How to judge apropriate fish for your tank

[freddie514]

Good judge of point is this,small community fish-1 gallon of water for every inch of fully grown fish,larger community fish/african cichlids-2 gallons of water for every inch of fully grown fish,larger Cichlids/terrotorial fish-3 gallons of water for every inch of fully grown fish,Solitary/tank busters-id say about 4 gallons for every inch of fully grown fish...so in example an oscar in a aquarium will grow 10-14",so they need 30-42 gallons of water for themselves,ive used this method and it usually proves very succesfull,but also use good judgement in choosing tank or your wetpets,like compatibility and room for hiding spots and usually choosing even amounts of fish due to bullying in the tank (theres always an odd man out with uneven amounts of fish) unless your breeding then you obviously have several females to one male,well i hope this can help out anyone that may be in this sort of delema.

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

It really doesn't come down to gallons per fish, but rather, make sure fish has the space to turn around in the tank, and of course, bioload

 

[channarox]

IMO there are no set rules when it comes to choosing fish.
it just has to be comfortable for the fish.

 

[woofy]

you also have to consider some fish are more active then others and need more space to swim and turn around.

 

[channarox]

you also have to consider some fish are more active then others and need more space to swim and turn around.

exactly why i said there is no set rule.

 

[bobo819]

i guess...the whole point is.........


"depends on the fish!"

 

[Thedaniokeeper]

The guy does have some good ROTs.
another is for min tank size:
3x fishes lenght, 1 and 1/2 fishes lenght.

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

any computation or formula that involves gallons per fish or per inches is still useless IMO, as things like footprint and dimensions are more important than overall volume

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Yep I agree. Also, add in factors of breeding, food competition, territory. Very territorial fish will need more space, fish when they breed become more aggressive/territorial, and then theres also aggression towards food.

You know that saying, "You can never overfilter a tank"?

Its almost the same for fish space, a fish can never have too much space. But some fish are content with a small area, but others need lots of room. Some fish like some cats, lay around and dont need alot of swimming room. But always, all fish need turning room.

Somthing like an aro needs open swimming room because they need to move back and forth from left to right and vice versa.

It really comes down to how active the fish is and how much room it needs. Also you have to compensate a little extra for those fish that are extra territorial. Its best to know the fish you are getting and accomodate for it.

 

[freddie514]

what im just saying is a rule of thumb guys,like somethin to judge off of,i know actual dimensions play a big part like in my opinion a 50 gallon is better for large s.american cihlids then a 55 gallon..im just giving something to judge off of