and rise in the bubble tube in the middle.

If I knew then what I knew now, I might not have got a biube, they look cool, but dont think its worth the loss of fish real estate. because of the lack of horizontal room, its basically like having 2 4.5gallon tanks on top of each other, but most fish will only live in one of them.
Ah well, this has been a good learning experience and in my small apartment, probably didn't have room for a proper sized tank anyway, so I just have to swallow down the "aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh must have more fish" feeling as I am sure everyone gets that in the beginning!

Prince Powder

Wow that's definitely one tough tank to stock! Horizontal space is the most important with fish and that style doesn't exactly give you much of that. Because you really don't have enough horizontal swim space I would probably avoid schooling fish. Even if you can get away with only having 3 of such fish, they wouldn't be happy without a proper school. I'd probably go with about 3 guppies (all the same sex to avoid breeding issues) and some red cherry shrimp for the bottom. The shrimp don't contribute much to the bio load so you should be ok with about 3-4 of them. The I'm afraid you'll be maxed out. It may not look that way with just a few little fish, but given the swim space offered I'm afraid that's about all you can do.

If you want more fish than that, perhaps you should look into getting another tank in addition to this one. MTS can be a good thing!

redlessi

I think a Betta would love that tank.............