"chris nuttall" wrote in message
om...
hello everyone,
i have a puzzle.

in my 15 gallon aquarium, which is about 3 years old, i have;
breeding pair ancistrus (5" long)and their offspring usually twenty
ish tiny ones which go to the lfs at about 1" long,
2 siamese alae eaters / siamese flying foxes (4" long),
2 upside down catfish (2" long),
7 harlequins (1" long),
2 neon tetras (1" long),
1 whiptail catfish (4" long)
1 pygmy puffer (1" long)
1 large amazon sword plant and an abundance of reedy plants which i
occasionally pull out to keep them under control.


I'm a beginner, so I am curious about something. I am hearing about this
rule of thumb that says 1" of fish per gallon of water. From your list
above, I see 2x5+2x4+2*2+7+2+4+1=36 inches of fish. If the tails shouldn't
be included, lets say you have 32 inches of fish, and maybe 13 gallons of
water. Does this make sense? You seem to be getting by OK I suppose, so
how loose is this rule of thumb anyway?

dwhite