How much live stock in my 55 gallon?

[nemo's mom]

I know I read this in one of my books but I can't seem to find it now. I have a 55 gallon tank and currently have 2 black perculas, a Sailfin Tang, a Bicolored Chromis, a Coral Beauthy Angel and a Mandarin Goby. I would like to add a Pajama Cardinal, a Tomato Clown and my son wants a purple Tang(I'm trying to figure out if he's compatible with my other Tang). Is that going to be too much? We also have 30 bluelegged crabs, 3 Scarlet crabs, 10 snails, a cleaner shrimp and a brittle Star in there...

 

[my way]

Yes I think that would be too much for that tank. Tangs can get pretty big and will eventually outgrow your tank. There are a lot of people who will give you a hard time for putting them in a tank this size, I think as long as they are still small it's ok as long as you either plan to upgrade to a larger tank or have a home for them when they do. A bit of advise when asking questions like this, you should post not only your tank size but also your filtration, if you have live rock and how much. Your tank might be big enough but you filter might not keep up with the bioload. Is your mandarine eating? How long have you had it in the tank? Most of them only eat pods and can deplete what you will be able to cultivate in a tank this size quite quickly.

 

[granny]

I would say you are maxed out on your 55 right now. One small fish per 10 gallons of salt water is about as heavy as you want to go-tangs arent small fish and one in a tank is sufficient-
It is possible to keep more fish if you have a large sump and are willing to do lots of water changes to keep the nitrates etc. down, but it is so much safer and healthier to go lighter on the load. Maybe you could set up a second tank?
Put your perculas and your Chromis a seperate, smaller tank.

 

[nemo's mom]

I have a mangum 350 canister pump and 2 powerheads in the tank. I have around 60 lbs of live rock as well as an anemone, a pineapple coral, a red brain and green star polyp...

 

[nemo's mom]

The Mandarin is eating fine. I have had the Tang and Goby for about 2 months....the Angel for about 5 weeks, I added the other 3 least Sunday...

 

[granny]

Please do not add any more fish. You will be courting disaster. The canisters are great for media filtration, but they do nothing to aerate/oxygenate your water, nor do they add water volume. Remember your rock also displaces quite a lot of water, so you have much less than 55 gallons of water in your tank now. I looked up sailfins after reading your post yesterday and tehy are a large tang. My reef book said they should be in at least a 90 gal. tank. adult size 8-10 inches long and almost as tall!! They also are active and need lots of swimming room. Your Coral Beauty can get 5-6 inches as well and is a very active fish. Try to visualize all your fish as adults and you can see the crowding problem. The adult perculas will be at least 3 - 4 inches each. Just enjoy watching the fish you have now grow to nice healthy adults.

 

[nemo's mom]

Sounds good, thanks