Do I have too many fish in my tank?

K

kikithemermaid

Guest
I have a 29 gallon hexagon tank with:
-Cherub Angelfish
-Bicolor Blenny
-Sixline Wrasse
-2 small Green Chromis
-Percula Clownfish
And a cleaner shrimp and two turbo snails.
The owner at my LFS said we could add another fish, but I don't know...they are all small fish, but don't they need more oxygen?
 
kaiser :)

kaiser :)

Member
The owner at your LFS is a moron, 4 would be almost exceeding but you have 5 and he says you could add another!

EDIT:Oh you have 6... I would recommend taking 1 or 2 out.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by kikithemermaid
http:///forum/post/2553816
I have a 29 gallon hexagon tank with:
-Cherub Angelfish
-Bicolor Blenny
-Sixline Wrasse
-2 small Green Chromis
-Percula Clownfish
And a cleaner shrimp and two turbo snails.
The owner at my LFS said we could add another fish, but I don't know...they are all small fish, but don't they need more oxygen?

It isn't a question of how many fish can be stuffed into the tank. You are over max now with some territorial species in there.
 
mcbdz

mcbdz

Active Member
Another important question would be, what are your para now?
What is your gph?

Ok, 2.
 
ibew41

ibew41

Active Member
yes you are over stocked and your clean up crew could be up graded.do you have a skimmer,sump or canister filter?
 
K

kikithemermaid

Guest
Oh crap. I knew there was something fishy about how they told us we could keep getting more fish.
Our nitrates are 20-30. We have a canister filter that is rated for 40-100 gallon tanks.
Ammonia:0
Tank temp: 81 (high?)
Nitrate: 0.25
pH: 8.2
specific gravity: 1.022
My boyfriend is checking the gph
We do weekly 20% water changes and have 30 pounds of lr.
 
jaymz

jaymz

Member
not sure how long your tank has been up and running but still having nitrites is something to worry about.
 
K

kikithemermaid

Guest
Our tank has been running for a little over a month
IBE: What do you mean the cleanup crew should be upgraded? Do we need more snails/shrimp?
 
afboundguy

afboundguy

Member
I would ditch the canister filter, they have a habit of becoming nitrate factories. Sell it and get a good HOB skimmer like a remora or a bakpak. That should help with the nitrates.
I agree that nitrites are high, they should be zero. Also 2 months is waaaaaaaaaay to early to have that many fish. I didn't add my first fish until 4-5 months.
Also I also agree that your LFS guy is a moron. Was he the one that said you could add that many fish that early as well? I would suggest getting rid of 1 or 2 fish so that you're not so overstocked.
 
afboundguy

afboundguy

Member
Originally Posted by kikithemermaid
http:///forum/post/2555490
What do you mean the cleanup crew should be upgraded? Do we need more snails/shrimp?
It means you should have more than 2 snails. I would get 10-15 turbo snails,5-10 cerith snails, 10-20 combo of red/blue legged hermit crabs, and 5-10 nassarius snails. They help eat the left over junk on the substrate and keep the tank cleaner. It's at most $30 from a LFS. Of course I would switch LFSs but that's just my opinion.
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
I don't think 20 nitrates is too much to worry about. BUT realize that this will only get worse since your tank is only two months old. Also realize that adding a cleanup crew will NOT reduce your nitrates. ALthough they will help eat food and debris, the reason your nitrates are high IMO is because the amount of fish you have in a small tank. Also you can keep your canister if you want, but you have to clean out the filter media every week. THe reason they help produce nitrates is the buildup of food and debris inside them, so as long as you clean them out weekly you should be okay.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
The bio-load from your fish is the main reason for the high nitrates, which are not too bad yet, but can become a problem. If you are going to keep that many, make sure that you stay on top of tank maintenance.
 
ibew41

ibew41

Active Member
Originally Posted by kikithemermaid
http:///forum/post/2555490
Our tank has been running for two months.
IBE: What do you mean the cleanup crew should be upgraded? Do we need more snails/shrimp?
look at the reef packages on this site and get a good idea about how many and of what type of cleaners you should have.I would keep the canister filter you have but you have to clean them throughly every month,but with your bio load every 2 weeks would be better
 
opthomas

opthomas

New Member
Hi, I just registered, I'm kiki's boyfriend. Here's some more info on the tank.
28 gal Hexagonal Clear for life tank
Pentair Lifegard AF-94 Mechanical Filter
Pentair Lifegard AF-93 Chemical Filter
Pentair Lifegard AF-92 Single Heater
Pentair Lifegard Q-8 8 Watt UV Sterilizer
Current USA 20" Orbit 2x40 Watt Light Fixture
I set it up in the beginning of March with live sand and 10 lbs of live rock which I recently increased to 30-35 lbs before getting more fish.
I've been doing weekly 5 gallon water changes with saltwater from our LFS which is probably 25% considering all the sand and rock we have in there. I've been monitoring pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Alkalinity. When we first filled the tank we used tap water which in our area is VERY hard so I've been adding alcabalance to the water during the water changes to bring the alkalinity down. I tested the water today and found 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 20 mg/L Nitrate, Alkalinity 13 dkh.
I'm not sure of my flow rate, I also have 2 small powerheads that came with the tank that I haven't installed yet.
Thanks for all the advice so far. I received this tank from a coworker so the equipment choices were made for me. I've already been discussing installing a protein skimmer with my friend and the LFS owner but we're still trying to figure out the best way to plumb it in.
 
globaldesigns

globaldesigns

Member
You should try to base how many fish to have on the total inches of fish then calculating it from there. Add up the total inches of your fish (taking the average adult size), then calculate 1 inch of fish per gallon.
You are allowed 28 inches of fish for your tank, if the total of inches is greater than that, then you have too many.
You will see that people talk about 0.5 to 1 inch per gallon, I have always used 1 inch with no issues.
Hope this helps and makes sense
 
metweezer

metweezer

Active Member

Originally Posted by Jaymz
http:///forum/post/2555463
not sure how long your tank has been up and running but still having nitrites is something to worry about.
She never said she had nitrites
She did mention nitrates twice in the post though.
 
K

kikithemermaid

Guest
Sorry I'm not really sure of the difference between nitrates and nitrities....we did pick up 10 hermit crabs, an urchin and another turbo today though.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by kikithemermaid
http:///forum/post/2556428
Sorry I'm not really sure of the difference between nitrates and nitrities....we did pick up 10 hermit crabs, an urchin and another turbo today though.
What kind of test kit are you using?
 
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