How many fish can a 210g hold

[tmcotton]

We have the following fish in our 210g tank and it is doing really well. We have good readings on our water bi-weekly, but wonder if we can continue to add fish...there are really only about 2 or 3 more that we really want, but we can hold off if we should. We have had this tank set up for a year and we haven't lost any in a LONG time...we have been adding for a while, as we find what we like. Is this too many? Can we do more?

Purple Tang
Yellow Tang
Scopas Tang
Porcupine Puffer
Dogface Puffer
LARGE Clown Trigger
Hawaiian Trigger
Niger Trigger
Humu Trigger
Starry Trigger
Undulated Trigger
Blue Line Trigger
Clown Grouper
Panther Grouper
Miniatus Grouper
Blue Spot Grouper
Harlequin Tusk
Magnificent Foxface
Green Wolf Eel
Snowflake Eel
2 Clarkii Clowns
Black Volitan Lion
Red Volitan Lion

 

[mikem101]

WOW that's an impressive line up! IMHO your already fully stocked especially when they are all full grown! your going to get both opinions here because there are some that are more conservative and some not so much! I'm for sure on the conservative end of stocking a tank, I think we should give these guys as much room as possible. That being said the size of your tank doesn't really matter when your talking over 200 gallons, water volume isn't going to kill many fish its equipment and keeping your water clean with that many fish. So if you have a good skimmer, and filtration you wont kill any fish. Ultimately it's your call on weather you think all those guys in there together full grown is a good idea. I will say a good buddy of mine owns a local LFS and they have less then your current stock on a 340 gallon but, all his are full show size fish. Hope this helps!

 

[ericarenee]

my thinking is half of those need to be removed.. that is a lot of fish that are going to get big.. not to mention the aggression you must have in that tank.

Curious to what filtration you have on that tank..

 

[mikem101]

my thinking is half of those need to be removed.. that is a lot of fish that are going to get big.. not to mention the aggression you must have in that tank.

Curious to what filtration you have on that tank..

^^^^^ +1
My general rule has been 1" of fish for about every 5 gallons of water, but like I said I'm pretty conservative!

 

[NewOne81]

Impressive stocking list. I can honestly say that I have a tank slightly bigger and have a hard time imaging that many fish in it, especially ones that grow as large as those. For what it's worth a tank being setup for a year and not losing anything within that measure for a "LONG" time are contradictory in my opinion. I would hold off as well if you intend to keep any of these fish long term. To each their own, all the best!

 

[lagatbezan]

I would agree with the others that you are beyond the max with all those aggressive fish, Specially the clown trigger. They are ticking time bombs and it's a matter of time before it snaps and goes after your other fish one by one specially the clowns.

 

[billdogg]

I have to agree 1000% with the above posters.

Please don't take this wrong, but you are hopelessly overstocked with a mix of very aggressive fish. I, too, am quite interested in what you are using for filtration - both mechanical and biological, and what your actual water parameters are. I'm guessing that your nitrate level isn't even measurable it's so high. I kept just one 4' moray in a 150DT with 120g refugium and 50g sump (so ~300g T.V.) and until I made the 120 into a 6-8" DSB, the nitrates were untestable, even with biweekly 100g water changes.

You have to be in a similar situation with all the big, and very messy, eaters you have.

More info please? and Pictures! We like PICTURES!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Tank size, filtration, and nutrient export are poor methods to determine stocking volume. I have a heavier fish load in the biological sense in my 24g nano than I've had in systems 5 times as big. I mean this in the literal sense in terms of biomass of fish. If you extrapolated my biological load to your tank size, that many fish in those sizes wouldn't be a stretch.

However, I would argue that bioload is a poor measure. The better yardstick is aggression and behavior. We all know you're not supposed to put tangs in tiny tanks. Similarly, you can't usually mix fish with the same behavioral patterns or niche unless they're well known to be compatible. This is hard to put in a rule of thumb and takes a fair amount of research and learning, but IME it is a much more meaningful way to stock a tank.

I guess what I mean is this. You can overcome a biological loading issue with better nutrient export and careful feeding. It's not an issue if you know what you are doing. On the other hand, if you put fish in who just have it out for each other, there's literally nothing you can do except wait for one of them to die or remove one or both. And neither of those options are much fun.

