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btw thanks for all ur help, cause im very new to this fish thing and im sure ill post a lot more questions, ive always wanted fish but never had the money or time till now,
but one other thing since alge eaters came up, since adding the two snails and the eater well the alge has dissappeared very quicky i really cant believe how clean my tank is is it possible to eat themselves out of food?

u probably could infact i'm certain you could getaway with 1 cm /liter which is about 1 and a half inches per galon

I don't know if I can add a whole to what has been said, but I can reinforce. One inch per gallon is only the coarsest of rules, a starting point, and obviously unfit in many situations.

Firstly, the amount of waste a fish will produce is primarily based upon the mass/volume of the fish. Consider that a 4 inch streamlined, torpedo-shaped rasbora will not be producing the same amount of waste as a rotund, beer-bellied 4 inch molly who is in a late-term pregnancy.

Secondly, the one inch per gallon rule becomes very silly in the limit of large fish. 20 one inch fish (like small tetras) can be very happy in a 20 gal tank, but obviously one 20 inch fish will not.

Thirdy, the species of fish enters into consideration. Fish from rapidly moving, highly oxygenated waters will require more water per fish than fish from slow moving stagnant ponds. This is where research becomes necessary. Also, some fish are very territorial. A 5 inch fish may claim much more than 5 gallons as its own personal space.

Finally, the fishkeeper's caretaking habits can change the balance as well. If you commit to increased water changes and caretaking, and you 'over-filter' your tank, you can get away with overstocking. But this is only recommended for the more experienced fishkeepers. Likewise, if you want to be lazier, you can plant your tank to help process the fishs' pollution but you should understock so that the pollution does not build up nearly as fast. If you really heavily plant, the plants themselves may uptake the ammonia as food, which conpletely changed your filtering needs -- but, again, this is where experience pays off a lot -- many people find keeping plants very tricky.

Many, many factors that "one inch per gallon" cannot take into account. It is just a starting point, and a good place to help newer fishkeepers not run out and purchase as many fish as can fit in a small tank.

well..my tank has 10+ per hour filtration. actually, if ur tank is not so full..u may get away with 4x/hr...the least filtration u can have...but since....u r, in my opinion, overstocked...u need more filtration alright.

ur filter can handle 600L/hr=150g/hr=5.4x/hr filtration

i say...u may not have sufficient filtration with the current stock

so, doing 25%water change weekly is a must to keep ur water pristine.

ur algae eater will outgrow the tank..u may consider returning it and get credit with ur lfs and get ottos instead.

7 times your tank has cycled through your filter.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

what is the 7 times?

I am not 100% sure. I like to over do it a bit on my filters. According to Babelfish she said that you should filter through 7-10 times an hour. If your tank is a 30 gal, that would be 210 gal in an hour for 7 times. This would be under kill on her calculations. What does everyone else think??

Something else that will make a very big difference is your algae eater. If it is a pleco, even one of the smaller ones they make a lot of waste. I have a clown pleco that is about 2.5 to 3 inches and he poops all over all the time!


Last edited by Wingsdlc at 06-Jun-2005 21:14

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

so is 150 gph good? for this tank? to support that many fish?

so the cat fish would become more active if there was 2? and would i be able to fit another fish in my tank?
and will the snails eat the plants if the alge is all eaten?
I only feed them twice a day around 7 am and 11 pm i feed them quite abit so the top and mid feeders leave some for the bottom feeders

A whisper 30 will do 150 gph and is ment for a 30 gal. tank so this site says.

http://www.petsolutions.com/Info.aspx?id=401

Wish you the best of luck and welcome to the site.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

"Yes" to the first question; "pretty much" to the second.

They very well can eat all the algae in the tank. That means you will either have to rehome the fish/snails, or give them food besides just the algae. Vegetables such as cucumber and zucchini should be eaten by the algae eater, while I think the snails will prefer blanched lettuce. They may have varying tastes, but these are some of the most common and popular veggies. The algae eater will also feed on flakes that sink to the bottom of the tank; not to mention various sinking wafers and pellets. The snails should have no problem feeding on whatever leftover goodies they happen upon.

Upside down catfish do tend to hide during daylight hours, and venture out usually only when they feel brave or when food is present. They do like to be kept in groups; if you could work them into your tank, a buddy or two would be appreciated.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

o and to add to that do most upside down catfishes hide all the time

I have just over 40 inches of fish in a 28 gallon tank, can i get away with it? so far they look very healthy. but someone told me that i should only have 1 ince per gallon. i have
5 neons 1.5'
5 glowlights 1.5'
5 rasboras (or however u spell that) 1.5'
2 mystery snails (need 2.5 gallons ive been told)
1 gourami 5'
1 upside down catfish 4'
1 alge eater 5'
2 dwaf frogs 2.5'
i do have a good filter air pump and 3 plants.
is this setup alright or am i going to have some dying fish in the future?

Judz,

If you do weekly water changes of about 20% once weekly I believe you'll be fine for the most part. Of course the more fish the more likely you will have problems, but with weekly changes it should keep the water pretty healthly. Make sure you treat the water used for a decholorinator and adjust temp to match tank temp.

I should also add that my son has a 12gallon guppy tank with about 40 guppies in it right now, 10 adults, 15, large fry and 15 small fry. This tank has been running for about a year and he hasn't lost one fish, except for the ones that get eating by mom, day, uncles and cousins.



Last edited by tetratech at 06-Jun-2005 17:13

My Scapes

Let's see... In my 10 gallon I have:

5 Corydoras concolor at 2" each (10" all together)
10 Red Arc Pencilfish at 1.5" each (15" all together)

That's 25" of fish in a 10 gallon, but I can say for a fact that the tank is not overstocked. The pencilfish and corys are both shoaling species that like to be kept in groups. They also occupy different parts of the tank and therefore do not get in each other's way.

Additionally, the tank is super heavily planted and water changes are performed every other week, so the nitrates are pretty much undetectable.

So yes, the "one inch of fish per gallon" rule can definitely be broken, just as long as you are experienced and know how to do it correctly. Live plants and peaceful species are the two most important things, and everything else is pretty much just trial-and-error and seeing what works well for you.

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

If you still have the box it'll say on it how many gph it is rated for. I looked but, the dont list gph on their site. If you don't have the box and the LFS isnt too far out of the way you could check in store.
Just because a filter says it's rated for a given gallonage doesn't mean it's enough filtration. For instance the Aquaclear mini says it's rated for tanks up to 20 gallons. I'm running an AC 150 on my 20 (that is lightly stocked) and have even considered running an AC 200 on it.
2 months really isn't long enough to tell. Do you know what type of "algae eater" it is, there are lots of different kinds some of which won't be happy in anything smaller than a 75 gallon. And I'm assuming you meant " inches instead of ' feet .

^_^[hr width='40%']"Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the pain you feel.
The life, the love, You die to heal.
The hope that starts, The broken hearts...
I’ve got another confession my friend, I’m no fool.
I’m getting tired of starting again, Somewhere new."
*refighting lost battles*

its a dawf gourmi, and this alge eater is only meant to get 4 max 5 inches but i have no idea what type it is

everything is fine except for the algae eater. Those get big. 10" if it's a real algae eater(CAE), which also get's quite nasty. If it's a pleco, then your in for a 2 foot fish. Also, what type of gourami is it?

o and i forgot that we check the ph and ammonia levels every couple of weeks and there has been no spikes other then at the very beginning

ive had the tank o 2 months, the neons were added right away, after the cycle blah blah, then after that they were added about once a week or so, the gourami and snails were added in just hte last week, my filter is a 30 whisper so i have no idea how many xs per hr they have but ive been happy with it.