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 Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:52 pm
There are two ways to stock a tank. For both ways, I will list what needs to be done.
Way #1: Starting with fish- Planing the tank size you want by picking out fish first (that doesn't mean you buy the fish first)
-Look up each of the fish you interested in. Look for:
~adult size
~temperment
~water condition requirements (temperature, pH, ect,)
~Bioload and minimum tank size
-Always check for bioload (how much they poop). Fish that like to eat, like to poop. Goldfish and Pleco's are a good example of fish with high bioloads.
-Buy the correct filter. Buy a filter that can handle your tank size, and stock. A good way to buy a filter is to take your tank size, and add a "0" to the end of it to determine the Gallons Per Hour, or GPH, you'll need. Its always good to over filter your tank.
-Don't put too much gravel. I realize this post is about stocking a tank, but if you put in more than a 2-3 inch layer (1 pound per gallon) of substrate, then that significantly reduces the amount of fish you can add to the tank, as you will reduce the amount of water you have.
-Always leave room in your tank. You dont have to cram as many fish as you can in to a tank. Leaving some "empty space" will allow you to buy other fish if you want to in the future, or if you have a problem in another tank, you can transfer fish.
Way #2: Starting with tank- Picking fish that are appropriate for your tank size.
-First things first: find out what size tank you have! When in doubt, measure it!
http://www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/size-chart.html
-Go to your LFS (local fish store), or PetSmart, ect, and see what fish they have. Write down the ones you are interested in, and go home and research them! Look for:
~adult size
~temperment
~water condition requirements (temperature, pH, ect,)
~Bioload and minimum tank size
-When you find what you can house for its entire life, you need to cycle the tank.
~Fishless Cycle
~Fish-in Cycle
~Instant Cycle (addind filter/filter media from an established tank)
-If the tank is already cycled, add fish slowly, a few at at time, over the course of a few weeks. The only fish that are an exception to this are Cichlids, as far as I know. They need to be added all at one time. Oviously, the bigger the tank, the more fish you can add at a time, but dont go crazy 3nodding
-As I said in the 1st part, dont add too much gravel, and always leave a bit of room in the tank.
The most important rule of all, and I cant stress this enough, RESEARCH!! Remember, these are living things we're talking about here. Ask your self, would you like to live how your fish live?
If I left anything out, please post, and say which method its for, and I will add it.
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:48 am
Other things worth adding:
cichlids are another fish with a high bioload, larger ones especially
Add the fish in order of temperament, more peaceful fish first (passive catfish, schooling fish, etc) and add more aggressive or territorial fish last (cichlids, gouramis, red tailed sharks, etc) this will make it so the aggressive/territorial fish don't see the other fish as threats, but as pets.
Filtration all depends on how many fish you want in the tank, in an average tank setup, you want to have the tank's volume turned around 4 times per hour. If you're doing a tank with a lot of fish, say, an Mbuna African Cichlid setup, you'll want about 10x the tank volume turned over per hour. This also depends on the filter you use, canisters are much more efficiant than hang on backs, they are always filtering new water as you can point the filter outtake away from the intake, so it's not constantly refiltering the water, and they also hold much more filter media, so you can get away with less GPH (gallons per hour) with canisters, you can get away with only 1-3x tank turnover per hour comfortably, though 4-6 is better with overstocked, high bioload tanks.
One more thing to keep in mind is decoration, some fish like to have a lot of plants (most tetras and anabantoids, as well as ambush predators such as angelfish and ctenopoma) and some fish like uprooting and destroying plants (silver dollars, buenos aires tetras, bulky cichlids) there are also some fish that like a lot of rock work, such as mbuna cichlids (mbuna literally means rock-dwelling) and some fish require a lot of driftwood, in fact, some species of plecos such as bristlenose and clown plecos need driftwood in their diet to grow and live healthily. Some species of bottom dwelling fish with soft bellies and thin whiskers such as pictus catfish and corydoras may also be easily injured on sharp gravel substrate, so smooth rocks or sand are a much better option for these fish. Sand is much more prefered. With some fish such as eels and banjo catfish which bury themselves in the substrate, you'll need to use sand, no acceptions. Gravel is much too tough for them to buy themselves comfortably, and these fish usually die from stress without the proper substrate.
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