# how many aquariums are too many?



## bella221 (Apr 29, 2015)

I currently have 4 fish tanks. One 2.5 gal in my room, one 3.5 in my son's room, one 3.5 in my daughter's room and one 29 gal in the living room. 
All have bettas except the 29 gal.
I feel I have the perfect amount as they're all small tanks and taken care of very well. 
So, how many do you have? And where do you draw the line?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Breeders often have many, many times that number of tanks, as do some casual hobbyists. I personally am running 18 tanks at the moment with plans to set-up another two. These range in size from 2 gallons to 12 gallons. 

I don't think you really can draw the line, as every hobbyist is different. As long as you have the time and resources to care for your fish, I think you can have as many aquariums as you can make space for. Personally, the limiting factor here is space and electricity costs. Our power bills are ridiculous in Australia and I have to run heaters in all my tanks.


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## Warhawk (Feb 23, 2014)

The number of tanks will very widely depending on who you ask and what they are doing. Like Littlebettafish said breeders will have a lot of tanks but some might be 1 gallon for a single fish. Where others will have more community tanks that are larger but have multiple fish.

I currently have 13 tanks up and running ranging from 10g to 150g. This summer I will be setting up another 15-20 tanks(two 75, three 40, eight 10g and lots of 5g). I really enjoy working on my tanks and watching my fish so having more tanks means I have more fun.

What is my limiting factor is water. I have been doing water changes 3 times a week and my water bill is going up, I'm cutting back my water changes to once a week with the new tanks but should be using the same amount of water.


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## TerriGtoo (Jul 2, 2013)

bottom line: You have too many tanks when you find you can't keep up with the maintenance, and the fish begin to suffer for it. If you can keep up with regular maintenance...then it's not too many.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I'm at 6 betters (each with their own tank) (7g cube, 6g bow front, 5.5g standard, 2-3g bubble bowl 2g cookie jar, 2g lantern vase), 3 community tanks (12g long, 20g long, and standard 55g), and an emersed setup (growing aquatic plants above water with high humidity). I also have 2 less than 1g tanks, the first for marmio balls, the other for breeding pond snails (my husband's dwarf puffer loves them)... and a sump being used at a quarantine tank, along with 2 other occupied quarantine tanks.. so yet lotta tanks!
Still manage to keep up with it ok. Once a week water changes on betta and community tanks (planted tanks). Emersed set up and marimo tan are 0 effort, quarantines get more frequent water changes to reduce nitrates since they have no plants. The biggest pain for me is live food culture for the dwarf puffer, aside from snails he loves black worms which take daily water changes x.x I'm thinking of using one of the quarantines and a sponge filter to not have to wash them daily.


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

As long as you have time for maintanance and enjoy your fish, the more the merrier! I have two small tanks, and that's all I have room for. My computer room is the best room for fish, and that's where they are!


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## Tolak (Nov 13, 2012)

15 running ATM, lightly stocked. Wife had knee replacement 7 weeks ago, downsized slightly in anticipation of this. In a few months I'll be back up to 30 & a couple 150 gallon tubs, 1k gallons total.



TerriGtoo said:


> bottom line: You have too many tanks when you find you can't keep up with the maintenance, and the fish begin to suffer for it. If you can keep up with regular maintenance...then it's not too many.


There's a ton of tricks to ease the tank maintenance routine. Lots of hoses & pumps is the only way I'd ever keep up with what I do.


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## bsb (Feb 21, 2015)

we have 5 atm and i was happy with that 2npt 10 gallons, 30gallon saltwater,10 gallon tank for mavis(rose hair) and a 37 gallon npt. After seeing the black diamond sand, im itching to put a small tank in my room after vacation.


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## Kaxen (Mar 3, 2013)

I'm at 4 and think I ought to have 5 because 4 is bad luck for Chinese people. *any excuse is a good excuse* .....or maybe 6... On top of the ones I have already, I want to do a large 75g community tank and a 2.5 or 5g "decoden" aquarium.

But I do feel vaguely guilty using water on ornamental fish while California is having a drought, but I don't waste any water because all my fish poop water is spent watering the plants so I assume it evens out. The mint plant grows like weeds with fish poop water.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Kaxen said:


> I'm at 4 and think I ought to have 5 *because 4 is bad luck for Chinese people*. *any excuse is a good excuse* .....or maybe 6... On top of the ones I have already, I want to do a large 75g community tank and a 2.5 or 5g "decoden" aquarium.
> 
> But I do feel vaguely guilty using water on ornamental fish while California is having a drought, but I don't waste any water because all my fish poop water is spent watering the plants so I assume it evens out. The mint plant grows like weeds with fish poop water.


Anything under 10 is bad luck ^.~ better go get some more!!


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

The limit is space and time. If you have the space and the time, why not? I know people that have entire rooms dedicated only to tanks. I want a fish room, but realistically I won't be able to manage one unless I get a job closer to home, because I lose so much of my day to commuting.


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## Kaxen (Mar 3, 2013)

Aqua Aurora said:


> Anything under 10 is bad luck ^.~ better go get some more!!


Might as well round it to a nice 18.


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## amcoffeegirl (May 7, 2009)

I have 6 and I'm ok with this. I don't think I will add anymore. I have had 7 before and broke down 3 gave them away and 2 yrs later I'm right back here.
Biggest one is 46gallon.
Smallest is 5gallon.
3 bettas ATM 
I still have room for one more if I split my 10 gallon.


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## DangerousAngel (Mar 26, 2015)

I think the biggest thing with this is space, time, and ability. If you have the space for them, the time needed to care for them, and the ability to care for them then you're fine. Of course I'd LOVE more (saw a metalic Dragon Scale Double Tail at PetCo. today, was a a biter, but not bad) but unfortunately I don't have the space, and I'm not sure if I could keep up with the maintenance of 5 tanks, Unless it was a 2.5. And you know, I'm Ok with that. I love my 4 boys so very much and I love getting new things that they need. I got 2 new heaters for my 2.5 tanks today, as the 2 they have now have gone out.


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## Littlefin (Oct 18, 2014)

As much as you can handle. ^-^


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

I'm at 4 at the moment and that's about all I can handle with my work schedule. The two betta tanks are the easiest to maintain, I can do a water change and a gravel vacuum in less than 15 minutes. So if I pushed myself I _might_ be able to add one more tank. But that means with my fanatical water change schedule I would be changing water 7 days a week. 

I'm constantly planning new tanks in my head but I need to be realistic. I refuse to jeopardize the health of my existing fish by taking on more than I can handle at the moment.


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## bella221 (Apr 29, 2015)

Lol thanks for all the replies. I was beginning to feel like I had too many, but now that I see some of you have more than me I feel like I should go save another one lol


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