210 litre tank stock

Question
Hi ,

I'm relatively new to keeping aquaria but now am the proud owner of 2 x 54 litre tanks and a 210 litre tank . I don't profess to be an expert but I have done a lot of research into keeping fish but thought I'd ask this question by means of second oppinion due to the mixed nature of information avaliable on the web .

In my 54 litre tanks I keep only 2 fish in each . 2 moores in one and 2 chocolate oranda in the other . The chocolate oranda were added after i have removed the 3 orange capped oranda to the 210 litre tank but they didn't seem to take to kindly to the environment and didn't display the usual active behaviour like the 2 moors in my other 54 litre tank . I read about " old tank " syndrome and this tank had been established for a good 2 months ( I do 20% water changes weekly , rinse filters , hoover gravel etc . )

I decided to add them to my 4 ft 210 litre tank ( running a 250 litre underwater pump/filter and 15" bubble wall on a 60 litre pump and 10 well established freshwater plants ) . They now are as happy as larry with the other fish in the tank .

My question is : In this tank I have the following fish ,

2 orange oranda ( 2 1/2" , 2" ) , 3 orange capped oranda ( 2" , 2 x 1 1/2" ), 2 callico oranda ( 2 x 1" ) , 2 black and orange oranda ( 2 x 1 1/2" ) and the 2 chocolate oranda ( 2" , 3/4" ) . I've read various fish stocking levels from 18" - 24 " surface area per inch of fish to rule of thumb 10 litre capacity per fish . I am going to do a 75% water change to the 54 litre tank and add new plants and a 15" bubble wall and cycle the tank for a week . Are the fish in the 210 litre tank adequately provided for in that environment ( taking into account accomodated growth ) or would I be best removing 2 of them back into the 54 litre once it has cycled ?

Many thnx in advance ,

steve

Answer
Hello,

Forgive me for being old fashioned, but I measure all my tanks in gallons and therefore I know the stocking level to be about 1" of fish per gallon (not including tail fin). However with this stocking level you also need to take into place water displaced by the gravel, decorations and other equipment. Based on your fish sizes I believe that all your fish have enough space and growth room, but I unfortunately can not be sure because it is in litres. If you want to double check, simply convert the litres to gallons (sorry I can not do that for you!) and see if my inch per gallon rule of thumb is applied.

I hope this helps.

From Stephanie