restaraunts overstock tanks?

[Chris24]

hey all, not so a much a question just a comment i guess.
i went to a fancy restaraunt and they had some beautiful tanks, one thing i noticed though is they seemed incredibly overstocked. like maybe 20g tanks, and they had what seemed like 20-30 fish in them, and not tiny little tetras, but fish that seemed 3-4 inches with some meat on them. anyone else notice this? how do they keep these fish alive and looking healthy when they are so pack in there?

[sergo]

my guess would be big time filtration and a big time bill from a lfs to maintain it.

[crackatinny]

One of our local chinese resturants has a tank no bigger than 20G with a full grown red devil in it, I feel sorry for the poor guy every time I go in there.

[Fishguy2727]

Sometimes there are sumps out of sight that greatly increase volume while keeping the fish in a smaller, more visible area.

[gm72]

Sumps I hope. More likely though that they are just overstocking the heck out of the tanks and are paying through the nose to some LFS to maintain them. I think Sergo has it right.

You can overstock an aquarium significantly given proper filtration and maintenance schedules. We try to shy away from such advice as overstocking is best left to those with a lot of experience.

[cocoa_pleco]

at west edmonton mall, one of the chinese fast food places in the food court has a 40g high with about 8 koi. theyre still alive

[Sasquatch]

Well, around here things seem to be a little better.

We have a restaurant near our workplace that must have something like 8-10 50gal tanks. Each has a handfull of african cichlids in it. I had lunch next to one the other day, two adults and two juveniles, in a 50 gal long tank.

The decor is a tragedy (very art-deco with artificial plants and chunks of blue glass), but the fish are healthy and have plenty of room.

[Chris24]

whats a sump?

[Sasquatch]

whats a sump?

It's kinda of a reserve tank below the display tank where all the filtration takes place.

For example, you have a 50gal tank with a bunch of fish in it, but all the filtration, aeration and other stuff you want to happen to the water takes places un a 20gal tank below. The sump is usually hidden in a cabinet or something.

Sumps are either used to hid all the machinery associated with keeping fish (filters, heaters, aerators etc.......) and/or to augment the volume of water. In the case above, you can have fish that should be in a 100gal tank, in a 50gal with a 50 gal sump, restaurants also often use sumps to keel the look clean.

[Drumachine09]

Sumps are no replacement for a larger tank. You couldnt keep a fish that should be in a 100 in a 50 even if you hade a 100000 gallon sump.

[Fishguy2727]

More correctly, you can keep 100 gallons worth of fish in a 50 if you had a 50 gallon sump. This also assumes that the fish themselves would be fine in a 50, except that due to a higher stocking level they should be in a 100. Not that a fish that needs a larger tank can go in a smaller tank as long as there is some more water in the system somewhere, just that chemically you need more water due to a higher stocking level.

Sumps are usually used as a catch for drip biological media, as said a place for equipment so that the only thing visible in the tank is the surface skimmer and output for the sump is visible. Sumps are also used for multi-tank systems. At my work we have 5 working systems. The tanks drain into a big PVC pipe that dumps into a 90 gallon plastic sump/reservoir. From there the water goes into the pump and goes through the filtration and back into the system via a distributio pipe above the tanks.

Theoretically you could have a bunch of tanks in a restaurant hooked together and all connected to a massive 1,000 gallon sump/reservoir in a back room. This way the tanks themselves are highly stocked with no (chemical) stress on the fish.

[Drumachine09]

More correctly, you can keep 100 gallons worth of fish in a 50 if you had a 50 gallon sump. This also assumes that the fish themselves would be fine in a 50, except that due to a higher stocking level they should be in a 100. Not that a fish that needs a larger tank can go in a smaller tank as long as there is some more water in the system somewhere, just that chemically you need more water due to a higher stocking level.

Sumps are usually used as a catch for drip biological media, as said a place for equipment so that the only thing visible in the tank is the surface skimmer and output for the sump is visible. Sumps are also used for multi-tank systems. At my work we have 5 working systems. The tanks drain into a big PVC pipe that dumps into a 90 gallon plastic sump/reservoir. From there the water goes into the pump and goes through the filtration and back into the system via a distributio pipe above the tanks.

Theoretically you could have a bunch of tanks in a restaurant hooked together and all connected to a massive 1,000 gallon sump/reservoir in a back room. This way the tanks themselves are highly stocked with no (chemical) stress on the fish.


I can see how that would be helpful, and it is a good idea. But what if you get a bad batch of fish, and one gets TB. Since they are essentially sharing the same water, wouldnt that be a high risk for the other tanks?

[Sasquatch]

The density within the display tank can cause problems, but in my post I was talking about the amount of water to support the bioload. You also have to make the effort to pick fish that are compatible with each other and with the display tank.

It's obvious that with the high density of fish, aggression and disease can be a large problem. Sumps won't do anything to solve these problems.

[SkarloeysMom]

I can see how that would be helpful, and it is a good idea. But what if you get a bad batch of fish, and one gets TB. Since they are essentially sharing the same water, wouldnt that be a high risk for the other tanks?

I've always wondered about this at PetSmart. All their tanks are linked together and share water. Seems like a very good way to spread TB or any other disease. So I guess that's why quarentining new fish is a good idea.

[Fishguy2727]

Disease transmission is a little riskier with a system rather than individual tanks. However, there are ways to reduce this. One is to isolate a tank when you see a sick fish. Obviously it could have already spread, but it does greatly reduce the risk of spreading the disease. You can also have a high wattage, low flow UV sterilizer that can kill off many pathogens before they even get to a second tank.

One important thing to realize though is that stress is usually required for a fish to get sick. This is not so with every disease, but in general fish won't get sick if they are not stressed. I see this all the time. One fish will break out with ick or some other diease, yet not a single other fish in the tank has any issue. Obviously the disease is there, yet only one fish gets sick. This proves that it is not the disease being in the tank that causes disease, but the stress on the animal that opens them up to whatever happens to be in the water. I don't have an issue going to places like Petsmart, looking at the fish and picking one out that I am confident I will not have any issues with.

One thing about the systems though is that they are very stable. They are large, mature, and ready for a varying bioload. This allows higher water quality and stability that can help reduce stress that could cause illness. Single tanks used to sell fish are much more variable and can cause stress that may not lead to illness until the fish is at home.

[falcon]

maybe the fish are on the menu have you ever thought of that

[Chris24]

um...it was a sushi restaurant, sir...

i just eat the stuff with the crab meat, none of the other exotic things...if however my girlfriend ate any relatives of any of your pets, i am truly sorry...


hehehehe

[Drumachine09]

um...it was a sushi restaurant, sir...

i just eat the stuff with the crab meat, none of the other exotic things...if however my girlfriend ate any relatives of any of your pets, i am truly sorry...


hehehehe


Ever had puffer? Its mighty good.