How to properly stock an aquarium

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By JLad10687
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Many questions are asked about how many fish you can put in an aquarium and whether or not more can be added. This will answer those questions.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Determine what size tank you have.
Step 2

Forget the one inch for every gallon rule.

If you have a 10 gallon with 10 1" fish, you are okay. However, if you have 10 10" oscars in a 100 gallon, you are terribly overstocked.
Step 3

Figure out how many times your tank is turning its water an hour. The high the better. This is what you should be looking at when trying to determine a filter.

Keep tabs on your water parameters. If you add another fish and see a jump that your filtration can't handle, NO MORE FISH!
Step 4

Determine the specific fish's needs.

If it is an aggressive/territorial fish, it needs more room.

If it is a messy fish, you can't have alot of them in the same tank.
Step 5

Lastly, use your head! Imagine it was you in there.