DB> Re: Re: New tank
DB> >    I have never heard of this way of calculating the # of fish in a
DB> >    tank, is that linar inches of fish ie in the above example 7 4 inch
DB> >    fish/I ahve a book (wich I cannat find at ths time)which uses a
DB> >    differnt calucation i do remember that the water surface size
DB> >    determines the amount of fish you can have
DB> >    I also never had circhlids either so i know nothing about this
DB> >    subject
DB> The type of fish does not matter as far as I know, but every book I have 
re
DB> on the subject around here says the same thing, # of fish inch.= # gal. 
f
DB> water. And you are correct, if you have 4 fish 7 inches each, that is the
DB> limit for the tank.
The type of fish, in some cases and the size of the fish, play a big
part in the calculations.
Length of Fish (ex. tail)           Surface Area Required (Sq. In.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
         1/2"                                     0.8
         3/4"                                     1.4
          1"                                      2.6
        1 1/2"                                    6.6
          2"                                     12.5
        2 1/2"                                   20
          3"                                     30
          4"                                     65
          5"                                    120
          6"                                    180
A 2" fish is only twice as long as a 1" fish, but requires 5 to 6 times
the surface area, because of it's increased body mass.  These figures
are for an un aerated tank. If you keep the water circulating with
filters and/or airstones you can increase tank capacity by 50% to 100%.
(This makes a great spreadsheet.)
Labyrinth fish can get by with half the surface area while goldfish need
double.  Barbs require more area than tetras of the same size.
Good maintenance and filtration can about double the tank load but
then you are susceptible to equipment failures and/or power outages.
Jim
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