Minimally stocked tanks

[KafudaFish]

Looking around the different forums there seems to be a club or group for just about every aspect of the hobby: DSB, BB, minimal aquascapes, cubes and shallow reef just to name a few. Lately there has been discussion on the direction the hobby is going and one of those trends seems to be a kid in the candy store way of stocking. There is nothing wrong with it of course. This is a hobby and it should bring joy to the person. But I am curious to the other side of stocking.

I am curious to see and read about others who have gone a different direction. I would like to see tanks that are minimally stocked. I would like to hear why a reefer went that direction and any positives or negatives associated with this stocking philosophy.

To me one of the most interesting tanks that seems to fit in this group is Cward's October 2006 TOTM:

So if you think your tank fits in this group please post. Thank you.

 

[Noobeef]

I will say this, I like having a lightly stocked tank because, at the end of the day, it is waaaay easier to keep clean. I have a standard 120 gallon and all I have in there is a tomato clown, yellow tail damsel, flame hawk, and firefish. Now, I do plan on adding at least 3-4 more fish, but that would still be an extremely low bioload for a tank that size. Also, the more fish there are, the more fighting opportunities present themselves.

 

[Alex T.]

I understand what you're saying, but quite honestly I think it can be attributed to the patience component of the hobby. For example, having a six foot tank and stocking it with an SPS frag every foot or so and then waiting for them to rival coral sizes in the wild takes extreme patience and time. Even with growth of 4 inches per branching tip per year, it could take 10 years before the tank approached a grown in look. Additionally, many report higher mortality rates of certain SPS corals when they grow too large/thick to receive the proper flow and nutrients. Lighting a larger coral can also become a challenge as it starts to shadow a mature large coral beneath it or its own lower branches for that matter. Many of us simply want to see a larger diversity of life, shapes and colors in that same footprint. Even with fish, sometimes many get carried away and want to see how many fish they can keep in a glass box. I feel that as long as one can feed the fish they have properly and responsibly stock species that are meant for their size tank and don't constantly fight, it's ok. I do however know a few locals who have an ungodly amount of fish with seriously compromised water quality.

It's just like people who collect classic cars. How many have just one? My neighbor collects vintage corvettes and has 9 on his property with a temperature controlled detached garage with lifts to accommodate more cars in a smaller footprint.

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

I like haveing a lightly stock tank to keep the amount of waste down.I have a 240 8'x2'x2 and only have the following fish.
1 pair of occ clowns
1 pair of bangai cardinals
1 yellow tang
1 blue hippo
1 coral beauty
1 springeri basslet

 

[dzfish17]

I agree that a lightly stocked tank is just alot easier to maintain. In my 600g tank I plan on having 15-20 small to medium size fish with a few large tangs (yellow, purple, sailfin). Im at a point in my life where I dont want to deal with alot of maintenance.

Dave

 

[KafudaFish]

So is it a matter of ease vs. things down the road like what Alex T. was discussing?

 

[lilalove]

In my 180 right now I have a pair of black occellaris, a canary wrasse, a melanurus wrasse, a sunburst anthias, a blotched hawkfish, and a tailspot blenny. Even for these guys, the tank seems to look small. I do plan on adding a couple more fish, but no large fish. I think a few small fish in a big tank can look quite stunning. Plus my clowns are a bit ornery, I don't know how they'll like new inhabitants just yet.

 

[greech]

Great thread. I have what I consider to be a lightly stocked tank. It is only a 40B so it's hard not to have it looked crowded. My corals are still fairly small but they have grown quite a bit and my intentions are to only add a few more pieces and just allow them to grow into larger colonios to fill in the tank.

As far as fish I only have 2 B/W clowns and don't have any intentions of adding more.

I did have a bunch of frags at one point stuck on the rocks and on the sand but I just felt it looked cluttered. Your candy store reference is about right for how I felt. I love corals but I just don;t get as excited about them as when I started and I don't feel like I have to have a frag of whatever my LFS gets in.

I can't say I see a differece in maintenance on the tank now that I have reduced the number of corals but since many of mine are/were smaller frags, maybe that makes a difference.

