How many is to many?

[hondotech]

I have a 55 gal tank, am curious about the maximum quantity of live critters I can stick in there.
How many fish is too many?
How many inverts is too many (shrimp, crab, snail)?
At some point I would like to toss in a couple of starfish as well.
Im not looking at completely overcrowding the tank....
Maybe 8-9 fish and twice as many inverts be ok?
Would tossing in more "cleaner crews" allow for more fish?

 

[lefty]

It depends a lot on the fish you want. Their adult size and behavior are a couple things you should take into consideration when deciding how many fish total should be in your tank.
-lefty

 

[sato]

You cant really overstock when it comes to inverts. As for fish it really depends on how well you have your tank setup. Lots of rock and a good skimmer will allow for more fish then one without those things. I would say if your going fish only then maybe 3 or 4 medium-large fish. Books will tell you 1" of fish for every 4 gallons but that really isnt a hard rule.

 

[bdhough]

That many fish is doable provided you do a couple of things. One is get 75 lbs of live rock. Two you must mix the fish. Meaning a bottom dweller, rock dweller, some that swim in the rocks, some that stay out front, different shapes, different colors, different temperaments, hell even go so far as different areas of the ocean. Put together a list of fish you would like and ask around here on the board

 

[hondotech]

Well I currently have:
Goatfish (who is going back to LFS. he ate my fire shrimp)
Yellow Tang
Emperor Angel - Juvenile (LFS said would be fine in 55 gal. swf.com says 100gal)
On a sidenote: my LFS is really off the mark on most of its information (at least in the sense that swf.com conflicts with their advice)

 

[bdhough]

hmmm. Well he's ok for now. I will give you that but he cannnot stay in that tank forever. How big is he right now? I would suggest privatley finding him a home on this website or others. Taking him back to the lfs he may end up in a smaller tank. I don't remember mentioning this book but Marine Fishes by Michael C Scott is an excellent fish book. Tells you everything a fish you might see in the store needs. Invaluable book then you won't need to rely on the fish store people. Don't discount all of the employees. Some of them could be invaluable. Just try and be helped by a variety of them till you find the one.
BTW till you get comfortable keeping fish for at least a year i would follow that book to a T.

 

[bdhough]

So back to your fish. The tang you can keep. Other fish you can get, any type of goby, any type of hawkfish(keep in mind some eat shrimp), any type of blenny, any type of clown, firefish, dwarf angels, and of course damsels.
I would stay away from teh angels till your tank has been up for 6 months or longer though.

 

[hondotech]

Was told most of the clownfish are too aggressive and would stress and possibly kill the other fish (LFS again).

 

[speedfreak]

We had 2 clownfish in our 55 along with 5 or 6 other types of fish, angels, sturgeon, blenny, mandarin and gramma. The clowns stayed away from everyone and off to their happy little selves.
I think that as long as you mix the tank up like previously stated, bottom dweller, rock dwellers etc, etc you would do well. But that is just my opinion.

 

[bdhough]

To aggressive my butt. Percs and Ocellaris clowns are the least. They will nip at fish if the other fish get to close to them and their territory. Of all the clowns that are super aggressive sometimes tomatoes and Maroons would be them. But thats more like bite your hand in the tank than anything.
Put together a list of fish you want and ill give you an order to buy them in if you want.