I know the "Rule of Thumb" is 1'', to 5 g.

stw280

stw280

Member
I am currently adding fish to my 75 gallon reef setup. I realize the 1 to 5 rule would equate to only 15 inches of fish. But I only recently saw that post and I have already ordered more fish. Currently I have 4 perculas, 1 yellow tang, and a green dragonet. Here is where it gets tricky; when I ordered the perculas I also ordered three clarkii clowns. This site lead me to believe that was alright. They say both clarkiis and perculas get along with other clowns. The clarkiis of course died because I should have added those fish together. Lesson learned. But because all three clarkiis died within the 6 day guarantee from this site, I sent them back.
Since my first stock of fish I have developed an algae problem so I decided to get a lawnmover blenny only my LWS and SWF.com were both sold out. So I ordered a red lipped blenny to deal with the algae. Here is my next newbie mistake I fell in love with a dwarf oriole angelfish and because the site said they just need like a 50 gallon tank I ordered him also.
I felt like I had to have them resend the Clarkiis because they were free. Should I try to trade them into the LWS for credit or something. That makes 11 fish. Which is probably to much. Everything will soon be on the way.
Its a 75 gallon with several corals 75 lbs of LR, 50 lbs of LS, wet/dry, and a protein skimmer. 260 watt compacts
What should I do. I would appreciate any advice. Be gentle.
 
sly

sly

Active Member
Add only 1 or two fish at a time and only after you keep them in a QT for about a month. The QT helps isolate any parasites that may be on the fish from getting into your healthy main tank. After a month, the parasites will die because they don't have a new host to infect. Then you can add these fish to your main tank.
Monitor your tank levels for a few weeks after adding your new fish then you can add some more if everything holds stable. If you do start to get an ammonia spike, wait to see if it drops before considering adding any other fish. If it doesn't drop back down after a few weeks, then you have more fish than your filtering system can handle. Take some out or add more filtering (LR, bigger skimmer, macro algae, fugium, etc.)
Having a fish tank is like raising a garden. It is slow and expensive. If you try to rush it, you will only kill things and have an ugly mess.
 
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