Sorry for the poor quality photos:

 

[jasonrp104]

45 gallon with 2 maroon clowns and a scooter dragonette



I went light for because I wanted it to be a species tank, the clowns are very territorial, and the fish size relative to tank size didn't allow for much. If I could do it again, I would've gone with a group of redspots or similar sized fish because they look a bit more natural (to me) in such a small tank.

 

[wynford]

I have a 75 gal with 1 clown, 1 yellow tang, and 1 dragon Goby.

 

[Johnny C]

I really like "minimalistic" style aquascapes for a number of reasons. The main reason why I'm a fan is because I think less-is-more, and that a tank with 8 colonys will stand out much more than the same tank with 30 frags; it makes for a much more dramatic display. Additionally, having a minimal amount of live rock (versus the fruit-stand rock stack) will help to increase flow between the rocks and keep detritus suspended in an effort to be filtered out.

Not long ago it was believed that the most ideal way to keep a reef aquarium is to use at least 1/lb.+ of LR per gallon. Now people are finding out that reef aquariums can prosper with little or no live rock and this is inspiring people to push the limit. JMO!

 

[afernandez]

I really like "minimalistic" style aquascapes for a number of reasons. The main reason why I'm a fan is because I think less-is-more, and that a tank with 8 colonys will stand out much more than the same tank with 30 frags; it makes for a much more dramatic display. Additionally, having a minimal amount of live rock (versus the fruit-stand rock stack) will help to increase flow between the rocks and keep detritus suspended in an effort to be filtered out.

Not long ago it was believed that the most ideal way to keep a reef aquarium is to use at least 1/lb.+ of LR per gallon. Now people are finding out that reef aquariums can prosper with little or no live rock and this is inspiring people to push the limit. JMO!

he read my mind lol :lolspin: & i hate looking at tanks with 1,000 frag plugs epoxy or glued on the rock.. its not a natural look makes me want to say "well you might aswell buy the fake coral"

 

[Kairi]

I like the less is more look as well. It just looks cleaner and more natural. In the ocean all you see is huge colonies. The reason we keep these tanks is to replicate the ocean our living room, why clutter it up with 1000 little frags leaving no room to grow?

 

[zigzag1]

Would 7 fish in a 125 be lightly stocked?

1 yellow tang
1 regal tang
1 false perc clown
1 true perc clown (mated pair with false perc)
1 Flame angel
1 6-line wrasse
1 green Mandrin (newest fish - added at 5ys up)

 

[84chris]

I agree that a lightly stocked tank is just alot easier to maintain. In my 600g tank I plan on having 15-20 small to medium size fish with a few large tangs (yellow, purple, sailfin). Im at a point in my life where I dont want to deal with alot of maintenance.

Dave

Ha, 600 gallons and not alot of maintenance!

 

[xtm]

I'm a HUGE fan of low bioload systems. My 120g (200g total water volume) has only 4 small fishes: Purple tang, 2 clowns, and a yellow coris. Couple that with a weekly water change and you get a super clean natural reef. With that low bioload, the system is much more forgiving when it comes to exporting waste byproducts. Here's my tank:

 

[cloak]

Those snails look like they're starving...

Beautiful tank. :thumbsup:

 

[kmu]

I'm a HUGE fan of low bioload systems. My 120g (200g total water volume) has only 4 small fishes: Purple tang, 2 clowns, and a yellow coris. Couple that with a weekly water change and you get a super clean natural reef. With that low bioload, the system is much more forgiving when it comes to exporting waste byproducts. Here's my tank:

Very nice... when those corals grow more it will look fantastic, really like the colors...

 

[dzfish17]

Ha, 600 gallons and not alot of maintenance!

I know what it looks like but I have everything automated and the tank is inwall so I only have to clean the front pane. The idea is to really understock the tank so that there will be less waterchanges. My 210 reef was alot more work than any FO tank that Ive had. The more water you have the easier it is to keep parameters in place.

Dave

 

[scottmccray]

I think that with minimal aqua scaping, you get more active fish. When a tank gets over crowded with rock and coral it gives the fish too many places to hide. The minimalist look is clean and causes just afew fish to make a big impression. In my 75 I have a yellow tang, friedamoni, hippo tang and a pair of black percs.