 

[Valentini89]

I believe that is too many fish.. but were I in his shoes I might have done the same thing. Many ppl would think I am overstocked having a 26g and a pair of clowns, two Toby puffers, an anthia, 1 firefish, and 2 gobies. I say to each his/her own.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I say to each his/her own.

I would agree, as long as you're not doing things that clearly are known to not be a good idea, such as stuffing a ton of aggressive fish in to the same tank (like the OP is proposing), regardless of size. At that point IMHO it becomes a matter of responsibility and the "I can do what I want" aspect goes out the window. I don't see a problem with your stock list in terms of aggression, and if you have the nutrient export and feeding in place then you're close to being a good case for what I was talking about (I bet most would argue that the anthias is probably not very happy in a tank that small, depending on what species it is). But since I didn't really clearly state this above, let me say it now: I agree with everyone above who said that the OP's stock list is a very bad idea.

 

[GQsmooth]

I would agree, as long as you're not doing things that clearly are known to not be a good idea, such as stuffing a ton of aggressive fish in to the same tank (like the OP is proposing), regardless of size. At that point IMHO it becomes a matter of responsibility and the "I can do what I want" aspect goes out the window. I don't see a problem with your stock list in terms of aggression, and if you have the nutrient export and feeding in place then you're close to being a good case for what I was talking about (I bet most would argue that the anthias is probably not very happy in a tank that small, depending on what species it is). But since I didn't really clearly state this above, let me say it now: I agree with everyone above who said that the OP's stock list is a very bad idea.

This isn't a proposal, he said he already had the fish for a year. It's very sad to see stuff like this, when there's a wealth of information available to people at their finger tips, but somehow people are still uneducated and make retarded decisions.

 

[ca1ore]

Quick back of the envelope ..... Figure you've got about 200 gallons of fish and 10 gallons of water ...... Probably about maxed out.

 

[tmcotton]

Here are some pics. I will send my specs on what I'm running and a link to a video soon.

 

[tmcotton]

 

[tmcotton]

Summary

Summary

This is a summary on my setup. Some of you were asking:

Pushing 2 Sicce Syncra 5 pumps
Turbo twist UV sterilizer - 36 watt (enough for 500 gallons)
200 lbs. live rock/180 lbs. live sand
Gyre 250 wave maker pump package (the fish love this)
Octo Classic 200 skimmer
40 gallon Trigger Systems Ruby Sump
3 sets of Hydra26 HD lights
Rock formation is set up in the middle of the tank to allow swimming in the front and back. This reduces aggression.
Running a fan over the sump to promote 2 gallons of evaporation a day. I top this off daily to give the tank approximately 60 gallons of new water per month in addition to the two water changes I do per month.
Algae farm set up in the refugium

 

[mikem101]

This is a summary on my setup. Some of you were asking:



Pushing 2 Sicce Syncra 5 pumps

Turbo twist UV sterilizer - 36 watt (enough for 500 gallons)

200 lbs. live rock/180 lbs. live sand

Gyre 250 wave maker pump package (the fish love this)

Octo Classic 200 skimmer

40 gallon Trigger Systems Ruby Sump

3 sets of Hydra26 HD lights

Rock formation is set up in the middle of the tank to allow swimming in the front and back. This reduces aggression.

Running a fan over the sump to promote 2 gallons of evaporation a day. I top this off daily to give the tank approximately 60 gallons of new water per month in addition to the two water changes I do per month.

Algae farm set up in the refugium

So again all my opinion and I really don't want to come off like a jerk just trying to help out to keep all those fish alive! I would defiantly add WAY more flow. Granted it's not required for them to live but, it helps them tremendously giving them something to swim against. With that amount of bio load I would definitely get a much larger skimmer something in the 350 gallon range. Everything else seems ok but I would for sure not get any more fish!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[on the spot]

...I top this off daily to give the tank approximately 60 gallons of new water per month...

Evaporation doesn't export anything.


What I'm not understanding is why after 24 rather large fish you now feel compelled to wonder if 2 or 3 more is over the top.

Best of luck.