Aquarist007
New member
Here is a post from another thread today and how I answered it:
my agenda i want to add many small colorfull fish in my aquarium. i am in not any hurry to do so. instead of fewer larger fish. i have an 80 gallon tank with dead rock in it. i have quite a bit of rock. it is all stacked at the back of the tank almost to the top. unsure of the wieght of this rock but the ratio of rock to water is higher than the tank pictured in the thread above. also have seeded my (dead rock) with some live sand and rock. have good brown algea and very little to none green algea. no red algea present. have recently added 4 damsels to decrease my cycle time. i intend to sell these back to my LFS after tank cycling is complete if my significant other does not get too attached to them. lol. nice looking rock by the way. the above referenced picture. so any who i have a list of small pretty looking fish that i eventually intend to buy some of which i will post to this thread in a minute. but before that i want to stress that i do not intend to buy all these fish they are just (small pretty fish) that i am looking at and am not in any hurry to purchase. the max size of the fish that i'm look to purchase is 3 through 4 inches and will not eat the other ones. have done some research and am looking to thin the herd so to speak. also i would like an honest opinion on how many fish i should stock. a ratio. fish=x snail=x shrimp=x. have sump with bio balls soon to be replaced with seeded lava rock. lava rock purchased online with live sand both in main tank to seed live rock at the moment. and adequate if antique lighting. will upgrade soon.
1 gramma loreto royal gramma yellow purple
1 Pterapogon kauderni banggai cardinal silver black
1 sphaeramia nematoptera` pajama cardinal yellow blue red
1 Ecsenius midas midas blenny yellow w/blue eye(not african)
1 Ecsenius bicolor bicolor blenny blue orange
1 Ecsenius stigmatura tailspot blenny blue yellow orange red
1 Pseudochromis springeri springers psuedo/dotty lightblue darkblue
1 Pseudochromis splendens splendid psuedo/dotty blue white yellow
1 Cryptocentrus cinctus yellow watchman goby yellow
1 Elacatinus multifasciatus green banded goby lightgreen darkgreen red
1 Lythrypnus zebra zebra catalina goby red blue
1 Nemateleotris magnifica firefish goby white pink orange
1 Pseudocheilinus hexataenia sixline wrasse multi
1 Paracheilinus tetrataenia fourline wrasse multi
1 amphiprion percula percula clownfish orange white black
1 Opistognathus rosenblatti blue spotted jawfish yellow blue
1 Lythrypnus dalli catalina goby red blue
1 Pseudochromis fridmani fridmans psuedo/dotty orchid/purple
1 Pseudochromis aldabraensis arabian psuedo/dotty orange blue
1 Lysmata wurdemanni peppermint shrimp
the 2 catalina gobies like cooler water than the other fish. love the red colors though
the 2 wrasse may not be possible together.. both gorgeous fish
i will have a sixline wrasse
i will have a royal gramma basslet
i will have more than one psuedo/dottyback
i will have more than one blenny
i will have more than one goby
i will have an ornimental shrimp
i will have a banggai cardinal
Capn
If you want to go with small fish then I would suggest you cut down on the live rock and build a reef in the centre of the tank with plenty of holes in it. Alot of the gobies etc you have on your wish list will swim in and out rather then hide.
I would put the extra rock in the sump. As long as it is in the same water column as the display system then you are still getting the bacterial filter from it
If you have lots of flow and are prepared to due weekly water changes then you could add alot of the fish on your list.
What I am concerned with is that when a tank is loaded up then it is very vunerable to a crash. For eg one fish dying in your tank when there are 5 others in there probably would not be a problem. However that one fish dying with 20 others in the tank then you could get a chain reaction very quickly.
i am not planning to put that whole list of fish in my tank. it is a list of possible fish. how many would you put in is basicly what i am wanting to know. if i put in small fish of these types that range from a 2in size to a max of 4in size fully grown. there are only like 3 fish on that list that will grow to 4 inches. are there any that i might rule out right away as completely out of the question.
My answer again
I would not put the six line wrasse in there--it limits the choice of other wrasses.
I know you want someone to give you a definite number of fish to add like 10 or something but there is no magic number. If you add all those fish slowly like once every week or two then biologically you could add them all. But you take your chances of a tank crash like I explained in the post above.
I think if you start to add the fish then you will get to the point where your tank looks busy enough to you and not over crowed and you will stop.
What number that is really depends on you and how diligent you want to be on your water changes.
eg.
I have sixteen fish in a 110 gal--four of them are five-6 inches. The reef looks busy but my wife and I like it that way. I am confident my filtration system can handle an unexpected accident because I have two 40 gal refugiums, a 40gal sump, over 225 lbs of live rock in the system, a 250msx skimmer which is oversized for that system, and run phosban and carbon.
Plus I do weekly water changes.
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I would love to discuss some of these rules that are around, where they came from, if they are myths etc etc.
The one post above really skirts around the rule I hear so many times of one inch of fish per gal
Where did this rule come from -IMO there is too much knowledge now about filtration methods and fish compatability to challenge that old rule of thumb
One of the other rules of thumb that comes to mind is 3 watts per gal in lighting for lps corals and 5 watts per gal for sps corals.
Or 1 to 1.5 lbs of live rock per gal in your system. That one is total untrue IMO and is a good one discuss in light of the global limiting of live rock harvesting.
