How many is too many?

[Word up]

I heard rule of thumb is 3 gallons per inch of fish. Is this conservative or aggressive?

 

[TriGa22]

Bad rule of thumb because that means you can put a 10" fish in a 30 gallon...

 

[DoubleM 10]

Sorry to say but their is not real rule.

All fish have different swimming habits and waste amounts witch equates to certain size tanks.

Best thing to do is post here what fish u want and all your tank specs and the folks here will help you pick out fish that work and what you want/enjoy.

Hth

 

[albano]

I heard rule of thumb is 3 gallons per inch of fish. Is this conservative or aggressive?

it's useless!...'old wives tale'

 

[Word up]

180gallon with small emperor, large blue angel, small star & strip puffer, medium Australian tusk, small purple tang & yellow, medium zebra sailfin tang, juvenile dragon wrasse, small maroon clown, sleeper gobi, three pj cardinals

 

[geaux xman]

I probably wouldnt add anymore big fish. That emp might give you problems as it get bigger. Mine is ~5.5"(changing) and has kept on chasing and trying to bite several other angels. He's now in my sump waiting to get rehomed.

 

[sandwi54]

the inch per gallon thing does not work in marine tanks. what determines how much stocking you can have is bio-load + fish compatibility.

That being said, your tank already has too many fish, actually, twice as many as I would recommend. Out of your list, the emperor angel, blue angel, start & stripe puffer, and salfin tang will outgrow your tank. You will also likely have aggression issues once the emperor and blue angels grow up a bit.

For a 180g, I would say keep the number of "large" fish to no more than 4.