gallons of water per fish…?

9 responses so far ↓

• 1 Living In Korea // Nov 9, 2008

  The optimum number of fish for any size aquarium is 1 fish per 1 gallon of water.

  In your equation, a 10 gallon tank should have no more than 10 fish.

  You could have more fish, but they do tend to overburden the filtration system you are using.

• 2 Dark Ryok // Nov 9, 2008

  Stop it. There is no rule for how many fish. The "1 inch of fish per gallon" rule is BS. The "one fish per gallon is BS". Stop it. Just ignore any rule you see. And, schooling fish dont need 20 fish. They would enjoy it, but they only need at least 6. And dont go putting 40 fish in that 10 gallon, everyone of them would die.

  Ok, fine then. You say one fish per gallon. How many times have you heard "what about 10 inch oscars?" or "10 four inch gouramis". How many of those can you fit in a 10 gallon? None. Thats right. None. All rules for stocking fish is utter BS. End of Story.

  Depending on your fish care? If you have a fish that grows to 24 inches in a tank that isnt even 24 inches around the base, your fish care is nonexistant.

• 3 esoteric93 // Nov 9, 2008

  i had a dragon golby in a 3 gallon tank for about a year and it did really fine, and i had it with loach really you dont need to follow those requirments depending on your fish care, but i wouldent put more then 10 guppies in your tank…probably 2 oscar ciclids and nothing like around those lines

• 4 Kylie Anne // Nov 9, 2008

  well, small most small fish need to be in schools or they'll get stress. stress causes them to get sick and weak or get aggressive.

  there are plenty of fish for a 10g tank. I suggest a layout like this
  ONE centerpiece fish (male betta, gourami, ect)
  5 of one type of peaceful schooling fish (most tetras, rasboras, ect)
  and 4 bottom dwellers (cory cats or kuhli loaches, ect)

  or you could get a large school of one type of fish, or you could do 3 or 4 of one type live bearers (molly, swordtail, guppy, platy) if you don't mind finding places for babies every now and then. or even a centerpiece fish with 6 or 7 schoolers…

  there are a lot of options for a 10g tank; just not big fish, really active fish, or aggressive fish.

  —–

  how long did your dragon goby live? because their lifespan is about 10yrs. you should probably learn how to spell it before bragging about how well it did with improper care. you can live in a car trunk but that doesn't mean you'll enjoy it…

• 5 $%#&*@ // Nov 9, 2008

  The fish does not need 50+ gallons if it only grows up to 2 inches. It applies to the size of fish you are getting. The rule of thumb is 1 inch of full grown fish per gallon but its not really reliable since I have a hard time imagining a 10 inch goldfish in your 10 gallon tank. For a 10 gallon tank, you can get about about 8 2 inch fish but you can get about 1 or 2 more if your water is in good condition and you have really good filtration. I would spread the fish out in the tank. What I mean is that I would get a few bottom dwellers and a few more fish that swim in the middle and top. This will make you tank more lively looking.

• 6 ccmicklo // Nov 9, 2008

  If you are a careing person and concerned for your fish, you will listen to the rule. 1 in of fish per gallon. It’s easier for you to keep them healthy and to keep your water healthy.
  wetwebmedia.com has a lot of great information on fish and how to keep them. They have great answers to fish questions. You only need to look on their site.

• 7 cc_woman // Nov 9, 2008

  because that fish that requires such a large tank is probably pretty aggressive in temperament. Throw the whole idea of 1 inch of fish per gallon rule out the window. It does not apply to most species of fish, and even then it should not even be considered when choosing fish for an aquarium. It is much better to under stock, than to over stock.

  Most fish that require more space are usually a more aggressive species of fish, or they just grow really large.

  In a 10 gallon you could possibly keep a school of 6 neon tetras, or other small growing peaceful fish. But that’s about it. Even with schools the 1″/gal rule still should not apply.

  If most of your fish need at least a 20 gallon as a minimum tank size, get yourself at least a 30 gallon. That estimate is usually based on the fish alone, not really including other species of fish in with it.

• 8 cinnafab // Nov 9, 2008

  usually the rule of thumb is 1gallon per inch of fish, but some fish like goldfish or plecos produce too much waste and need much larger areas. most school fish i know of need a minimum of 4-5 to be comfortable not 20 so im not sure what your looking at or where your getting your info.

• 9 BrandonM // Nov 9, 2008

  It really depends on how big of a fish you’re getting. If you’re getting a school/shoal or tetras like Neons, you can probably stick about 6-12 in a 10gallon tank with adequate filtration and still be able to put 3 corys in there. However, a 10gal tank is only 24″ wide. If you get a fish that grows 6″, that fish really doesn’t have a whole lot of room to swim and exercise. It’d be like you living in a small room your entire life.

  There’s also something called a bioload. Fish poop and food decays. All of this change the chemistry of the water that your fish are living in. It can actually become poisonous to fish, but luckily there’s beneficial bacteria that live in the gravel and everything in your tank that eat these toxins and remove them from the water. Those bacteria are what you’re actually growing when you “Cycle” your tank. You still have to change your water, but the bacteria help. If you put too many fish in your tank, you’re going to produce way more toxins than those bacteria can handle and your tank conditions are going to get very toxic very quickly. You could, of course, try to overcome this by adding additional filters, but you can only filter the water so much and your fish can only take so much turbulence in the water.

  Some fish are far cleaner than others. For example, Tetras are not messy fish, but Goldfish are just gross. For tetras, the “rule of thumb” is 1″ of adult fish per 1gallon of tank. For Goldfish the rule is 1 fish per 20 gallons. Of course this doesn’t take into account the fact that Goldfish get large and should really be kept in 4′ fishtanks.

  This is another reason why beginners should start at a 20gal for a minimum tank size. They’re easier to maintain and the fish selection is much better. The honest to gods truth with fishtanks is the right size for you is the largest tank you can afford. I have a 90gallon fishtank downstairs and now I don’t think it’s big enough. I remember I started with a 5 gallon when I was little. That was a fiasco.