Stocking calculator

A rough sanity check, not a licence. It will tell you when you are clearly overstocked; it cannot tell you that you are definitely fine.

Volume
Surface area
Stocking load

 

Four things the number cannot tell you.

  1. The inch-per-gallon rule is wrongIt ignores body mass, waste output and territory. A 10cm goldfish is not ten 1cm tetras.
  2. Shoaling minimums come firstMost tetras and rasboras need eight or more. Six is not a shoal, it is six stressed fish.
  3. Filtration is a floor, not a licenceA bigger filter lets you keep the same fish more safely. It does not let you keep more.
  4. Footprint beats volumeA long shallow tank holds more active fish than a tall one of the same litres.