Tank requirements

[paulamrein]

Yet another stupid question from the village refishtard, but is there a limit to how many coral you can put into a tank? Is there a such thing coral overcrowding? It is merely curiosity beings though my wife and I decided from the beginning not to do live coral.
Along the same subject. When a book,lfs, or online description tells you a minimum requirement for a fish, is it taking to account rock, coral, other fish etc. Like the coral beauty, it is sited as needing 30g. Now is that by itself? or with other fish. Is it collective as well, if I have a coral beauty that requires 30g and another fish that requires 55g is it than that I would need a minimum of 85g. It doesn't make sense to me. What if I had a coral beauty in a 30g tank, but had 80 lbs of live rock. Does that now take away from his requirements? Over crowding has always been one of my most thought about questions. I am sure it's quite debated. Why put a minimum requirement, when it seems to be unclear what exactly it all means. I understand that a lot has to do with the territory of the fish, but a fish swimming length ways will have the same length in a 55g,75g, 90g, and a 110g. depending on how they are made. So a fish that requires 75g couldn't thrive in a 55g? Does a sump play a larger part adding water volume? 75g non reef ready rather than a 55g rr with a 20g sump, isn't it the same length and water volume?
I am not at all trying to start a huge debate, I just want a straight answer that can make a little more sense than, it requires 30g not 25g etc. If you think about it, even the large tanks fall short of most fish territories anyway.
To reiterate no debates, no scream matchs, just discussion.

 

[DARKSILENTTYPE]

Step away from the brownies . Just look at all the pretty colors ................ lol


If you have a 55 gallon tank you can have fish that require a tank size of 55 gallons or less . You don't want to many fish in a 55 gallon so they can escape from other fish if neccesary . You need to be carefull of the type of fish you add as well . Some fish don't like each other .

 

[scbadiver]

Thats a HUGE question. Ny best advice is go slowly and research each animal's requierments before you purchase. In a nutshell, any tank can be overstocked. Corals with fight with each other and fish need room(and filtration).

 

[Reefer Wannabe]

Yeah, it is hard to give a complete answer to that. Some fish (like tangs) need a longer tank because they like to race long distances--hard to do that in a 3 foot tank (or a 4 foot tank for that matter). Some fish pretty much stay in one area, but like places to hide, so you need a lot of rock. It's best to decide what fish you like, then do lots of research to see if they will do well with your tank (and the inhabitants in it).

As far as a fish being able to thrive (if for instance, it says they need 90 gallons or more) in tanks of the same length, like a 55--not necessarily. I have a 90 gallon, and I can tell you my yellow tang is much happier than he was in my 55 because of the extra places he has to go in and out of rock, etc. Lots more room to swim besides just the length of the tank.

Hope that helps a bit...