Fish tank stocking

[Flashheart 10]

Good afternoon.

I own a boyu 86 litre tank.

It is a planted aquarium. Currently stocked with fish ranging in size from sword tails to yellow barbs.

Could anyone tell me the maximum number of fish the tank could safely hold.

 

Thanks

[bigsean 10]

There are a few formula's to work this out, none are exactly right, yet none are wrong either, it all depends on your particular setup. However they are useful as a guide.

The one I tend to use, that works well for my aquariums, is:

 

1 square foot (30cm squared) of water surface area allows 30cm of fish.

 

An example of this is, your average 60lt tank is about L2ft (60cm) x W1ft (30cm) x D1ft (30cm). Multiply the length and the width of the tank to get the surface area of the water (2 square foot/60cm squared). The example tank should be able to support up to 60cm of fish. From experience this is a low estimate and using this formula this tank will only hold a small amount of fish (20 neon tetra and a bristle nosed pleco). This formula does not take in to account the filtration system or any extra oxygen generated via plants or pumps a good set up would allow up to about 75cm of fish (an extra 8cm per foot of surface).

 

Now that I have bored you a bit, your tank is 86lt at a guess your tank should have a surface area of just under 3 square foot (I was going on your tank being 1 foot deep). This should allow your tank to take up to around 110cm of fish.

The best way to get you fishes sizes, is to look up there average fully grown sizes online and use those sizes as your template.

 

I hope this helps.