# of Fish 4" of less in 125 community tank

[WantaBeReefer]

I remember reading a thread a few weeks back about the number of small fish that could be housed in a large tank,but cant find it. I'm thinking 4" and under. I have about 100lbs of live rock. What is everyones opinion on an approximate maximum number of fish that obtain an adult size of 4" or less that can be housed in my 125. I orignially thought I wanted a big aggressive tank, but after a bout with ich and having my tank fallow for a month and a half, I am going to go small community fish. My tank has been running 14 months and is stable and ready to be slowly stocked. My LFS is working with me to take some of my aggresive fish back for credit. How many little guys could I add.

 

[Julio]

I never go with this rule, i always follow how much and how often my water changes are and the quality of my water many may say that my tank is over stocked, but i have a large water turnover with evaporation and water changes, that all the fish grow so big and quickly.

 

[Teremei]

I'd say about 12. I fish for each 10 gallons. You COULD go a little more if some of them are very small like some gobies. But if they were all bartlett's anthias, or coral beauty in size. I wouldn't add any more than 12.

 

[Julio]

this is really best determined by the weight of the fish, in a 125 you can put 100 fish or 1 fish depending on waht the total weight of the fish are.

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

Julio makes some good points. Ther are no hard and fast rules for stocking a tank. There are two main factors to consider and they are biomass and filtration issues, and behavior and territoriality issues. A lot depends on what kinds of fish we are talking about, what kind of eaters they are, how much waste they produce, how aggressive they are, how much room they require, ect. You could put a school of a dozen little fish like threadfin cardinals in there and still have room for other species or if you are talking about a more active fish like anthias you wouldnt want as many. A three inch cardinal isn't equal to a three inch dwarf angel. I always begin a stocking list with a few fish I really want and work from there. Is there any centerpiece fish you really want to have?

 

[Ironsheikh]

for me I usually go with 4 fish per 20 gallons --after years w/ a 20g fish only i found that I had the best luck with that and keep it going as i upgraded tanks.
so the fish i mean are clowns, damsels, fridmani, royal gramma, etc

my 60 has 8 but the 8th fish is a neon goby and I wont get any more till I go up in tank size
I also have overkill on fitration rena xp3, eheim wetdry 2229, 30 + lbs live rock super skimmer 125 and intank refugium