How crowded is overcrowded?

[sombunya]

As I've said before, my tank is 48" long x 18" tall x 11" wide. Waiting to pounce on a bigger unit for a deal when I find one.

I have five Bluegill between 3" and 4" long, six Sculpin between 3" and 4" long and a decent sized Crawdad.

Besides keeping Nitrites and Ammonia levels at zero are there any other general guidelines about how many is too many?

They seem to have plenty of room to cruise and chase each other around. Any advice is appreciated...

 

[d3sc3n7]

Well, thats a 40G tank. Right now your sitting at 24" of fish, plus the crawdad. This leaves you with 16" of "fish" space using the general rule. However, those bluegill are no where near full size. So, instead of finding new fish for that tank...I'd keep looking for a bigger one. 75G or so. Thats my opinion

 

[zzz22zzz]

them blue gill are gonna 6 inches at least id buy 100-150g if i were you

 

[MatthewLaw]

Unless my math is wrong, I believe that you have at least 44"+ of fish (4" x 5 fish + 4" x 6 + Crawdad). You should find a tank that is at least 50 gallons at this point. I am not sure how big the Crawdad will get so you may need larger!!

For the most part, follow the 1" per 1 Gallon water rule. Some fish need more room per inch, like puffers.

 

[Orion]

The inch per gallon 'rule' should only be used for small fish like tetra's and other similar community fish. You get away from these fish, the 'rule' is worthless, and even with these fish it's iffy.

If your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are ok then just keep watch on the aggressive nature of the bluegills. I don't see all those fish lasting in your tank long term just because once the bluegill take a notion to spawn, everything is fair game and all heck is likely to break loose. And even before then, once everyone tries to steak out a territory in such a small space fights will start to occur. The more hiding spots, and items you can add to break up the line of sight from one territory to the next will help, but it won't cure it with this many fish.

 

[sombunya]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I am on the lookout for a bigger tank.

I never worried about the Bluegill going after the Sculpin because they've been together for a while. I was worried about the Crawdad getting the Sculpin as they sit in one spot for a while and the Crawdad roams the tank. Then one of the Sculpin, relatively small compared to the Bluegill, almost attacked the Crawdad. Not even afraid it seems. But the Crawdad seems a bit cautious of the Bluegill.

All in all an interesting mix here. I have a 20 gallon unit I will setup for my wife soon and will probably put either the Crawdad of some of the Sculpin in there depending on the species I stock it with. Either way, I will upsize if and when the opportunity arises.

Again, thanks for the comments.

 

[d3sc3n7]

Unless my math is wrong, I believe that you have at least 44"+ of fish (4" x 5 fish + 4" x 6 + Crawdad). You should find a tank that is at least 50 gallons at this point. I am not sure how big the Crawdad will get so you may need larger!!

For the most part, follow the 1" per 1 Gallon water rule. Some fish need more room per inch, like puffers.

Yeah, my math was right...its my reading that is messed up...I missed the SIX sculpin. Only counted 1.

Also, yes I agree...the 1" rule is an extremely vague rule.