Number of fish recommended

[baugustine]

I have a 90 gallon reef tank (8 months old on Feb.1) and I've been adding very slowly. I'm very proud to say I've only lost a horseshoe crab since I began it. My question is how many fish can comfortably fit in a 90 gallon? I hear about the 1 in. / gallon theory but I would go as far to say there is only about 50 gallons of water in the main tank since I have 1.5 inch sand bed along with about 100 lbs. of live rock.

I currently have my starter fish (2 yellowtail damsels and a maroon clown) along with a yellow tang I picked up 2 months ago.

I am interested in the following at some point:

1 blue tang
1 copper banded butterfly
1 spotted cardinal
1 spotted sweetlips
1 angler

too much?? if all goes well, maybe a small snowflake eel.
all opinions welcomed !

 

[PoukieBear]

A sweeatlips will eventually get WAY to big for your tank. And it will end up eating anything that will fit in it's mouth, in other words, your other fish will be it's dinner.

A blue tang needs a MINIMUM tank of 100 gallons to be happy.

A copperband should be fine in your tank, but they are very dificult to keep.

An angler will alson eat anything live that will fit in it's mouth, and it's recomended to keep it in it's own tank.

cardinals are great, but they are nocturnal, so you may not see them a lot...

 

[Fat Man]

The inch per gallon rule really isn't worth much, as a two inch fish has about eight times the body volume as a one inch fish and if its metabolic rate was proportional it would produce eight times the waste.

What is important is the size of the fish and how active it is, as well as what each species needs in the way of territory to exhibit close to normal behavior.

The tangs grow to be larger fish and are very active. They need a lot of swimming room.

The damsels can be aggressive and other fish will need room to escape them.

The angler may make a lunch of the damsels, cardinal and any small fish or motile invertebrates.

So instead of using some ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œRule of Thumbââ"šÂ¬Ã‚, that was developed so people would have some basis on how many fish they can cram into a box, research each individual and determine their territorial needs and their behavior.

As you can tell I hate that rule.

 

[tah532]

Yeah definately research each fish you want. The Yellow tang will be fine with all the LR but a blue tang is a more open water swimmer and needs more open space for example, and probably a couple extra feet of tank length. Maybe try a Kole tang instead. But definately research and ask lots of ???'s on here

 

[monkey61672]

in a reef a snowflake is a bad idea, they knock over everything, oh yeah kiss any shrimps goodbye

 

[IslandCrow]

Sounds like the angler may be a good option down the road specifically to eat the damsels which most people end up wanting to get rid of later down the road anyway.

 

[baugustine]

My thoughts exactly IslandCrow........they pick on my maroon when he strays from the bubble coral anyway. That was the idea behind the snowflake but I can't have things getting knocked over. I'll research some other tangs. Thanks for the feedback!