Change the rules..

ok Ive been doing alot of research on how to stock a tank.....Everywhere I go I see tanks well over stocked, but doing wonderful....I think the rules for stocking(not just fish) in an aquarium are out dated....With the way our new filters are and all the products out there now and days...do you think a 20 year old rule is still as effective as it is today? I've read about this on other forums but wanted to know what you guys think here at 3reef(way smarter and nicer ppl). What is everyones opion on this? I bet more than half of us are over stocked by the OLD rule....So

 

Interesting.. There are so many factors here.. Im gonna leave this to the more advanced 3reef aquariests..

 

Following along to see the general consensus.....

 

Overstocking requires more maintenance. Understocking requires less maintenance. running more chemical media increases your chance of success with overstocking. Stocking guidelines are there for the fish's health. I'm sure anyone on here would love to cram their tanks. Question is is it fair to the livestock, and your chances of disaster are higher. Just my two cents!

 

If you're talking about the inches per gallon rule.. I don't use that. It really depends on the fish..5 neon gobies are not going to put out anywhere near the waste of a 4-5 inch tang. Then there's the psychological issue of a fish being stressed because it's cramped. Hard to tell there. I just go with my gut... most of my fish are very small. I only have 2 big fish... I think one more big one would be maxed out in my 180.

 

so its more about the pleasure of the fish than the bio load.......I might be wrong but dont some fish like being in over crowded areas.....I see angelfish(fw) stacked to the rim but living happy and thriving to the fullest....

 

Think of it this way. You could survive in a small bathroom with six other people if you were all fed twice a week, but would you be happy or stressed? No doubt it would cause illness if not mania in some individuals. Same with fish. Everyone/thing needs its own space to live and move around it. Over stocking undoubtedly causes stress to your livestock which in turn causes disease and death. I think that they may even get some what depressed and that's why some fish refuse to eat.

 

yeh that's a hard one because there are so many opions on this. Nothing is set stone and there are allot of people that get all worked up if they see some elses tank have more fish then what there belief is.

With that being said if someone is going to overstock then it would be best to have the best equ money can buy because the water is going to get allot nastier quicker which in turn will make it very stressful for the fish.Allot more maintenance is involved also.

I have seen allot of overstock tanks that have been very successful and I have seen ones that were total disasters. So I think it depends on the person. If you put the time in constantly changing media doing needed water changes then it can be successful.

 

IME
The general principles are still as valid for people just getting into the hobby
once some experience is gained, and a feel for the individual systems ability to sustain life and the types of life it can sustain, then the general principles can be adapted to the particular system in question

advising a new comer that 1 inch of fish per 4 gallons of salt water - cant do much harm

advising a newcomer that there are no hard and fast rules anymore , especially in these days of instant everything, could be harmfull

and as AV8 above mentions - certain principles , like not putting large swimming space requiring fish into small volumes of water - is always going to be a great principle IMO


Steve

 

so would it hurt if im at the max of my stock(im not :} ) would that hurt my tank???

What I read everywhere claims its because of the bio load and not one article(so far) has add anything about not enough room for them just the bio load....weird....Dont get me wrong I agree with not overstocking I just think there should be a better way to determine.....