Number of fish in tank

[Brian018]

I have a 90 Gal saltwater tank with about 130 lbs of rock. The tank has a 3616 refugium. Approximately how many fish should be in a tank of this size.

I'm trying to start corals and I'm having some problems. I have a 48" coralife Lunar aqualight with two 65 watt true actinic and two 65 watt 10,000K.

 

[Steven Pro]

How many fish do you have?

What kind of coral problems are you experiencing?

 

[raynist]

Hi Brian,

I think I read at one point you should have 1 inch of fish per 5 gallons as a general rule for saltwater. That would equate to 16 inches of fish. Of course this is a general rule, and I am pretty sure I break this rule or come close to it in my 180.

--Ray

 

[cloakerpoked]

A lot of it seems to depend on the fish you have as far as what types they are, etc. I keep my reef tank very understocked so that I don't have to worry about water changes, terribly efficient protein skimming, etc. Right now I have about 150 gallons of water in the system, and 4 fish...the largest being about 1.5" long. I think 1" per 5 gallons would be a pretty good rule to start with, but you really kinda need to see what will work for you and the way you do your tank. As for the coral problems, I guess it would help if we knew what kind of corals you were growing. That's probably not enough light to keep sps or lps corals unless they are very high in the tank...and maybe not even then depending on the species. Would also help to know how established the tank is.

 

[Aqua-World PITT]

Yup, it's 1" of fish per 5 gallons. Right on Ray!

 

[Brian018]

Well I probably have too many fish, Coral Beauty, (4) very small Blue Damsels, (6) small Chromis, Tomato clown, Mandrian goby, Diamond Goby, The following Tangs: Lg Sailfin, Lg Blue hippo, Yellow, Lg Powder Blue, a orange fin,one Koran Angel and two fire fish. 23 in all. As for corals I have a Leather toadstool (doing well), Green star (not so good) and two mushrooms (both doing well). My tank has been running for about three years. Thanks for the input.

 

[raynist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13854141#post13854141 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Brian018
Well I probably have too many fish, Coral Beauty, (4) very small Blue Damsels, (6) small Chromis, Tomato clown, Mandrian goby, Diamond Goby, The following Tangs: Lg Sailfin, Lg Blue hippo, Yellow, Lg Powder Blue, a orange fin,one Koran Angel and two fire fish. 23 in all. As for corals I have a Leather toadstool (doing well), Green star (not so good) and two mushrooms (both doing well). My tank has been running for about three years. Thanks for the input.

Hi Brian,

I would say you are extremely overstocked. I remember you saying you had a couple of tangs but I didn't realize you had 5 plus a large angel. You probably have really high nitates and possibly really high phosphates.

I guess you have 3 options:

1. Thin out the tang population
2. Get a much larger tank (240g +, best option )
3. Do very large (30%) weekly water changes

I am not familiar with the Koran Angel, perhaps that is picking on some corals?

--Ray

 

[Aqua-World PITT]

Most of them eat LPS, Zoas, and clams.

 

[Stray32]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13854141#post13854141 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Brian018
Well I probably have too many fish, Coral Beauty, (4) very small Blue Damsels, (6) small Chromis, Tomato clown, Mandrian goby, Diamond Goby, The following Tangs: Lg Sailfin, Lg Blue hippo, Yellow, Lg Powder Blue, a orange fin,one Koran Angel and two fire fish. 23 in all. As for corals I have a Leather toadstool (doing well), Green star (not so good) and two mushrooms (both doing well). My tank has been running for about three years. Thanks for the input.

Wow, I think you have about 3x the fish that you should in a 90 gallon tank. With 130 lbs of rock on top of it, your tank is very over crowded.

 

[superstein61]

Wow, thats a lot of fish for your tank

 

[cloakerpoked]

Although to be fair, the number is somewhat misleading because some are quite small (i.e. the Chromis, gobys, and damsels.) Still...even if none of them were in there at all...The tangs and angels would probably be about all you could have, or maybe even more for a reef tank unless you had a monster skimmer on it. I knew someone who had a Koran and it just mowed down his zoas. Left the SPS and LPS around, but form what I've heard of full sized angels that can't be counted on either. Green star likes moderate to high flow areas, so you might want to look into that.

 

[Brian018]

I like Ray's idea but that might be hard to get past the other vote in the family if you know what I mean. So I may have to thin the population. In the mean time I will do the water changes.

 

[cloakerpoked]

If you are looking to sell the fish, PM me with prices and what you're looking to get rid of. A few of them I might be interested in (not the Koran)

 

[sammie]

I hear the sirens, tang police...