3 fish too many at once?

[pohtr]

Would a pair of ocellaris clowns and a yellow watchman goby be too much to add to a tank at once? All that's in there now is one chromis and a clean up crew in a 90g. I'm getting ready to place my first order soon & don't want to over do it. Also, if I get more clean up critters does that count on the added bio load?

 

[who dey]

be patient, add the clowns but hold off on the other. normal acclimation is one at a time. when i add fish i will add one wait a month or so, very critical to avoid any parameter spikes. again be patient!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :joy:

 

[nicetry]

It would depend on how long the tank has been set up, and how much live rock is in it. The fish you're considering are small specimens and a 90 gallon tank that has stable parameters and a good amount of LR could easily handle the increased bioload.

 

[sammiefish]

I think that is an excellent question!! If you decide to go ahead with the plan could you give us a more detailed description of your tank and any test results you may obtain before and after the additions? Id be interested to hear the results.

 

[pohtr]

My 90g is only 3 months old but parameters are stable. There is only about 25 lbs or so of half live rock with a sand bottom. I do have a QT which I don't totally trust since I originally had trouble with the heater and cooked my live rock to 94 degrees!! Amazingly some of the little feather dusters actually survived, and the temp has finally been tweaked and stabilized at around 78. (any recommendations for a trustworthy heater?)
I probably will order the three fish at once but I might keep the goby in the QT and put the clowns in the big tank. Then add the goby later.
The main reason for purchasing all three at once isn't so much impatience as economics for trying to save on shipping.
Oh, and most of my LR never went into that QT, fortunately, so there are lots of itsy bitsy critters in the 90.
If I get that YWgoby, should I get the pistol shrimp for it at the same time? Or is later just as good?

 

[puffer32]

I added 3 chromis and 2 small clowns at the same time in my 75, maybe i was lucky, but no spikes at all.

 

[itchy]

IMO, these 3 fish are rather small....since you have a 90 gallon and it has been up and running for 3 months I would think It would be okay. Now obviously you wouldn't want to add 3 large fish ( such as trigger tang and so on at the same time). If you have the option to get 2 small size clowns then the better chance you will have of not causing a spike and watchman gobys are rather small. I think you would be fine.

 

[pohtr]

Sounds like its a little like the inches per gallon thing....Not the quantity of fish added at one time, but the size. So this might be like 4-5 inches at once, like adding one 5" fish.

 

[sammiefish]

good point... a new rule!!!
"inches of fish added at one time rule"

 

[sfl01208]

what if you have to add fish at the same time for like territory and fighting purposes. Im not adding anything at the time but just for future reference

 

[seadawg]

In my tank i added 4 damsels at once then another time i added two percula clowns and an anenomi so i don't think three is to many for a fairly large tnk not huge just not small

 

[pohtr]

My first time adding fish was when I added 5 chromis so they would get along ( the tank was already cycled) and 4 of them died within a few days. I don't think it was from bio load but it still makes me worry. Never did figure out why they died (old thread), except the one who was sucked into the overflow.