Determining How Many Saltwater Fish Will Fit In Your Aquarium
If you have recently purchased a new salt water fish aquarium, you will need to determine just how many exotic salt water fish will comfortably fit. The saltwater fish must have enough room to swim around without barging into their neighbors' territory all the time. This is not a matter of fish turf wars, although the fish might become hostile; it is really a matter of supplying enough oxygen for all the saltwater fish to survive.
The size of the salt water fishaquarium is an important factor, but the shape and proportions of the aquarium are perhaps even more important. You will always be able to fit more beautiful and exotic salt water fish into a long, shallow tank than a short, deep tank. Even if both tanks have the same amount of water, the longer and shallower tank will always provide easier access to oxygen.
In order to determine the capacity of your salt water fish aquarium, you should start by multiplying the length by the depth to determine the water surface. Then you must determine how many saltwater fish you can fit in that space, which is one inch of fish for every 48 inches. To calculate the number of inches of your exotic salt water fish, measure from the mouth to the start of the tail, and don't forget that the fish you see in the shops are normally not fully grown, so allow for extra room.