So what is "Overstocked" these days ???
- Thread starter Curtis1
- Start date
r-balljunkie
Registered Reefer
My apologies to the OP, dont mean to spam on your thread. A link that explains it a bit better.
[CLICKETY]
Yes, no choice.
I'll try to post a pic of the unknown wrasses. im sure that are nothing that rare, probably a species that doesnt make it in to the trade too often. I caught them on the way back up from getting the Rhomboids in 40' of water, so not a deep water wrasse. Not over the top pretty, but very peaceful and social in the tank.
Well I had to do it ! I added a poll to this thread. So everyone go vote ! Not to add insult to injury, tonight I also added another fish. I added a small Copperband Butterfly. I added this one to try to combat the Aptaisia that have recently began outgrowing my attempts to eradicate them with Aptaisia X. I'm beginning to think that the "X" in the Aptaisia X stands for the multiplication symbol !!! This will be my last fish for now,,,,, My Yellow Tang hasn't really bothered him at all. Not like I have seen them do in the past. I once had a smallish YT in a 180 with a Hippo T , both getting along like pals. Tried to put a Sailfin T in there,,, not a pretty sight at all !!! Once I put him in there, I couldn't catch him. Let's just say that the Sailfin was very easy to catch the next morning.
A_Z, I can see where you are comin' from. I like several smaller fish in a big tank. You always hear about small fish getting lost in a big tank ??? I don't get that. Although, I / we all have had a fish just disappear at one time or another. I like hunting for them too. When my fish are just doin' there every day routine, I can usually see 5-6 of them. As soon as one of them move out of the picture, a different one pops out from somewhere. It's just kinda neat, especially when you have guests viewing the tank. I still get a bang outta whatchin' the looks on their faces when they look at the tank. I also keep a nice magnifying glass on hand to give to visitors. They always spend a few more minutes looking after you hand them the looking glass.
r-balljunkie
Registered Reefer
i find fish densities in the wild to be very robust. im not sure i would care to count the number of fish in these pics.
Not trying to make any parallelisms, correlations, or an arguement for or against how someone stocks their own aquarium.....just my own personal observation.
An aquarium and the vastness of the ocean are not comparable.
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It is impossible to gain any useful knowledge from the poll. I'm not sure if this thread is to rationalize or justify a stocking decision, or what the purpose might be. Stocking levels aren't something that can be decided by finding out what the guy next door is doing. Species, age of tank, aquascaping, flow, etc etc are all much more critical than what Bill or George is doing.
Whiterabbitrage
New member
as pointed above a beginner like myself should stay to the rule of thumb about overstocking a tank at the start.
as time progresses and one learns his tank it is fair to say that one can stock as many fish as he likes. Again that being said I feel that every tank is its own little ocean with problems that have to be figured out before putting in a lot of fish.
just my 2 cents
as time progresses and one learns his tank it is fair to say that one can stock as many fish as he likes. Again that being said I feel that every tank is its own little ocean with problems that have to be figured out before putting in a lot of fish.
just my 2 cents
A very good 2 cents at that.
The problem is that the 'rule of thumb' is useless...there is a big difference between a 4"dartfish or goby, and a 4" trigger, tang or angel
r-balljunkie
Registered Reefer
Well that’s a tough question. I want to preface I’m not endorsing either side of this argument, and what I do with my aquarium is not best practices/recommended but represents my situation here and now.
Depending on where and when you draw your box, #'s will differ, but I see your point. I often see mixed packs of tangs running together and some fish species that are extremely solitary only found in small groups.
These pictures are a skewed representation. Some idiot with a full camera setup with dual strobes firing off repetitive flashes make the fish vacate the immediate area.
I think that im able to achieve a peaceful tank due to the fact the fish i collect are basically from the same stretch of reef, albiet at differing depths. Perhaps there's a familiarity with species.
Well, I have done a lot of diving, perhaps more than I should have. In fiji or other locations with the current running, the reef is swarming with anthias eating planton, but still if you look at a 1000 gallon box, the number in that box is pretty small. Your photography (and mine as well) is using lenses that are rather wide angle which compress a lot of space into a relatively small image. Now, do not hear that I am advocating for either position. I personally prefer understocked tanks with lots of coral and open aquascaping, but I know that I am in the minority here.
I did not intend to start anything. It is a question that I have been wondering about since I have made a return to the hobby. Especially with all of the newer equipment ? As I know what I can do. I just wondered what the general hobby has gravitated towards. I have been diving in several parts of the world. I am only trying to replicate what I remembered. There were a couple of bad diving spots that I went to in Okinawa Japan, where you actually had to look for the fish, but they were on the wrong side of the island. The better spots look a lot like r-balljunkie's pictures.
