How many fish is too many fish?

[lutz493]

Hello-
I've recently cycled my new salt water tank. I am sorta a novice but have been given several opinions on this topic.
My tank is 55 Gallons. I currently have no live rock in the tank but will be getting some when the stores open today.
I have 4 Yellow Tailed Damsels, 2 Banded Clowns, a Coral Beauty and a Sailfin Tang right now. The Coral Beauty and Sailfin were added to the tank tonight. I made a mistake in the Sailfin because I found after putting him in he will grow way to big for the 55. When that happens I will put him into a larger tank I am planning to do if this one goes ok.
My goal of my current tank is to remove the 4 Yellow Tailed Damsels. I want to then leave the Coral Beauty, 2 Banded Clowns, Sailfin Tang (For now) and then add a Flame Angel and 4 Green Chromis.
Is this going to overkill in the tank? I have been told yes, I only want to keep 5 fish in the tank. I have been told if I put enough live rock in the tank to handle waste disposal those fish above will be ok and I will only need to worry about weekly water change of 10 gallons to keep nitrate levels down.
I am also looking to get some inverts for cleaning. I currently have 8 Blue Crabs in the tank. After I add my live rock I want to add some Turbo Snails, Blue Leg Crabs, Scarlet Crabs, mebbe some Peppermint shrimp, I am not sure what else will help. Anyone have answers as to what a good numbers and species to use in the tank for inverts?
My tank has been up since late October and cycled the first week of January so before I make big mistakes I may regret in the future I would very much appreciate some feedback in a good route to take.
Thanks~

 

[newreefers]

Invert don't really add to the bio load of the tank, I have a fairly large clean up crew myself. Just watch the number of snails you put in. If you get too many and there isn't enough for them to eat they will starve to death. Start with a few and then add more if needed.
It sounds like you have a lot of fish in there. the general rule is 1" of fish to 3-5 gal of water. The fish inches are calculated as adult fish, if you have a fish that is 1' now but will reach 3' use 3 in your calculation.

 

[ophiura]

You need to SLOW DOWN, or you will not be getting that bigger tank because this one will crash. You should not be adding so many new fish at one time, and poor choices for new fish at that. Sorry to say it, but the question needed to be asked before you bought any fish- while the tank was still cycling
Just because your tank is cycled, does not mean that it can support this many fish so quickly. Right now, the only fish that should be in there, IMO, are the clowns, which are rather tough. I would get rid of the damsels by trading them back the the LFS. I would probably trade the tang and angel back too.
Without a lot of LR (at least 75lbs if not more), a coral beauty and flame will be a problem..and frankly, in a 55g tank, they may be a problem regardless. These fish are territorial. You can try, but be aware that you may not succeed with them. Some do, some don't. Typically the better chances are in tanks over a 100g, 6 ft long. This way they both have their personal ends. 4 ft tanks, like a 55g, are risky with territorial fish (which like horizontal space, not vertical) and may not work.
IMO, tangs are not the best choices for a 55g tank...they all will get large. Watch for signs of Ick on this sailfin. Keep water quality very closely monitored.
4 green chromis could be a problem, as they are typically better in a group of odd number.
Using the very over simplified rate of 1 " of fish per 5 gallons, you have 11" to work with. However, when you add decorations, LR, etc, you will not have anywhere near a 55g tank...you may have, at best, a 45g tank. Meaning you have roughly 9" of fish to work with. A tang. 5 chromis. 2 dwarf angels. But not all you want to add. And this does not take into account many things...territoriality, personality, behavior, adult size (which you want to think about).
A typical stocking plan for this size tank with a healthy supply of LR might be something like: 2 clowns, dwarf angel, some sort of smaller thing or two (sixline wrasse, goby, blenny, royal gramma, pseudo).
And a tank may not be fully stocked until it is a year or more old. I hate to see fully stocked, newly cycled tanks (recipe for disaster). I still cringe at a fully stocked six month old tank.
What and how much are you feeding? What are you using as filtration if you do not have LR? These issues all come into play in the stocking level. Do you want this to be a reef tank? If so, we generally cut down further on the number of fish. There are many questions that must be answered first.
Keep a close eye on that tang and on water quality. I would get a test kit, and check for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH and alk every day.

 

[swilbs83]

I agree with Ophiura on pretty much everything, but i have never heard of two dwarf angels getting along in such a small tank. Larger tanks yes, but IME they will fight no matter what, it is just their instincts....I would advise to not even try to do it

 

[ophiura]

Very few people manage to do it, for sure, but some do. The majority of the time, it will not work. Requires very careful selection of a fish based on its personality, lots of LR, and more than a little luck. But I have read other members who have done it...at least on other boards. Better success though in 6 ft tanks...125g or greater.

 

[barryi]

i have a 55 reef at home and i had a fireball angel, 6 green chromis, a sixline wrasse and 2 purple firefish and everything went fine. depending on the aggresion of the fish will make all the difference so in this case putting in 2 dwarf angels, a tang and damsels is way too much at this point. just slow down, buy RO water, slowly add fish and see what happens.

 

[reefersx2]

The one thing I can see is to remember that when you add the rock your tank is going to go through a mini cycle so you could get rid of the fish you wanted to and wait on any additions.