Aquarium size and shape are the first things one has to consider when it comes to starting fish keeping, whether one wants to buy or build an aquarium.
I bought my 1st 10 gallon tank for a couple of guppies following the advice of salesman.
I built my first 1.6 liter aquarium in July 2016.
Then I built my first 2 liter plastic bottle aquarium.
This aquarium caused a fury of comments from YouTubers with regards to the size of the aquarium.
My guppies keep breeding and are doing fine, while breaking common guidelines about acceptable aquarium size.
I couldn't find a reasonable explanation on how to calculate minimum size of an aquarium for fish, but I got some ideas ;)
I started building aquariums of different sizes to test my ideas.
I use two objective factors to judge the suitability of an aquarium.
Breeding and fish behavior.
Breeding happens only under appropriate conditions.
Every new generation has to be fertile to claim success.
Fish have to exhibit normal behavior for the species throughout their entire lives.
Over two years of observations of breeding guppies has been enjoyable and a very educational journey for me.
Long story short.
Measure the length of the fish from mouth to the end of the tail.
Any side of an aquarium should be longer than 3 lengths of the fish.
In this example, the fish is about 3.5 cm long.
The narrowest side of an aquarium for this fish should be 10.5 cm or more.
And the diameter of this aquarium, the narrowest side, is 10.5 cm
In this example, the largest fish is about 2.5 cm
This fish can and most likely will grow to the size of parents that were about 3.5 cm
The water capacity of an aquarium is calculated based on the aquarium dimensions.
One can estimate the minimum necessary amount of water for each fish based on the fish size:
(Fish size*3)^3
In aquariums with more than one fish, the sum of water necessary for each fish has to be calculated.
Fish in this aquarium is about 2.5 cm each.
The narrowest side of this aquarium is about 11.5 cm and the height is about 15 cm
It is my oldest nano aquarium ;)
Please check links in the description to the video for details about each aquarium, how I set them up, and how fish behave and breed in them.
Interestingly, the narrowest side of standard box shape aquariums found at pet stores is never less than three length of the maximum size fish recommended for those aquariums.
And yet...there is at least one type of aquarium with the narrowest side less than 3 length of the fish.
I am talking about shallow aquariums.
The depth or the height if you wish of shallow aquariums could be less than 3 length of the fish and yet fish behave normally and breed.
There is a lot left to learn about nature and aquariums in particular.
Knowing the minimum necessary dimensions of an aquarium is fundamental for building appropriate aquariums for your pets and for you to have the best enjoyable aquarium keeping experience.
I am sure to keep you updated on my works.
I have more info to share with you.
I built my first 1.6 liter aquarium in July 2016.
Then I built my first 2 liter plastic bottle aquarium.
This aquarium caused a fury of comments from YouTubers with regards to the size of the aquarium.
My guppies keep breeding and are doing fine, while breaking common guidelines about acceptable aquarium size.
I couldn't find a reasonable explanation on how to calculate minimum size of an aquarium for fish, but I got some ideas ;)
I started building aquariums of different sizes to test my ideas.
I use two objective factors to judge the suitability of an aquarium.
Breeding and fish behavior.
Breeding happens only under appropriate conditions.
Every new generation has to be fertile to claim success.
Fish have to exhibit normal behavior for the species throughout their entire lives.
Over two years of observations of breeding guppies has been enjoyable and a very educational journey for me.
Long story short.
Measure the length of the fish from mouth to the end of the tail.
Any side of an aquarium should be longer than 3 lengths of the fish.
In this example, the fish is about 3.5 cm long.
The narrowest side of an aquarium for this fish should be 10.5 cm or more.
And the diameter of this aquarium, the narrowest side, is 10.5 cm
In this example, the largest fish is about 2.5 cm
This fish can and most likely will grow to the size of parents that were about 3.5 cm
The water capacity of an aquarium is calculated based on the aquarium dimensions.
One can estimate the minimum necessary amount of water for each fish based on the fish size:
(Fish size*3)^3
In aquariums with more than one fish, the sum of water necessary for each fish has to be calculated.
Fish in this aquarium is about 2.5 cm each.
The narrowest side of this aquarium is about 11.5 cm and the height is about 15 cm
It is my oldest nano aquarium ;)
Please check links in the description to the video for details about each aquarium, how I set them up, and how fish behave and breed in them.
Interestingly, the narrowest side of standard box shape aquariums found at pet stores is never less than three length of the maximum size fish recommended for those aquariums.
And yet...there is at least one type of aquarium with the narrowest side less than 3 length of the fish.
I am talking about shallow aquariums.
The depth or the height if you wish of shallow aquariums could be less than 3 length of the fish and yet fish behave normally and breed.
There is a lot left to learn about nature and aquariums in particular.
Knowing the minimum necessary dimensions of an aquarium is fundamental for building appropriate aquariums for your pets and for you to have the best enjoyable aquarium keeping experience.
I am sure to keep you updated on my works.
I have more info to share with you.
Measure your fish and than check the aquarium dimensions!!
Have fun and happy aquariums ;)
Have fun and happy aquariums ;)
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