Continuing our discussion about the common aquarium mistakes, the next issue is overstocking. Everyone has heard about the one inch of fish per gallon of water guideline. That guideline is probably okay if you are keeping neon or cardinal tetras or some other small species, but beyond that it can really lead you astray.
Larger fish require larger volumes of water. As a fish grows in length it grows much more quickly in mass and the bigger the fish the more food it eats and the more waste it produces and this relationship is closer to geometric rather than linear! That is a 10 inch fish is not 10 times larger than a 1 inch fish, it is closer to 100 times larger!
You might ask why your local aquarium store has so many fish in it’s tanks? There are several reasons: 1. Most of the fish are juveniles, 2. they probably have a very large central filtration system, 3. They probably have a large turnover so the fish aren’t there very long and 4. they are probably making large weekly water changes. Remember water changes are the secret to having healthy tropical fish!
Even if you stock your tank probably you will still need to avoid the next mistake – overfeeding. this is hard to do because feeding is the only time when you get to interact with your fish. Lets face it aquarium keeping is mostly a spectator activity. Besides, its hard to resist feeding those little guys when they are at the front of the glass begging when you approach the tank, but don’t do it!
So how much should you feed? The basic guideline is no more than can be eaten in a couple of minutes.
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