Am I Being Dim Or...?

I think the discrepancy is caused by historical problems the site has had. I don't know if you've read about them, but basically the site host closed the old site down earlier this year and the owner has had to resurrect all the articles for the new site. It is quite possible he included some old articles which were later superceded. He's had a mammoth job getting the new site up and running so I wouldn't be at all surprised if a few "errors" got through.

The new improved community creator will be on-line soon (we hope). This uses a combination of tank size, filter type and fish, but unlike other way of determining stocking amounts it weights the fish according to their bioload. So a slim bodied fish has a lower rating than a deep bodied one of the same length, and notoriously "messy" fish get a higher rating. The new CC will also take into account how long the tank had been running.
But as we have to wait for that, we have to use other methods of working out stocking levels.

Peter, the owner, has a thread about the new CC, and in it he said

Just a quick pointer on stocking levels etc..
I plan to use the same stocking calculations as I've used on the new calculator section on this page:
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/calculators/stockinglevel.html

There is some explanation there about the various methods, although Im not sure how clear I've made it. The problem I have is trying to explain it all in as brief a way as possible - I find if I waffle on for ages, users will tend to switch off, so any explanation has to be as 'short and sweet' as possible!

The method used in this calculator is basically the same as was used in the previous CC, although some of the problems with apparent overstocking occurred because I adjusted a fishes stocking size based on its overall size to account for food consumption and waste production. For instance I would have a Neon which may grow to 3cm and just give it a stock size of 2cm in the CC (because it is very small and produces very little waste) where'as something bigger like a large Cichlid which grows to 30cm I would give a stock size of 40cm.
This adjustment made it easier to apparently 'overstock' with small fish. In reality there was no overstocking because the aquariums rate of waste production would remain much lower with small fish than if you had the same total length of larger fish. (10 x 3cm Neons consume and produce less than one 30cm fish)

Although the adjustment for size gives a more accurate result I think I will not use it this time around to avoid confusion and general comments about being over generous!

Ging by that comment, until the new CC is up and running, I would go by the third of the links you give, this one http://thinkfish.co.uk/calculators/stockinglevel.html

What have you got at the moment? There are a few of us who could give you an indication if you have room for more fish 

To be honest, you don't have room for too much more. You could add a sixth harlequin with no problem 

Can I ask a couple of questions?
The white clouds - you say they are from your daughter's tank - does this mean you are just giving them a better home than 18 litre but you don't want to get any more? That's OK, I know what it's like having a less than perfect number of fish you don't want more of.

The dwarf gouramis - what sex are they? Two males will probably fight in the long term, but a lot of shops only sell males. Some even tell you that a blue male is a female that will go with your striped male - yes that happened to me. Luckily I'd read up on them.

How does the femalle fighting fish get on with the gouramis? Male fighters don't, but the female could be OK long term. Make sure you keep an eye out just in case they take a dislike to each other.



What type of fish would you like to add? I notice you don't have any bottom dwellers  A shoal of one of the three dwarf corydoras would fit the bill nicely so long as you don't have sharp gravel, and they wouldn't add much to your stocking level. I have some pygmy cories in my 50 litre, they are nice little fish.
Do you want lots of little fish and are looking for another mid-water fish? Rather than get another species, you could increase the numbers of the tetras and harlies. A lot of people don't like small numbers of lots of species, saying that larger shoals of a couple of species behave more naturally. It's all down to personal choice.

Yes I agree on the odessa barbs, they do grow a bit big for a 90 litre tank. But cherry barbs would be a nice choice. I think they would fit.

If you want bottom dwellers, have a think about shrimps. You'd need amano/japonica shrimps (you'll find them by both names) as they grow big enough not to get eaten. They add very little to the bioload. The only thing you'd need to cater specifically for them is somewhere to hide while they moult. They grow by shedding their skins and they are very vulnerable while the under skin hardens.
But I do realise that some people have problems with shrimps crawling round a tank  It's the sight of all those legs and antennae I think!




You have me intrigued. Your dwarf gouramis - they're yellow and orange? Are you sure they're dwarfs nor honeys? Some shops do have a nasty habit of calling honeys 'dwarf honeys' when the two are actually different species.
As far as I'm aware, dwarfs (Colisa lalia) come in 3 colour types: wild type where the male has red and blue stripes; blue, which can be pale blue or bright blue; and red with a turquoise top fin. The female of all types is silver with perhaps the hint of stripes. The various colours are all here
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/dwarf-gourami.html

Honeys (Trichogaster chuna) are smaller and also come in 3 colour varieties: wild male is golden tan with yellow top fin and a black throat when breeding; yellow with varying ammonts of orange on the body towards the tail; and red. With the wild form, the female is beigey grey; the yellow form female is a bit paler than the male but still yellow, and the red female is red. The profile on here doesn't show the yellow form
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/honey-gourami.html
but I have a trio of them.

The reason I'm trying to definitely ID your gouramis is because honeys are smaller than dwarfs, and less aggressive.

The pics below are of a pair of yellow honeys I had a few years ago, I haven't taken pics of my new ones yet.

Hope the pic uploaded and photo is clear enough.
The male definitely has a blue fin at the top and the female does look a cross between silver and yellow lol
You'll have to excuse the decs, inherited with the tank. Due to be changed along with the substrate if I ever feel brave enough

According to the calculator Im allowed 69cm of fish for a 90l tank. This equates to about 0.77cm of fish per litre. I currently have 79cm of fish, 14% overstocked!!!
Still dont understand why its saying I'm allowed less than 1cm of fish per litre

I used the data for the stock tank at think fish
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/article/stocking-levels-for-tropical-aquarium-fish.html
and the new cc has given a max stock level at 231cm yet with an external filter in this article it recommends ramming in 510cm
My head hurts

Will do
Thanks for all your help Sue, much appreciated!