Saltwater Fish Stocking Formula

[firstborn]

What is the most accurate formula for determining stocking limits?
I have heard 1 inch of fish per gallon of water?
What do other people think?

 

[joebob7]

1 inch per gallon is good for fresh water
but in salt water i think its more like 4-5 gallons per inch of fish

 

[rbaldino]

When I got into this hobby over 10 years ago, I was told 1 inch per gallon for fresh water and 3 inches per gallon in salt. You can probably get away with close to 2 inches per gallon in salt these days if you have really good filtration, like lots of live rock, a good skimmer, etc, and did very regular water changes. It all really depends on the fish, though.

 

[wangotango]

i learned the 1" per 6 gallons rule for a reef, at least 1" per 4-5 gallons for fish only. like someone else mentioned in another post, theres a difference in 6" of gobies and 6" of tangs (or other large fish), so you dont want to put too many large, more waste producing fish in.
-Justin