1"/fish per gallon-what does this really mean?

debit202

How is the inch measured- is it a square inch? If so- how do you figure that out?
Thanks in advance for the help

Tazman

That method is not really reliable to use.

I would not put a 10" fish in a 10g tank, it simply has no room. You need to take into account the size of your tank and the size of the fully grown stock.

Remember as well, tanks, once you add decorations, substrate are NOT the capacity they are empty.

Mikaila31

The code is more what you call 'guidelines' then actual rules.


Kudos to anyone that read that in pirate =D
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Jester10

Yes from what I understand (as I am a beginner too) the 1"per gallon is a guideline and not the best way to account for how much fish can fit in your aquarium. You wouldn't put a 10in fish in a 10 gallon tank would you? I have seen it at 1" for every 2 gallons and more for fish that are messy like ciclids or Goldfish.
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Termato

Usually the inch per gallon rule is establish to keep your bio load down so that you don't have more fish than you have stuff to take care of the waste.

If you have a lot of plants, many people have proven that you can overstock a bit and still keep a healthy tank.

Although you don't want big fish like jester is saying for a small tank because well...thats all you will have...and it wont be happy.

Good luck on your tank!

Byron

Agree, and will add there is a lot to building a successful community. Another of our members wrote this article which is stickied above but here is the direct link:
A Basic Guide to Freshwater Fish Stocking

debit202

Thanks all- of course you wouldn't put a10 " fish in a 10 gallon tank- Thats why that measurement doesn't make sense to me. I wouldn't put any fish in a tank that looked to small or out of proportion in terms of too little that is?

So again what and how are they measuring?

Tazman

Length of the fish when fully grown.

debit202

I guess this is a nevermind question at this point. Question is one of theory and symantics-

Tazman

The rule is based on the square inch of the fish...Length being a contributing factor.

It works only for really small fish,

Found this...
The "rule" applies to the cubic inches of fish in the tank.

This means that a 5" gourami should be measured in this manner,
length overall (5"),
thickness, (1/2"),
height, (2 1/2"),
so for this fish you multiply the following, 5x 1/2x 2 1/2, this gives you a total of 6 1/4 gallons of water.

For small fish like glo-light tetras you will end up with something like this,
1 1/2"x 1/4"x1/2", this comes to 3/16 of a gallon (about 1/5), and that gives you 5 fish of this size per gallon (quite reasonable)

For larger fish you end up with something like this, my example here will be a silver Arowana at 24" long, 24"x 4"x 1", which gives you 100 gallons of water.

As you can see this works fairly well.

You do also have to apply some common sense and allow for such things as potential growth, the fish types' tolerance for crowding, and of course the width and length of the tank (a 24" gar will not work in an 18" wide tank even if the tank holds 100 gallons).

It is a GUIDELINE to give a rough idea not a set "rule" as you would not keep an arowana that was fully grown in a 100g tank, it would not be able to turn around without hitting the side of the aquarium.