When you've read and understood the IH stuff and maybe use a spell-checker, you will no longer be a beginner. Heck, you will have moved up to at least a novice. :)
(And there is a novice class in IFGA shows, for those who have raised their own guppies.)
Sometimes the books suggest an inch of fish per gallon of tank. That would work with your guppies and a few grown up fry. Many times our guppies exceed that because we let them. (And you should see my Endler's tanks!)
The inch thing is very relative. With larger, heavier fish, that inch/ gallon is not a good idea. For example two Oscars (a medium large, carnivorous cichlid, which can grow 10 inches/25.4 cm) pretty much fill up a 55-gallon tank and would be happier with even more space, maybe a 125-gallon aquarium. That would be 2.25 gallons and 6.23 gallons per inch of fish, with militant water changes and heavy duty filtration.
One source suggested a maximum of 1" of goldfish per square foot of surface. That same book felt that the maximum Koi density was to be 1/2 inch of fish per square foot of water surface. And they are probably assuming at least three gallons of pond water under that square foot - outside where the wind does far more to aerate the water than anything mechanical does indoors. And they still have these fancy filters on those ponds.
All the best!
unc
[ Parent ]
Immediate Help
