How many fish to keep in aquarium

How many fish to keep in aquarium

Buy Endlers locally on Craigslist: 

https://newyork.craigslist.org/search/sss?userpostingid=7424875577

How many fish to keep in an aquarium is a simple and yet intriguing question. 

Years back I shared with you results of my experiments about minimum size aquariums for fish. 

Getting more than necessary minimum dimensions of the aquarium for a given number of fish is a good starting point for a proper setup. 

And there are variations of "stocking rules" that are generally more acceptable by most people in this hobby. 

"Stocking rules" go by gallons of water per inch of fish.

 Hey, go with whatever makes more sense for you. 

The idea of all rules is to provide enough water with everything else for fish to be happy. 

And the happy fish will breed. 

Fish as all other living organisms (except humans) breed only in proper breeding conditions. 

The size / dimensions of the aquarium and available food are two main factors in this regard. 

I have been experimenting with different size aquariums ranging from a half gallon to 20+ gallon tanks.

 Here you can see a one gallon tank with Endlers fish. 

I start all my aquariums with one breeding family of young fish.

 Fish seem to enjoy my sustaining aquarium gardens without water changes.

 Here is another small self-feeding aquarium.

 Happy fish keep breeding as much as the space of the tank permits - never more than that.

 The more adult fish in aquariums the less space for baby fish.

We can keep fish breeding happy by moving some of the fish into other aquariums. 

That's what I do in this example.

 I also give away some of my spare fish to my friends and even sell some fish on Craigslist. 

Guppy and Endlers fish, commonly known to be proficient breeders, are able to self-regulate density populations very well. 

Separating males from females is unnecessary for controlling the population. 

I start all aquariums with one breeding family. 

Feed no more than your fish can eat at once and let them be. 

The same goes in any large aquarium.

 Here you can see Endlers in a 30 gallon paludarium I started with two breeding families. 

Provide food and happy fish will breed. 

I never got more than a dozen adult fish in one gallon aquariums. 

The population of fish in this large tank grows up to 5 dozen adult fish in a matter of one year.

 The number of fish goes up and down, but never above the maximum in any size aquarium.

 Fish grow all live long.

 The older fish are bigger - you can see it here. 

The older larger fish take more space in the aquarium leaving less space for babies. 

And the large fish may eat the small babies. 

Guppy and Endlers are self-sufficient in regulating their own population for any given space. 

The amount and frequency of feeding is another way of controlling population growth.

 I provide healthy supplemental feeding 2-3 times a week. 

My fish enjoy live food.

 Here you can see fish going after springtails. 

My fish eat Grindal worms in big quantities. 

I give as much food as fish can consume in less than 2 minutes.

 Less food is better - it keeps the aquarium healthy.

More food than fish can eat at once promotes algae growth among a list of other problems. 

Make sure to give enough food for fish to eat it all clean. 

And I let my fish figure how many fish there should be in any of my aquariums. 

The same stands true about any aquatic pets. 

My adult Eastern newts do not eat fish - they even ignored baby fish for that matter. 

Though, newts and fish enjoy and compete eating scuds. 

Nature is great at self-regulating when we let it be. 

Have fun and happy aquariums :)