What's rules do you use to determine min. Tank requirements?

I go based on length of fish and width of tank mainly ,although tank is also a factor. For example for a mature adult male managuense which should hit 14 inches a 125 is what I consider minimum. To me nothing above 8 inches should be in a 55 because the average width is what? A foot? That leaves 4 inches of space to with go forward or backward. Not at all adequate to me. Active fish need length more so than relatively inactive ones. And that's not even factoring in tank mates or specific aggression levels


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I say 4x fish's length for tank length and 2x fishes length for width. Ofcourse there are exceptions like atf need a bigger tank because they are always swimming vs lung fish being flexible and air breathers can be in a smaller tank. I find height doesnt matter except for looks with 90% of fish

I should add that fishs length is reasonable max length. People dont always upgrade when required so I always stay on the bigger side. Can a rtc growout in a 40b? Yes but 99% of people underestimate the growth or say they will upgrade later and never do

Black Tuna said:

That's a great rule of thumb. So maybe tanks depth should be double the fish length? How do you then judge how many of those fish can go in the tank?

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With cichlids its species and shown aggression, plus availability for adequate territories that allow fish to live together and not murder each other. Example 1 male Managuense in a 125 vs maybe a few male cons. 1 Male jag will claim a entire 125 as his own and any other male is competition. Cons are small enough to where the chances of more than 1 male coexisting is possible

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My personal rule is length of tank should be 4 times that of the fish length. The fish should be no longer than 2/3 the width of the tank (unless it's an inflexible species then 1/2 the width of the tank), and height rules vary for me depending in the individual fish.

divemaster99 said:

My personal rule is length of tank should be 4 times that of the fish length. The fish should be no longer than 2/3 the width of the tank (unless it's an inflexible species then 1/2 the width of the tank), and height rules vary for me depending in the individual fish.

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Good general rule!


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