How Many Fish Can I Have In My Tank?
The quickest, rough calculator would be to use the amount of liters in your tank and that would equal the adult size centimeters of your fish you can have in the tank. For example, you have a 40 liter fish tank, that would equal 40CM of fish can home that tank.
To calculate using gallons and inches, I would roughly suggest for each gallon of your tank you can have 1.5 inches of adult fish in your tank.
This is a very rough estimate as the other factors we will discuss below should also be taken into consideration. The CM or inches of your adult size fish is measured from head to tail.
Factors To Consider When Calculating The Amount Of Fish For Your Tank
Firstly the most important factor would be your tank size and the amount of free swimming space in your tank. We all have decorations and plants that take up additional space in our tanks, decreasing the amount of water or space available for your fish.
As mentioned above the rough calculator can be used to roughly determine the amount of adult fish your tank can home. I mention the word adult fish so overcrowding can be eliminated if you bought a whole lot of baby fish and in a few months when the fish have become adults, you have too little space for all of them in your tank.
Fish size would be your second factor to consider, you can research the fish you want to get and already have in your tank to determine their rough adult size to help you do your calculations.
The filtration system in your fish tank will also contribute to the amount of fish your tank can handle. If you have a larger powerful filtration you could add a bit more fish than recommended, otherwise stick with the estimate to avoid overcrowding.
Overcrowding your fish tank leads to fish stressing, that cause disease and not to mention the water quality that would suffer having more waste in your tank than your filter can handle. I prefer to stock my tanks in a way that I am happy with the amount of colors and life in there but doing it in a conservative manner of just a bit more than under-stocking.
I don’t recommend overcrowding as it also leads to more work as a weekly water change might not be sufficient for you, that means you might have to do two water changes per week and clean your filters each time. That is just too much effort for a few additional fish.
Lastly, you should consider the species you currently have in your tank and what you would like to add. Some species are very territorial or like to nip at fins, so more space are needed for those types of fish. Adding more hiding spots and plants help, but at the same time you will still have some stressed fish that could cause problems down the line.
Choosing fish that are compatible with each other and their water, food requirements are very important to create a happy and healthy community tank.
Some species of fish produce more waste than others, so it is also wise to look into that, for example Plecos produce a lot of waste and the grow big. While Tetras have less waste and stay smaller. You can then rather choose a school of Neon Tetras as it would “cost” your tank less and add more value and life to your tank than getting two Plecos.
