Rule to avoid Overstocking

[torrancejones]

I have just purchased and read a book entitled, "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael S. Paletta. There was one passage from the book that confused me:
"The old rule of thumb for stocking a saltwater system was 1 inch of fish for every 5 gal. of water. This is a rough and arbitrary rule that is often ingnored for the simple reason that it doesn't always make sense: one 5-inch grouper would produce significantly more waste than five 1-inch damselfishes. A live rock system has a much more generous margin of error in its stocking limits. I will suggest a loose guideline of 1-inch of fish per 2 gallons of water. "
What I get out of the above is that if you utilize live rock as a biological filter then 1-inch of fish per 2 gal of water is the rule. If you do not use live rock then the old rule of 1-inch of fish per 5 gal. of water should be used.
Do the experts of this forum agree with this? If not, what is the best rule to use?
Thanks,
Tor

 

[bang guy]

Just an opinion of course.
I don't believe that the limitation is biologic filtration. A live sand bed can handle more fish bio-load than you could possibly fit in a tank.
I believe the limitation is space. With less space there's more stress. More stress means more disease and torn fins, etc.
I stand by the 1" per 5 gallons adjusted to fish temperment. Clownfish don't need near the space as more active fish like Tangs. Add a little more fish for docile fish, subtract some for active fish. Also use the Max size expected in captivity, not the current size of the fish.
Anything less is asking for trouble later as the fish mature. Ask Dr. Paletta about old tank syndrome.... This seems to happen in crowded tanks at about the time when most of the fish are mature. Could be coincidence, then again, maybe it's not.

 

[torrancejones]

Bang Guy - thanks for your response! Have you read the book I am referencing. Part of why I asked this question was to find out how credible the author is. If he is wrong about this then that makes me wonder what else he is wrong about. hmmmm...
Thanks again,
Tor

 

[bang guy]

Well, compared to Paletta I'm just a nobody. There are lots of ways to have a successful aquarium and I happen to be conservative on the amount of fish in a system. Doesn't make me right or wrong. Just my opinion.
Guy

 

[bdhough]

Bang is the new Paletta. Check out his lagoon I've read the book you are talking about and i'll congragulate you on doing that first. That rule is very loose and every system is different. You must also take into account the fish themselves. You can't place a foot long lion fish in a 120 gallon tank with a school of 12 1 inch green chromis. Every last one of those fish would be eaten. Like wise you can't place that same lion generally in with any sort of trigger. A yellow tang in a 55 might be a hellion but in a 125 a softy. Use common sense in stocking your tank and always make sure that fish you place will be compatible with the tank and themselves.

 

[asbury030]

i have a twelve gal. how many fish could i put in it?

 

[bdhough]

I would stick to 2. I had 3 in mine at one point but it was a randalls goby who eventually starved to death because i wasn't paying attention to the fact he didn't eat when i fed. You may be able to try 3 but that combination is very very very limited. Like i said i would stick to 2....

 

[slofish]

----OPINION

[hr]
I like the rule of 1 inch of fish per 2 gallons in an established (cycled and about 6 months running time w/ 1inch of fish per 5 gals throughout the six months.
Also, of course, you can overstock your tank depending on how much time, effort and money you want to put into it. My LFS keeps an overstocked 72 reef display. About 40 inches of fish in there. Only thing, it requires A LOT of maintenance. Only 1 tang in the enitire tank. The others are mostly fish that do not require lots of room. They do water changes about 3 times a week, plus test the water daily. But then again, they're there 6 days a week and 9 hours a day, so they have the time to maintain it.
So if your willing to do constant water changes to keep ammonia, nitrate, etc levels down and have the fish that are right for an overstocked tank, it is possible to keep an overstocked tank.