how many fish in a 10 gal tank?

Question

i have 5 smaller fish in there now. Mollies and playtes. How many can i put in a 10 gal tank. I wanted to get 2 more but is 7 too much?

Answer 1

If you stick to fish of a similar size and have a filter and aerator you could probably add a few more fish but without them I would say no.
PS salt for freshwater aquariums is a good addition for those type of fish. One tablespoon for every 5 gallons of water.
A

Answer 2

The rule you'll most often hear about is an inch of fish per gallon of water. However, full bodied fish such as Goldfish, require far more space than that. You must also take into account the shape of the tank, as the air exchange happens at the surface of the water.

10 gallons is not a lot of real estate, so you won't be able to keep too many fish in that aquarium. I'd stick to small, slim bodied fish. A half dozen schooling fish, such as neon tetras would be lovely, with a small bottom dwelling fish or two. Or consider keeping a small school of danios and a couple of barbs. There are many options, just take care to avoid fish that reach an adult size larger than inch or two.

Answer 3

As long as you're willing to keep up on 20-40% weekly water changes and you stay with molly- and platy-sized fish, then you should be fine with adding the other two. Though, I would have to say after that, do not add any more, as you're already going to be pushing your stocking limits.

The inch per gallon of adult slim-bodied fish is a good rough guesstimate to go by, but you don't have to be religious about it. Just make sure you keep the water in pristine conditions with steady temperature at around 78 degrees and the pH at around 7.0. Your ammonia and nitrite levels should always measure 0ppm, and your nitrate levels should never measure more than 40ppm (though 20ppm is ideal) - If the nitrate levels do rise above 40ppm, you need to do more frequent water changes of about 20% twice a week.

Answer 4

There should only be 2 inches of fish per 10 gal of water. I think you are fine where you are at...maybe 1 more fish, but no more.

Answer 5

Guidline to follow

1 inch / fish.

Some people can get away with more; but it's hard on the fish to be that crowded. You should do frequent water changes to minimize stress due to the ammonia levels, etc.

If you want more fish ... invest in a bigger tank first.

Answer 6

There are many things that effect the amount of fish that a tank can hold. Some of these are is the water airated, filtered, how much room is taken up by gravel and decorations? I have include a general guide on determining no of inches of fish per gallon(Tank).


Virtually every fish owner has gazed at their aquarium and wondered just how many fish can be put in there. Unfortunately aquariums don't come with a stocking chart slapped on the side. As a result many owners unwittingly overstock their tank, sometimes with a disastrous outcome. So how does a fish owner know how many fish they can keep? There are a number of factors to consider, as well as several methods for calculating safe stocking levels.

One Inch Per Gallon Rule
The most widely known rule for stocking a tank is one inch of fish per gallon of water. While this type of calculation works as a rough estimate, it leaves plenty of room for error. Like people, fish are not all the same size and shape. Stocking a ten-gallon tank with ten inches of slender shaped zebras is not the same as stocking it with ten inches of full-bodied goldfish.

Larger bodied fish create far more waste, and therefore require more water volume.

Furthermore, the fish often are not fully grown when first brought home. The adorable little catfish that is scarcely an inch long today could reach a half foot in size when it grows up. The true adult size of the fish must be used in the calculation. However, many owners have no idea how old their fish is or how large it will grow to be. Before making a decision, always research the fish in question to determine the true adult size.

Another place for error is assuming the size of the tank is equivalent to the number of gallons of water it holds. A ten-gallon tank filled with gravel, rocks, plants, and an assortment of decorations does not hold ten gallons of water. In reality the water volume is often ten to fifteen percent less than the size of the tank.

So while the one-inch per gallon rule is a reasonable yardstick, it has it's flaws.

Surface Area Calculation
The larger the surface area of the water, the greater the oxygen exchange, which in turns supports a larger number of fish. Therefore, surface area of the water directly impacts how many fish can be kept in an aquarium. A tank that is tall and thin may hold the same number of gallons as a tank that is short and wide, yet they have vastly different surface areas.

Using the surface area rule, the shape difference between the tanks is taken into account. The surface area is calculated by multiplying the width times the length of the tank. Under the water surface area rule the tank can be stocked with one inch of fish for each twelve square inches of surface area. However, this calculation has many of the same flaws as the one-inch rule. For instance, it assumes a fairly slender fish, which isn't always the case. If wide-bodied fish will be kept in the tank, the calculation should be changed to one inch of fish for each twenty inches of surface area.

Like the one-inch rule, the surface area rule isn't perfect. Its primary advantage is that it takes into account unusually shaped aquariums.

Which Calculation to Use?
As a general yardstick for normal situations, the one-inch rule works adequately and is very easy to calculate. If using it, always use net gallons of water, and take into account the adult size as well as the shape of the fish. If the aquarium is a non-standard size, the surface area rule will work better than the one-inch rule. In either case, always do your homework first, and err on the side of going under the limit rather than over.

Also do not fully stock the tank all at one time. No more than 25% of the total volume of fish should be introduced at one time. Fish wastes, which are toxic, are eliminated by colonies of beneficial bacteria. Those bacterial colonies need time to adjust to changes in the bio-load. By introducing fish a few at a time, the bacterial colonies have sufficient time to grow and take care of the toxins produced by the fish waste.

Suggested Reading
Aquarium Sizes
Stocking a 10 gallon Tank
Mini Aquariums
The Nitrogen Cycle
How an aquarium cycles
Fishless Cycling

Answer 7

i say you should only have between 3-5 in a 10 gallon tank

i hope i help you out

Answer 8

You should be able to put 10 inches worth of fish in there for it to be healthy for them. For example, if guppies are 2 inches in length, you can have five in there, etc. I hope this helps!

Answer 9

The general rule is 1 inch of fish per gallon. So it all depends on the size of your fish. You should be fine.

Answer 10

I've always heard the rule of "one fish for every two gallons". Something about how much waste they produce..... You might want to just ask the people at the pet store.