How to properly stock an aquarium

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

Things You'll Need:

• Properly cycled fish tank.

1. Determine what size tank you have.

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.

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!

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.

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

Tips & Warnings

• Dont ask the salesman if it will fit. Do the research!