Think Fish Community Creator

Cories used to be in the fish profiles before the site moved hosts a couple of years ago but for some reason they were not included on the new host.
Adding new fish to the profiles is now a bit problematic. The original site owner was Peter. He was a fish expert and is responsible for most of the fish information on here. But he handed the site over to Robert a few months ago. Robert is not a fish expert; he is a website expert.


Almost all forums criticise stocking calculators. They have to be very simple models and cannot possibly handle all the variables needed. When the site moved hosts, Peter did a lot of work on the CC resulting in fewer fish being allowed but it is still criticised for being overgenerous. One of the reasons is that most people use the 1 inch of fish per US gallon rule. In his article here Peter explained that the true stocking guide is 2 inches of fish per US gallons but that the 1 inch rule came into popular belief over a confusion with another stocking guideline. He used the 2 inch rule in his original CC, but modified it to less than this in the new CC.



I have fish that not in the fish profiles, and I have to do some serious thinking to decide which fish to use as a substitute in the CC. Chain loaches are the same length as sterbai cories but they are less chunky. I think I would use chain loaches, but slightly more of them, so if you have 6 cories enter 7 or even 8 loaches.

Both Richard and Sue have covered everything.

I like the CC as a guide - and I especially like the colours used with the stock levels. So I would be tempted to say to new fishkeepers - "keep it in the green" for a year until you've learnt your tank and nitrate levels etc, then increase slowly as required. Then, hopefully, one will have enough experience to spot what's going on.

So.... as Captain Barbosa would say, "it's more of a guideline, really".