How Many Fish For My Ten gallon?

froglady

Since I now have 3 adult guppies and 3 baby guppies and one albino catfish. in my ten gallon tank, could I add more fish without over crowding? I was thinking an otto or two.

Bottomfeeder

albino Catfish?
what kind? if its an albino Cory it would be fine but if its an Albino Channel...
lets just say he will soon be too big to fit on a table. lol

Randog

My aquarium book says that how many fish you can put in a tank is dependent on the surface area for air in the water. Say your tank is like mine at 20x10 inches length and width. What you do is multiply the length by the width to know the surface area in inches. 20 X 10 = 200. Ideally you should have one inch of fish for every 10 square inches of surface area. So 200 divided by 10 is 20. I (and you, if your tank is 20x10) can put 20 inches of fish in my tank. However, that is a very rough guide. A tank with an air pump and live plants can hold more fish than a tank with neither. Water moment also helps. My book says always understock to be sure. I never can figure out if they mean to include the fins in the length of the fish, but its better to have to little than to much so I include the fins. If you don't get the math equation then let me know and I'll see if I can explain it clearer.

stephenmontero

That rule is not something that can not really be trusted. Since certain fish produce much more waste then another species so you may have enough inches left over but if you have a fish like an Oscar well they are quite messy..

froglady

The albino catfish is a small one and wont grow over 3 inches. hes been around awhile. a very hardy calm fish.thanks for the help everyone.

Randog

Its true that the rule dosn't apply to tank water, just whether of not they will be able to breath. But I've never had any problems with that rule, and modern filters designed for 10 gallon aquariums go at 30+ gallons per hour. I don't know how much bacteria the gravel can hold, but if the tank is stocked slowly everything should be fine. But don't hold me on that. There's nothing wrong with understocking.

froglady

I do water changes about once a week. too and that helps keep the fish healthy. I think understocking is a good rule to stcik to. when Ive had alot of babies grow up. the tank has been overcrowded. and I soon took them to the pet store. Ive had as any as 30 fish in there. for at least 4 weeks, but had to do water changes every other day. Im cutting down on how many adults I have in there now.

Fishin Pole

Make sure you have enough algae to support the ottos and that your tank has been running for at least 3 months...........Ottos, dont like new tanks..........

Randog, your books theory on the amount of fish you can keep per gallon of water has alot of holes in it..........Going by the math equation of fish length, that would mean i could keep 4 5 inch oscars in a 10 gallon tank....What about tank depth?...........Some tanks will have the same surface area, but be deeper in depth?.......Stocking for a certain size tank will all depend on the fish and the size of the tank...........a 4 inch oscar will have 10 times the waste of 4 one inch tetras............The larger the tank is, the easier it is to get away with over stocking the tank, to an extent..........Good filtration and tank cleaning is the key to keeping a tank healthy and happy

Randog

Everything you say is absolutely true, therefore I'll just say again: its always worked for me.

froglady

My tank has been running over a year. with a complete cleaning twice a year. I always use the same water and filter medium when i do the huge cleanings. I think a couple ottos would be neat. now that theres not many fish in the tank. I thank you for you help. keep the ideas coming.