How much fish is too much?

[fishoholic]

I know the general rule is 1 inch fish per 10g. However it seems that most people do not follow this "rule" too closely. I've read posts and I've seen set ups of (for example) 55g tanks with 5 large fish 2 med. fish & 5 small fish, also there was a 72g with 17/18 fish in it. I personally think that is way too many fish for the size of tank. I do not want to offend anyone and I myself know how easy it can be to add one more fish. My concern is my own tank we have a 120g with a 30g sump. Our fish include one 2" lavender tang, one 3" yellow tang, one 5" regal tang, one 7-8" salfin tang, one 5" foxface, one 2" cinnamon clown fish who hosts a semi-large GBTA, one 3" zebra goby, one 3" yellow head sleeper goby, one 2" scooter blenny, and 5 small chromis. Which is 14 fish in total. We do have a good skimmer running on the tank which helps, but I was wondering what people thought about how many fish we have, is this too much for our 120g? All our fish seem to get along (for the most part) but I'm worried that our salfin tang is almost too big for our tank What are your thoughts? Please let me know- Thanks

[marie]

I don't think going by inches per gallon is a good way to figure out how many fish to have. A lot depends on the system and the type of fish.
You have fish that produce lots of waste and they will reach a relatively large adult size. The sailfin tang alone is supposed to reach 16" when it is full grown and would probably produce a lot more waste then 8 2" chromis (as an example).
All that said I personally think you have too many large fish for a 120g tank. The sailfin, regal and probably the lavender are going to be to big to fit comfortably in a 4ft, 120g even if they were by themselves and I do see nutrient problems in your future if you keep all those fish

[fishoholic]

What size tank do you think we should upgrade too?

[marie]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

What size tank do you think we should upgrade too?

At least a 6ft long, 180g... as long as you don't add any more large fish when you upgrade




*Edit* How about this one http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=32609

[fishoholic]

No more fish are planned, just trying to convince my boyfriend that I think we need a bigger tank. There is a great deal on a 230g that I'd love to get but it won't fit down the hall to the basement and I don't think I can convince him to figure out a way to brace the flooring better so that it could go upstairs Plus it would mean upgrades to lighting etc.

[fishoholic]

That's the one I want!!!!!

[andsoitgoes]

LOL - never ask another reefer "Do you think I should upgrade?"

You should ALWAYS upgrade!!!

Seriously though - you have to look at the metabolism of each fish in the system - I had 3 fish at one time in my nano (7g) and I was fine, they were all "light" swimmers, blennies, gobies, etc - and one firefish.

But if you have highly active fish in your tanks, you're going to run into problems no matter what.

However, the best way I've found to figure out if you're overloading is to look at your tank - what is it telling you? Do you have Cyano issues? Do you struggle with other algae?

Also - if you worry, do more frequent water changes, that'll help remove the crap and keep it at a normal level of being.

[ron101]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

I know the general rule is 1 inch fish per 10g.

IMO this 'rule' is highly inaccurate. A better parameter for gauging bioload is fish mass, not the length. Since a fish's bodymass can increase tenfold with a doubling of length (the fish will also be wider and taller in addition to longer), that rule of thumb gets really inaccurate with larger fish.

Also keep the fish's shape in mind. A long narrow fish like a trumpet/coronet is not going to have as large of bioload as, say, a fat grouper of equivalent length.

[fishoholic]

Thanks for all the advice so far (keep it comming!). I appreciate others knowledge.

[Moogled]

If you're siphoning waste out of the water and you're amazed at the amount of poop that's coming out then you should probably keep less fish, haha.