Livestock Plan, Max Levels, Inverts

[Sour137]

Alright complex question. My tank has been up for five months now, with livestock for one month. Initially I stocked a banded sleeper goby, 3 peppermint shrimp, two emerald crabs, and 12 snails of 3 different types. I just added 4 Banggai cardinals and a small sps frag my lfs had in a daily discount. So far everybody seems healthy. Still too soon to say on the coral. My tank is a 75g with a ~30-35 gallon hand built sump. I came up with a livestock plan going forward. In the future I want to add 4 black and white chromis, a red mandarin, and six clownfish. The rule of thumb I have read about is that I should limit myself to 1 inch per five gallons. Live aqauria lists it 1/2 inch per gallon. Currently im sitting at 18 inches and the next addition will be the black and white chromis which will bring it up to 30 inches and I'll probably do it next month. Currently Im growing chaeto well, and I have a bunch of ceramic bioplates adding to the liverock. My question is this: is the 1inch per 5 gallons as conservative as i have read and the half per gallon considered an upper limit if all the factors are good. With my livestock plan maxing out at 50 inches I would plan on phasing in new additions every 3 months after the chromis. Is this a safe plan? Is my goal realistic?

Additionally do corals, inverts such as the snails and shrimp, add to the inch count?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kremis]

honestly IME there is no definite "rule" in saltwater. for example, in my 28 gallon tank I have 2 garden eels both well over 1 foot. Probably around 30 inches combined, added to some other fish i have its about 40 inches of fish in a 28 gallon tank. See? Does not really make sense. It is more of the fish's behavior, compatibility with other fish, feeding habits, etc.
The rule i live by is, does the tank look overstocked? Does it look like the fish are too cramped? For example, in my 28 gallon it does not look like that. All my fish are sand/rock dwellers, so there is literally nothing in the water column. the garden eels do not move and the tank generally looks empty. I believe that I can put at least 2 more small fish into the tank. However, in your siutation almost always a group of bangai cardinals almost never work. They generally kill eachother off, or 2 form a pair and kill the rest. same thing with chromis, just no pair thing. However, in my opinion that stock list is more than reasonable if you do decide to attempt the groups. the clownfish should be ok. Snails, shrimp and the like do not really count. you can basically add as many as your system can sustain. for example, if your tank has no algae do not add 50 snails or urchins. Corals, its how much space you have to put more in your tank as long as you keep your levels consistant.
Keep in mind, though, that your filtration needs to be able to handle the amount of fish / bioload in the tank.
If I were you, and I had a good filtration system, I would add maybe a few gobies, a dwarf angel, some wrasses, some smaller fish like firefish or royal grammas and maybe a pair of clowns

 

[Sk8r]

Every fish not in a pair needs to be able to get out of sight out of mind of other fishes, or there may be fusses or stress. That's one way to look at it. Due to the pod problem, your mandy will have to be small, single, and propped up with a MATURE 20 gallon fuge producing pods.

 

[marleesan]

The chromis will eventually become one. The clowns will become one pair eventually