I got an old book on brackish aquariums from the 70s. Originally I was going to pick up a fairly new book on brackish stuff called Brackish-Water Fishes, but I got to check it out in my local BN and, it was really weird. Not in a good way weird either. I flipped it open and there was a big photo spread of discus, with a little note at the bottom, not for brackish water. Really? Why's it in a brackish book then?

Anyway I found a book that I do actually like. It's out of print, but pretty easily findable used. It's actually called Brackish Aquariums (go figure right), and most of what I've read so far is good, however I was sort of surprised at the stocking suggestions for tanks.

For a 100g tank: 20 Monos (any variety), an archer, 6 Scats, 12 bumblebee gobies, 6 puffers, 8 rainbows and 6 orange chromides.

With two emperor 400s and a Rena xp4 AqAdvisor near shits itself in bright red warning fonty goodness. So I started poking through my other old ('85 and older) fishy books and most of the stocking recommendations back then were insane.

I can't figure out why that is. I have some gear from back then, it's not that good. I can't imagine that many fish in a 100 with a few old school Whispers hanging off it. Fishkeeping must have been a pretty profitable hobby for fish stores back then.

That is rediculous, no wonder the inch per gallon rule has been so popular for so many years. Of course you got to remember there was no good ole internet then so there was no where to compare information besides books, friends and hearsay.

You'd think there would be some major die off though from all that stock, or fighting that someone who's writing a book on it would have noticed.

Only other thing I can think of is that fish were that much harder to find back then, so if/when you do you buy a crapton of them and just wait for the eventual overstocking die-off and the tank stabilizes.

I don't know, or maybe fish were bred with stronger genes and could withstand more abuse....another theory. But then again I agree with your theory of the author.

Well, you guys overstock the hell out of Africans, can they just take it better, or since they're overstocked do you need to step up on the maintenance?

Maybe people were just hardcore and did daily water changes back then?

Well one of the long standing rules to successful fish keeping is clean water. I am sure if you kept the water clean enough and fed a good diet with adequate filtration you could keep just about anything alive. The real question is were those fish thriving or surviving?

That, I don't know the answer too, and I'd sooner rather see if I could keep Cons long term in brackish conditions than that kind of stress test.

I truthfully think that back then fish were probably thought of more as a throw away pet. People probably didn't realize how long fish could live if you actually took care of them properly. Heck...too many people still think that way now.

I sort of expect that from the average keepers, but I guess I thought that actual authors would care a bit more about their subjects..

True. There are newer books out there though that still suggest overstocking of tanks. Not intentionally I'm sure.

The biggest part of overstocking is the water change regimen. I could have a tank which most would consider overstocked yet if I committed myself to daily water changes or an automatic water change system the nitrate level would be kept in check. The same tank under a persons care who only likes to change water once a month would be severely overstocked. It is all relative IMO. This is only true if all inhabitants of the tank are compatable. Incompatability between fish is a whole other type of overstocked.

Then and still today there is the major misconception of what and how many fish can be kept in "x" sized tank

Some say and go with the inch per gallon, while Others go with an inch per sq in of surface area.

What I do find alot of today with those just starting out without doing the research is that they use the current size of the fish and not what the fish will be

They dont take into the consideration of the amount of waste said "fish" will produce and the effect on the filtration system.

and have seen more times then I even care to mention that buy the so called complete setups and within like an hour of setting it up have dumped sometimes even more then the maximum amount of fish that should be in there even at baby size