Number of fish?

marting83

marting83

Member
I have already asked this question and got a reply from, I believe, Buzz. However, I forgot to ask him whether he meant for the life of the aquarium, or during the initial "break-in" months. His response was 1 fish per 5 gallons of water. So what do you guys think? Here's my setup if this helps...
72 gallon bowfront, 2.5" live sand, 60lbs live rock, Visitherm 300 watt heater, Marineland Magnum Pro w/ bio wheels 350GPH canister filter, 2 Marineland Penguin Powerheads(circulation only, no UGF), no protien skimmer yet (no corals yet)
I am posting this in the reef section because I eventually, probably next year, intend to start adding corals (and a protien skimmer). Also, my lfs has a very elaborate 300 gallon coral reef aquarium with 120 fish and an uncountable numbers of inverts which is why I thought perhaps Buzz was refering to the initial months of cycling the aquarium.
I love these polls. They're s easy!
 
ntvflgirl

ntvflgirl

Member
Some people will tell you one for every 10 gallons. One for five is what I personally would do. And that means forever, not during initial set up. It's too heavy of a bioload. I'm sure some of the others can explain it better than I, but no, it doesn't mean during initial set up. Sorry.
ps...actually, it's one INCH of fish per 5 gallons. Not one fish.
 
nacl-h2o

nacl-h2o

Active Member
If your talking about a reef tank I'd have to say 1 for every 10G. If it's a FO, as many as one fish to 7g.
 
fishy88

fishy88

Member
i have 2 small fish in my 30 gal. reef tank. so thats a 1:15 ratio
i think that 1:5 is way to many fish
 
azonic

azonic

Active Member
My fishes are as follows:
Yellow Tang - 4"
Lawnmower Blenny - 4"
Dwarf Lion - 4"
"Porcupine Fish" - 2.5"
Sixline Wrasse - 1"
Mandarin Dragonette - 1"
Clarkii Clown - 2"
GoldStripe Maroon - 2"
GoldStripe Maroon - 1.5"
Works out to 1 INCH of fish per 4 gallons of water. 90 gallon tank
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
Hmmmmm
Clarkii Clown 3"
Banggai Cardinal 2"
Yellowtail Damsel 1"
Approximately 6 inches of fish - not counting the tail.
75 gallon reef tank
1" of fish per every 12+ gallons of saltwater
 
1

10k

Guest
I guess this means I can have 25 fish in my tank...lol
No really, I have one fish, per 15.6 gallons
As for the inches per gallon, I haven't a clue...They are just too darn fast to measure.
My advice is just go light on your stocking levels. It's a little like cooking. You can always add, but you can't take away....without breaking down the reef...NO THANKS!
HTH and Good Luck
 
marting83

marting83

Member
That seems so strange only having 1 fish per 10-15 gallons of water. :rolleyes: WHY??? Don't tell me the Biological Filter is that much different from freshwater??!!
Broomer: What happened to your firefish?
 
ntvflgirl

ntvflgirl

Member
Well, right now my ratio is 1" to every 27.5 gallons. So I think I'm in the clear...lol. I only plan on adding about 5 more fish, and they are all pretty small, like royal gramma, and cleaner wrasse.
45 clowns in a 90 gallon!!!! Oh MY!!!:eek:
 
marting83

marting83

Member
Haha, yes I think you are in the clear. If it was freshwater, 45 fish in a 90 gallon aquarium would be just as funny, yet for the opposite reason - only 45
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member

Originally posted by MartinG83
That seems so strange only having 1 fish per 10-15 gallons of water. :rolleyes: WHY??? Don't tell me the Biological Filter is that much different from freshwater??!!
Broomer: What happened to your firefish?
Actually, it is quite different, the recommended is only one inch per 5 gallons(at fishes maturity) and we must figure maturity, b/c unlike fw they wil not grow large enough only to fit their tank
They will grow to maturity OR very close to it
 
mossad327

mossad327

Member
Why is it that y'all recommend the one inch of fish per five gallons? Is it because of the bioload or the need for enough swimming room? If it's because of bioload, what if you were to just have a lot of filtering in the tank? I have a dwarf lion, four chromis, a fairy wrasse, a mandarin (he eats brine, mysis, and everything else I put in there - he's nice and fat even though he's in a 30 - I made sure he ate frozen shrimp before I bought him) and a clown in my 30, but I have a skimmer meant for 90 gallon tanks, a carbon filter, and a powerhead, and in terms of bioload, I have yet to have any sort of algae outbreak and I only have to clean my glass maybe once every three weeks. I test my water every week and everything is always at 0 with the right pH. So if it's because of bioload, do y'all agree that this is ok?
If it's because of swimming room, then I can understand, but at the same time you'd have to factor in what fish you have, how active they are, etc. All of my fish seem to be perfectly happy, nobody's stressed, no disease, no fighting, etc.
I guess I'm just trying to figure out why everybody goes by that general rule of thumb. And even though my tank is perfectly fine, would y'all recommend that I remove some of the fish?
 
flamehawk

flamehawk

Active Member
In a semi reef, that's to say L/R, L/S and fish, w P/S, and some mechanical filter, I use 1/3 to start and gradually move towards 1/2. have kept s/w fish for many years this way w/ no probs.
 
marting83

marting83

Member
I still don't get it. I mean, come on, it's a fish tank, not a rock garden. I didn't mean to insult anyone. The aquariums I've seen posted are all works of art.
I have two books which I read about 5 months ago before starting my plans for a saltwater aquarium. One recommends 3-4 inches per 5 gallons (The Marine Aquarium Handbook by Martin A. Moe, Jr. as recommended by my lfs) and the other says there are just two many variables to specify.
Those of you who have 15+ gallons per inch of fish, I am guessing, have not tried to add anymore. However, there are a couple people who posted there success with a higher number of fish.
My original plan was to be fully stocked with 16 fish by Spring 2003. All fish I have selected are a max of 3 inches or less. I'll continue with this plan, but take your cautions seriously checking Nitrate levels for sudden spikes (Nitrate becuase we know the Bio-Filter can handle the Ammonia and Nitrite). I'll make sure to update everyone on how it's going.
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
Oh no! :eek: I thought it was 5 inches of fish per 1 gallon of water. Naw, I've got about 1 inch of fish per 7 gallons right now, but I keep measuring.......honey they're getting bigger we need a new tank:D
 
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