55g reef tank Question

[breckco.ky]

Hello,
I'm wanting to get some schooling fish for my 55g reef with 70lbs of LR. I'm wondering about the limit I can have for this tank size. Currently besides all my corals /cleaning crews the only fish I have is a Coral Beauty and Percula clown. I'm looking into buying a mandarin but not at the moment. How many chromis could I buy without overstocking and is there somewhere to go to help learning the limits on fish?

 

[fallnhorse]

My lfs has 7 chormis in there reef tank. All schooling together and it's a 55 gallon. THey look really cool even for chormis. i know

Not a huge fan of them. But they looked cool schooling through the rapids.

 

[poniegirl]

I have not yet heard a formula for stocking. For my 55, my LFS guy has advised me 10 or 11 and that has to include all individuals. Anemone and crabs, etc. That's about where I'm at.

 

[breckco.ky]

ehhh... If I was including blue leggies/red leggies then I'd never have fish. I have 40 or more crabs,2 cleaner shrimp, Florida Condi, and a green emerald crab. If they are saying to count individual crabs then how could you have a clean up crew... and fish? Don't think they meant your clean up crew.

 

[bkvreef]

I've never heard of including the clean up crew.
I have 5 chromis
six line
algae blenny
scooter blenny
2 perculas
ywg
I'm not planning on getting anymore until (if) I upsize

 

[fishfatty]

that seems like alot of fish to me for some reason :notsure:

 

[poniegirl]

The way it was explained to me was waste production. If it produces waste, count it. My clean-up crew is a blue-leg, a sally and of course the bristleworms.
You could very well be right about the cleaners. Maybe that's a trade-off.
At any rate, I can't imagine adding more fish than I have. 2 seahorses, 2 green chromis, 1 tomato clown, 1 wrasse, 2 damsels, 1 anemone. And the crabs mentioned.

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by bkvreef
I've never heard of including the clean up crew.
I have 5 chromis
six line
algae blenny
scooter blenny
2 perculas
ywg
I'm not planning on getting anymore until (if) I upsize

I've never heard of counting the cleanup crew either. I've always read that the cleanup crew takes care of as much as it puts out so they don't count. How could we put anything else in our tanks if we counted all the snails and crabs?

 

[breckco.ky]

The clean up crew is definantly more a positive then a negative. Everyone of my cuc's are detrius eaters... or sand sifters which is a good thing. I've also been told you can have as many blues/red legs as there is gallons of water (Not what the tank rating is...but minus all rock and coral). Anyways I'm just curious if anyone here has a 55G setup that includes schooling fish along with a few others.

 

[cyrusmekon]

In my 55 gal reef i have
1 foxface
2 orc clowns
1 flame hawkfish
1 Lawnmower belnny
1 mandarin
1 longnose butterfly
For stocking of fish this is more than enough i believe. I like to watch them roam around and they all get on with each other.
I agree, go with the amount of bioload.