Along the same lines--base rock is never as effective as live rock.
my agenda i want to add many small colorfull fish in my aquarium. i am in not any hurry to do so. instead of fewer larger fish. i have an 80 gallon tank with dead rock in it. i have quite a bit of rock. it is all stacked at the back of the tank almost to the top. unsure of the wieght of this rock but the ratio of rock to water is higher than the tank pictured in the thread above. also have seeded my (dead rock) with some live sand and rock. have good brown algea and very little to none green algea. no red algea present. have recently added 4 damsels to decrease my cycle time. i intend to sell these back to my LFS after tank cycling is complete if my significant other does not get too attached to them. lol. nice looking rock by the way. the above referenced picture. so any who i have a list of small pretty looking fish that i eventually intend to buy some of which i will post to this thread in a minute. but before that i want to stress that i do not intend to buy all these fish they are just (small pretty fish) that i am looking at and am not in any hurry to purchase. the max size of the fish that i'm look to purchase is 3 through 4 inches and will not eat the other ones. have done some research and am looking to thin the herd so to speak. also i would like an honest opinion on how many fish i should stock. a ratio. fish=x snail=x shrimp=x. have sump with bio balls soon to be replaced with seeded lava rock. lava rock purchased online with live sand both in main tank to seed live rock at the moment. and adequate if antique lighting. will upgrade soon.
1 gramma loreto royal gramma yellow purple
1 Pterapogon kauderni banggai cardinal silver black
1 sphaeramia nematoptera` pajama cardinal yellow blue red
1 Ecsenius midas midas blenny yellow w/blue eye(not african)
1 Ecsenius bicolor bicolor blenny blue orange
1 Ecsenius stigmatura tailspot blenny blue yellow orange red
1 Pseudochromis springeri springers psuedo/dotty lightblue darkblue
1 Pseudochromis splendens splendid psuedo/dotty blue white yellow
1 Cryptocentrus cinctus yellow watchman goby yellow
1 Elacatinus multifasciatus green banded goby lightgreen darkgreen red
1 Lythrypnus zebra zebra catalina goby red blue
1 Nemateleotris magnifica firefish goby white pink orange
1 Pseudocheilinus hexataenia sixline wrasse multi
1 Paracheilinus tetrataenia fourline wrasse multi
1 amphiprion percula percula clownfish orange white black
1 Opistognathus rosenblatti blue spotted jawfish yellow blue
1 Lythrypnus dalli catalina goby red blue
1 Pseudochromis fridmani fridmans psuedo/dotty orchid/purple
1 Pseudochromis aldabraensis arabian psuedo/dotty orange blue
1 Lysmata wurdemanni peppermint shrimp
the 2 catalina gobies like cooler water than the other fish. love the red colors though
the 2 wrasse may not be possible together.. both gorgeous fish
i will have a sixline wrasse
i will have a royal gramma basslet
i will have more than one psuedo/dottyback
i will have more than one blenny
i will have more than one goby
i will have an ornimental shrimp
i will have a banggai cardinal
Capn
If you want to go with small fish then I would suggest you cut down on the live rock and build a reef in the centre of the tank with plenty of holes in it. Alot of the gobies etc you have on your wish list will swim in and out rather then hide.
I would put the extra rock in the sump. As long as it is in the same water column as the display system then you are still getting the bacterial filter from it
If you have lots of flow and are prepared to due weekly water changes then you could add alot of the fish on your list.
What I am concerned with is that when a tank is loaded up then it is very vunerable to a crash. For eg one fish dying in your tank when there are 5 others in there probably would not be a problem. However that one fish dying with 20 others in the tank then you could get a chain reaction very quickly.
i am not planning to put that whole list of fish in my tank. it is a list of possible fish. how many would you put in is basicly what i am wanting to know. if i put in small fish of these types that range from a 2in size to a max of 4in size fully grown. there are only like 3 fish on that list that will grow to 4 inches. are there any that i might rule out right away as completely out of the question.
My answer again
I would not put the six line wrasse in there--it limits the choice of other wrasses.
I know you want someone to give you a definite number of fish to add like 10 or something but there is no magic number. If you add all those fish slowly like once every week or two then biologically you could add them all. But you take your chances of a tank crash like I explained in the post above.
I think if you start to add the fish then you will get to the point where your tank looks busy enough to you and not over crowed and you will stop.
What number that is really depends on you and how diligent you want to be on your water changes.
eg.
I have sixteen fish in a 110 gal--four of them are five-6 inches. The reef looks busy but my wife and I like it that way. I am confident my filtration system can handle an unexpected accident because I have two 40 gal refugiums, a 40gal sump, over 225 lbs of live rock in the system, a 250msx skimmer which is oversized for that system, and run phosban and carbon.
Plus I do weekly water changes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would love to discuss some of these rules that are around, where they came from, if they are myths etc etc.
The one post above really skirts around the rule I hear so many times of one inch of fish per gal
Where did this rule come from -IMO there is too much knowledge now about filtration methods and fish compatability to challenge that old rule of thumb
One of the other rules of thumb that comes to mind is 3 watts per gal in lighting for lps corals and 5 watts per gal for sps corals.
Or 1 to 1.5 lbs of live rock per gal in your system. That one is total untrue IMO and is a good one discuss in light of the global limiting of live rock harvesting.
Along the same lines--base rock is never as effective as live rock.
