Adding 10 new fish at once

[FelipeBastos]

I have a65G display with a 10G sump and a 30G well established refugium. Lots of macros there, pods all over the glass.

The main tank has lots of corals, a wide variety of zoas, Xenia, one small leather, some shrooms, and multiple SPS, some quite large.

I have 3 Firefish in there, along with a mated pair of ocellaris, a Fridmani, a Candy Hogfish Wrasse, a YWG, and the mandarin tin the fuge.

Water parameters have been great so far. I run some carbon, changed monthly, and a skimmer ( SeaClone, so nothing special)

Here's the actual question: I want to add 10 new fish:
Red parrot fairy wrasse
Common cleaner wrase
Bluehead wrasse
2 pink skunk clowns
Another spotted mandarin in the fuge, plus 2 pipefish
2 clown gobies

Is this a bad idea? How so?
Are the fish above compatible with what I have now?

Please flame away. I can take it.

Ciao,

Felipe

 

[Sk8r]

My worry would be the sudden increase in bioload. You're doubling your fishload, and you are not giving notice to your bacteria that you need twice as many of them. I would worry about a mini-cycle. Get them, put them in quarantine, but slip them into the main tank at the rate of two at a time, over a period of two weeks.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

My worry would be the sudden increase in bioload

honestly, i'd be more worried about the number of fish! 19 fish in a 65g tank???!! thats just way too much, srry. But what sk8er said...that many fish being added at once would make a spike for sure.

Also...i dont really see how a single 65 gallon tank can support 2 manderins...and i believe the pipefish are somewhat similar as far as their need of pods..could be wrong on that one tho.

 

[ambaratur]

That would be way too much bio load for that tank as others have mentioned.

I also do not think it is a good idea to mix species of clownfish like that.

 

[Freed]

Throw 'em all in at once and don't even blink an eye at the ich that will surely pop up from not QT'ing anything. They will surely die from too high a bioload or from the ich. It's your call though.

 

[avshockey311]

I agree on the clowns. Also the pipe fish are not very aggresive eaters so the chances of them getting the food they need with all those other fish in there are probably pretty slim IMO.

 

[neotekz]

why do u want to add all 10 at once? 20 fish in an tank that size is not only a very high bioload but it;s going to look really crowded. wrasse, gobies and clowns all can be very agressive to their own species. that many fish in a tank that small your going to have problems for sure.

 

[FelipeBastos]

The refugium where the mandarins and pipefish would go is blooming with life, so food for those animalsis not a concern.

My current mandarin also eats frozen.

The total system volume is close to 100G.

Most of the new fish would be very small such as cleaner wrasse and 2 clown gobies so that is why i thought I'd ask first.

My next question, then is: why is too large a bioload a problem, provided the bacteria has time to catch up? Too much waste? Wouldn't that get taken care of by the refugiu, deep sand bed on both tanks, and skimmer?

Compatibility would also be a worry, as I am unsure about some of those, especially the blue head wrasse.

Keep on flaming on,

Felipe

 

[neotekz]

having a display with 100g is not the same as having tank and refuge being 100g. there might be a lot of pods in the refuge now but throw in a few fish that only eat pods your going to have a problem. your pod population won't be able to reproduce fast enough for your mandarins.

 

[FelipeBastos]

About the clowns, I have seen it done, that's why I thought about doing it. I really like the look of multiple mated pairs in a reef tank.

The pipefish and mandain would be ok feeding wise as they would be in their own tank- the refugium. It is a 30G tank with loads of macroalgae, multiple species.

The display would have a total of 15 fish, the refugium would have 4.

I guess general consensus is I should rethink some of these fish.

 

[FelipeBastos]

Since adding the mandarin a month ago, my pop population has remained tehe same, and the mandarin is MUCH fatter now.

He also eats live brine, and is slowly taking in frozen.

Felipe

 

[kass03]

Honestly I thought this was a joke at first lol. It looks like one of those April fools jokes RC has.

Have you seen mixed species of clowns long term in a 65 gal though? I think they would fight if not at first then later on. Maybe in a big 6 ft or longer tank they might be ok.

I also doubt about 2 mandarins in the fuge even though it's a 30 gal. much less 2 pipefish adding to eating the pods.

Also I dunno alot about wrasse but I thought they fought also. It prolly depends on the species.
Again wrasse eat alot of pods to so your gonna have a tank full of pod eating fish that will deplete them.
I do know that cleaner wrasse rarely live longer than 6 months in an aquarium.

I'm not trying to be harsh, at least you asked and you'll do what you want anyway but if it were me I would'nt even put half those fish together.

kass

 

[sir_dudeguy]

clowns will be fine WHILE THEY'RE YOUNG. Once they mature and a couple turn to female, you're going to have huge problems...everyone has pretty much piped in quite enough for someone to reconsider what they're doing imo...so i'll leave it at that.

 

[FelipeBastos]

Thanks everyone for chiming in, I will be reconsidering adding those fish in.

I appreciate the feedback!

Ciao,

Felipe

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Leave out the second mandarin and the pipefish. One months is nothing in terms of success. All those pods in your fuge you will need later on to feed your current mandarin (I know, I have a mandarin in a 75g with a 30g fuge). If you add the mandarin and pipefish, you will not have enough food for any of them.

 

[FelipeBastos]

Lobster,

If I do leave those 3 out, will the rest be ok: 2 clown golies, and 3 more wrasses, one being very tiny, others small: red parrot, bluehead, and common cleaner wrasse.

Thanks ,

Felipe

 

[sir_dudeguy]

imo no..you've already got 9 fish in there and thats a lot to be honest. This isnt like freshwter where you can put more fish into a small area. For a 65g, you're pretty much fully stocked imo.

 

[SeaMac2]

I'm also not too sure how well 4 wrasses will get along in a 65g tank...someone else can comment more on their temperaments I'm sure.

Also, although I've never personally tried, please reconsider on the cleaner wrasse...we have a pretty dismal record of keeping them alive in home aquaria.

Chris

 

[Myrphie]

I'm also concerned about the clowns mixing well and I also suspect you might have trouble with the wrasses.

Also, you said:

why is too large a bioload a problem, provided the bacteria has time to catch up?

First, if a bioload is too large then, by definition, it's beyond what the tank can reasonably accomodate.

Second, if you put 10 fish into this tank at once the bacteria won't have time to catch up as the ammonia will spike and you'll have sick and dying fish long before the bacteria can do their thing.

Just food for thought.

 

[FelipeBastos]

How can I know what my tank will be able to sustain at its max. capacity.

Sounds like something I don't want to use the trial-n-error method to figure out.

As per the prvious posts, if I get rid of the second mandarin, and both pipefish, I am only left with 2 small wrasses, 1 tiny wrasse, and 2 clown bogies, which doesn't sounds like a hecka of a lot to add at once, providing I quarentine them properly for a couple fo weeks.

Felipe