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How many fish can go in my tank


mithendore

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hi guys

i have approx 600 L tank. Its about 5 ft long and rather deep (not too sure on measurement butknow its 600 L plus sump)

How many adult altos can i have in there?? is there a general rule of so many CM per L?? i have the following currently

All Altos adults

Red fins (1m,1F)

White calvus (1m,1F)

black calvus (1m,2F)

Gold heads (1m,1F)

altos juvies

Golds x 4 (5cm)

black calvus x 6 (2.5cm)

1 x gold spot (12cm)

1 x brissel nose (5cm)

Now remember before anyone says something that this is my DISPLAY TANK and i am not to concerned about keeping fry if they cross breed which they proberly will........ the tank looks great when they are all out and about.

Is it too many, i was going to sell off some of the calvus when they get bigger (i got these little guys before i found the adults i could buy)

jason

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filtration

2 bags of noodles and bio balls, also a second on wall filter (more to get water flow then then more filtration) , filtration seems to me to be above average as i never have a issue with levels. i do a 25%ish water change at least once a fortnight sometimes weekly (depending of what shift i am on at work)

Fish are average for adults (10-12cm males and 6-8 females). Once i grow the little ones up i was going to keep a few females (just in case i decide to breed later) and sell off any unwanted pairs. Dont think i will have much trouble selling adults.

i had a female die during the week,not sure on why as i tested all the water several times and keep a close eye on the remaining fish in the tank but couldn't find anything wrong at all, maybe she got bullied but i was watching for that so not sure why?? i have added some small white calvus (4.5cm) to get my female back once them grow up.

How do you know when theres to many, do your levels start to rise?? is there a general rule, 1 liter per cm or something??

thanks

Jason

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How do you know when theres to many, do your levels start to rise?? is there a general rule, 1 liter per cm or something??

Hi, i don't believe in a general rule since there are so many variables that can affect it.

I assume that the levels you refer to are nitrate and that this is an established tank. You didn't mention filter capacity or flow rate but if your filtration is adequate and if you want to be sure your tank is not overstocked check nitrate levels regularly over a period of several water changes. Your water change regime should maintain nitrates at a consistently low level. If so, and if your fish have adequate swimming space without too much aggression amongst them then you're on the right track.

On the face of it my guess is that if you keep them all you will have to stick religiously to the weekly water change, particularly as the juvies get bigger.

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For size of tank to how many fish I've always used the rule of 4 Litres to every 1" of fish. So add up your total inches of all your fish plus how many litres in your tank and do the math.

Importantly, hand in hand with this the filtration should be able to turn your water volume over at least 4 times per hour plus you have approx 1 litre miniumum of bio filtration media (such as ceramic noodles), but this depends how huge your tank is of course. (So 1 litre of ceramic isn't going to do it for an 8ft tank for example - so in your case you will need more bio filtration for a 600L tank).

Just my rule, but it works for me. :yes:

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sorry guys, forgot to put down the pump details. its a eheim universal 1260.

which is supposed to be 2400 litres per hour, so my tanks about 600 L so that sounds like the correct one for me.

By that calculation it should work out fine even when they are adults but i will monitor the water etc closely as i don't want to lose them to a nitrate spike etc.

when you say i liter of noodles, how do you measure one liter of noodles?? 2 bags came with the tank which i brought new so i assume that was enough but i still bought some bio balls and chucked them in there just to be safe, i dont think you can over filtrate water can you???

jason

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. . . . when you say i liter of noodles, how do you measure one liter of noodles?? 2 bags came with the tank which i brought new so i assume that was enough but i still bought some bio balls and chucked them in there just to be safe, i dont think you can over filtrate water can you???

jason

I was meaning volume using a fluid container, so whatever amount can fit inside a 1 litre container.

A great measure is use a 2 litre icecream container - full of noodles or bio balls that's 2 litre worth.

I only measure it that way because I have a Sacem 2000 external that has a 10 litre size barrel. It's half full of ceramic noodles so that's approx 5 litres volume worth of bio filtration media.

Perhaps a better way to look at your bio filtering is to have at least 30% - 40% of your filter dedicated to bio filtration media, and you'll probably be safe. But as some have said there's so many variables.

Most people I know with sumps have at least 30-40% bio media.

And you can't over-filter as far as I know. The bacterial colonies that grow in your bio media will only grow as large as the load of the tank. The trick is making sure you have enough bio media to take on the load of the fish you have.

Essentially the bacteria colonies adhere or coat the surface of just about anything, especially smooth plastic and especially in filters. Bio Balls are good because each plastic ball is equal to a very large surface area which equals a large home for a colony of beneficial bacteria. Bio Balls are considered better for sumps because they allow greater aerobic (O2) exchange for those bacteria colonies, thus better bio filtration (beneficial bacteria is aerobic and thrives where there's more water flow. More info on that here: Nitrogen Cycle.) Ceramic noodles are similar except they use the pourous properties of ceramic for bacteria to live in.

So if you think of that way, look at your two bags of bio balls in your sump. How many litres volume is it? Is it 30-40% of your sump? If not, it won't hurt to throw some more in.

I hope this makes sense anyway. :8

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The general rules is as above - but read this too:

http://malawicichlids.com/mw01019.htm

Also all of your fish share the same habitat - this means trouble as a basic rule due to competition for breeding sites etc.

Not saying that about the calvus/comps, as I do not keep these fish and only had a pair once for a short time so no expert - but Know that one of my rules is look out for fish that want to live in the same space.

HTH

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i have ordered some more bio balls, just to be safe it cant hurt.

i have enough shells for each pair but i think i might throw some more shells in there anyway aswell.

thanks for the link also it was a long read but a good read.

jason

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