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i had just a general question: if you can maintain good water quality, does it matter how many fish you have? (ie: if you're over the 1"/gallon rule of thumb, etc... but water quality remains good, does it really matter?) assuming, of course, that you have enough aeration, territories, etc...

You can add more fish to a tank than the 1” per gallon rule suggests, in particular given that you follow all the conditions that you mention.

BTW, how are you intending to create these conditions, like having a large water change 3 times a week?

Seriously, I am sure a lot of us “bend” this rule and some of us bend it so far that it breaks. There are many factors, for example if the tank is planted or not, that influence how many fish can be in a tank. Others would be their eating habits, waste production, etc.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

i'm not intending to create these conditions, but i was just curious that if my tank happened to be temporarily overstocked, if it would be okay as long as water quality stayed good.

my tank is 55G, it is planted (not heavily, but well), has a great canister filter and has been set up for almost 4 years now. i usually do a 40% water change once a week.

the reason i ask is that i am growing out a lot of baby platties and mollies, and so in the future, it could be slightly overstocked.

thanks!

Lots of folks have abandoned the ole 1"/gallon rule in favor of a more accurate one inch of fish for every 12 inches of surface area

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This formula depends on the type of fish though. Small community type fish can be easily overstocked and well cared for than large, messy, or aggressive fish, so keep the type of fish in mind when doing your calculations.

The main factor to consider in any over stock situations is, of course, high filtration level, but even with the filtered, pristine water fish give off growth limiting hormones when in cramped environments and, if the condition persists for a long period of time, can result in stunted growth. There shouldn't be too much of a problem of this if the overstocking is temporary. HTH

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."