As many fish as possible in 56 gallon tank

[ajtomase]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking at a 56 gallon tank and I want to have as many fish/coal/invertibrates as possible. I'd love to have as much color, variety, and movement in my tank as possible. Is it still the 1" per gallon rule? Thanks!

I also plan on adding several invertebrates

I'm also thinking about adding the following corals

1. Green star polyps
2. Hammer (branching)
3. Frogspawn coral
4. Candy cane
5. Blastomussa
6. Ellegance
7. Duncan
8. Zoanthid
9. Some type of brain coral

 

[Cstar_BC]

Hey !

so all I can see is that you have some group fish and are only getting one- like the chromis and Bangai - they like to be in groups of at least 3

Next - have you considered how many fish per zone of your tank you will have ?

Lawnmower blenny, crouched goby and yellow watchmen all spend a lot of time at the bottom of the tank .

try to think where the fish like to be - top, mid , low

hiding vs out in the open .

the 1”/gallon is not a good way to consider stocking as some fish are definitely more “dirty“ than others

good luck with your tank !

 

[Redfoxtang]

I’m not a believer in the 1” rule but I break a lot of rules in this hobby! With that being said I probably have about 15 fish in 60g ranging from all different sizes. So as long as your bio filter (sump) and system can sustain more fish I think you’ll be ok.

 

[ichthyogeek]

I stopped believing in the 1"/2 gallons rule (the saltwater variant) a while ago...now it's just "figure out bioload and run with it".

A bit of pushback on the Banggais being in groups of 3; typically they'll separate into male/female pairs, and the female typically regenerates eggs while the male is still holding, hence why you should have an additional male, to reduce aggression from the female who wants to spawn. BUT they won't school/shoal together. It's more of a "this is my favored male at the moment, go incubate my eggs for me" kind of thing. Most accounts I've heard of typically only say 2 fish (1M:1F) in the non-breeder's tank.

And also a bit of pushback on the chromis, but it's less pushback and more "you need to know this". Provide plenty of cover at night, and lots of food; accounts I've read usually don't feed the chromis a lot, and they end up outcompeting each other for food/beating each other up due to the lack of it, and you slowly whittle it down to a pair/single fish. This can be remedied by adding extra cover for the fish to sleep in at night, as well as the aforementioned increase in feeding. You can keep large numbers (think 6 or more) if you can provide the cover and feeding for them!

The firefish on the other hand, I am personally keeping in a trio (whittled down from a group of 6 I bought 3-4 months ago).

Many of the fish in your list (minus the scorpionfish and the wrasse) can actually be kept in pairs. It's just a little bit of harder work to do so.

History Lesson: I believe that the 1"/gallon rule was originally meant to be 1 cubic inch of fish per gallon. People just simplified it to 1 linear inch for simplicity's sake.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

I have six fish in my 60 gallon fish-only, that's 10 gallons per fish. I do not plan on adding any more; I like for my fish to have plenty of room.

 

[ajtomase]

I stopped believing in the 1"/2 gallons rule (the saltwater variant) a while ago...now it's just "figure out bioload and run with it".

A bit of pushback on the Banggais being in groups of 3; typically they'll separate into male/female pairs, and the female typically regenerates eggs while the male is still holding, hence why you should have an additional male, to reduce aggression from the female who wants to spawn. BUT they won't school/shoal together. It's more of a "this is my favored male at the moment, go incubate my eggs for me" kind of thing. Most accounts I've heard of typically only say 2 fish (1M:1F) in the non-breeder's tank.

And also a bit of pushback on the chromis, but it's less pushback and more "you need to know this". Provide plenty of cover at night, and lots of food; accounts I've read usually don't feed the chromis a lot, and they end up outcompeting each other for food/beating each other up due to the lack of it, and you slowly whittle it down to a pair/single fish. This can be remedied by adding extra cover for the fish to sleep in at night, as well as the aforementioned increase in feeding. You can keep large numbers (think 6 or more) if you can provide the cover and feeding for them!

The firefish on the other hand, I am personally keeping in a trio (whittled down from a group of 6 I bought 3-4 months ago).

Many of the fish in your list (minus the scorpionfish and the wrasse) can actually be kept in pairs. It's just a little bit of harder work to do so.

History Lesson: I believe that the 1"/gallon rule was originally meant to be 1 cubic inch of fish per gallon. People just simplified it to 1 linear inch for simplicity's sake.

Thank you! That's great to hear. I think my biggest thing with keeping multiples is aggression (especially if more than 1 males are put together).

Given my list, what about me adding a tomini tang, or is that pushing it? Just thinking about my utilitarian options for algae.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Imo, tomini is too big for a 60 gallon tank, rest of your list seems okay. Definitely wait on the mandarin until your copepods are well established and you can get a captive bred one.

 

[ajtomase]

Imo, tomini is too big for a 60 gallon tank, rest of your list seems okay. Definitely wait on the mandarin until your copepods are well established and you can get a captive bred one.

Thank you! I shouldn't have to worry about algae growth with the blenny and the cleanup crew invertebrates I've listed right? Should I add an emerald crab just in case?

 

[PicassoClown04]

Thank you! I shouldn't have to worry about algae growth with the blenny and the cleanup crew invertebrates I've listed right? Should I add an emerald crab just in case?

Emeralds have been pretty evil for me, but many people have had good experiences with them. Imo, the lawnmower will be more than enough to control it. Some stomatella snails (if you can locate them, many other reefers have them but I’ve never seen them for sale anywhere). I don’t have many problems with algae in any of my tanks and all I have are the stomatellas and some regular cuc hermits