Quote:
Originally Posted by pwrmacG4
general rule is 1" of adult fish per gallon.. so with a 33gal tank.. that would be 16 2" fish ect. it also depends on how much filtration you have. I have 2 rena xp3 filters running on a 75gal.. so I can overstock a little bit.. but only after the tank is cycled.. good luck
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To me your definition of general rule is more on the cautionary safe than sorry kind of rule. I've broken that rule numerous times and most of the time I don't get any problems. What I mainly look for when determining how many I can actually keep in the tank is:
1. Filtration: If your water quality starts getting bad and the filtration can't handle all of the waste that's when you know you have too many in there. Another side effect of bad filtration is of course, sickness and death, or problems such as ich/ick.
2. Space: No matter how clean your water is, if the tank looks too crowded to the point where there's no place for one fish to escape to a more secluded quiet area of the tank because it's all filled up, that's when you know you should start selling off your stock.
The most fish I've ever had in a small space were around 200 or so feeder guppies in a 5 gallon plastic container hung inside a larger 50 gallon glass tank.
Hard to tell the numbers but I was very certain it was well over 200. After a few months they eventually died off because of diseases. I was 9.
But indeed, the general rule is a good rule for any caring aquarist. At the time I was more busy on quantity than quality.