minimum gallons?

Question

What is the minimum gallons a walking catfish, bullhead cat, a lime shovelnose, 3 firemouths, 3 convicts, a green terror, and a peacock eel could all be in.

Answer 1

Only as much as you would need for the bullhead I would say. As fast as they grow and as voracois as they are it will eat the others before they all got to adulthood. The shovelnose might make it, but the others should be toast in the first year if not a few months.

MM

Answer 2

Good lord! Lemme go do the math, but right off, I'd say about 1000 gallons! Walking catfish-12 inches=120. Bullhead catfish-18 inches=180. Lima shovelnose-18 inches=180. 3 Firemouths-7 inches=150. 3 Convicts-6 inches=90. Green terror-8 inches=50. Peacock eel-12 inches=50. Okay, so after doing the math, maybe you could get away with around a 800 gallon aquarium, minimum.

EDIT: Magic does make a big point, which I didn't even get to thinking about I was so stunned with all these gigantic fish! But, yeah, the convicts, terror, firemouths, peacock eel aren't going to be around all that long! They'll be snack city!

Answer 3

Listen to Venice Girl

To give a comparison that I have experience with ...

Convict is part of the Cichlid family, so are Oscars. A single Oscar needs a minimum of 55 but really needs about 70 gallons each. So, for three Oscars, you would need about 200+ gallons and MAJOR filtering.

The rule of 1" of fish per gallon is for small fish. 12 1" mollies would not equal a 12" Oscar. The Oscar would weight 3-4 lbs at that size, and fish measurements DO NOT include the tail.

There are two major reasons why fish need a lot of tank space. First and foremost, dilution of waste. They are living in their bathroom. The more water the longer between your water changes. A 30 gallon tank with 17 fish (2 catfish, 4 mollies and 11 goldfish) needs to have about 50% of the water changed every other day. If they were in a 55 gal, maybe get away with once a week. It is just a high fish load. Would YOU want to live in your own waste?

Get a Freshwater Master Test Kit from API. When your nitrogen cycle gets established (beneficial bacteria) your ammonia and nitrite should be at 0 ppm, the nitrate should read below 20 ppm, and most aquarists will say that is high. You check for the nitrates and that tells you when you have to change your water.

The other major reason to have plenty of space is territory. Having 7 cichlids in a tank you will have dead fish from them killing each other, and the other may be eaten.

I provided two links that can help you below. The have a forum for freshwater fish advice, you can browse, and they will tell you what can go together, the proper gallonage for each fish, proper filtration, aeration, etc.

800 gallons does sound about right for the stocking level you are asking for. If you want a lot of fish, go with ones that stay really small and school up together.

A good set up could be a 55 gallon with one Jack Dempsey and a school of 9 tiger barbs. go with a 110 gallon and double that, then you get 20 fish but the bio-load will not be immense.

Remember you are responsible for the lives and contentment of the fish, they depend on you more than any other animal when kept in a home.

Answer 4

800 minimum. Depending on the size of the animals

Answer 5

Um, like 5,000 gallons, and even then they'd probably all kill each other.

Don't do it, it's a bad mix of fish. Please, please, please do some more research before you set up a fish tank. You owe it to your fish to provide them a proper home with proper tank mates.

Answer 6

rule of thumb is one gallone per inch of fish. however i wouldnt put those fish in anything less than a 30 gallon.