Fish and bio load

[Mf2991]

Newbie question here.... I have a 46g bowfront which has cycled. I have one chromis in there now and he seems to be doing well. I want to get him some more chromis friends to school up with but I don't want to overload my tank with them because I would also like other fish. So my question is how many other fish like clowns, wrasses, gobies can I safely add to my tank if I have a school of 3-5 chromis in there as well ?

 

[Jon Fishman]

They likely won’t school in a 46g regardless of how many you get. I would say your fine with a few plus a few other fish if they don’t get too big, or are dirty (puffers etc)

 

[Biokabe]

The answer is really... it depends.

There is no simple answer, like X inches of fish per gallon; that just doesn't exist in saltwater. The answer will depend on a number of factors:

• The physical dimensions of your tank (length and width, especially)
• What equipment you have (HOB filter, canister filter, skimmer + refugium, media reactors, etc)
• Your ultimate goals with the tank (Fish-only, soft corals, mixed reef, etc.)
• The temperament of your fish
• The size of your fish

Generally speaking, in a tank that size you can keep 4-6 fish for a typical reef tank, a few more if you're going fish-only. In my 55g tank, 5 seems to be the magic number; I might be able to add one or two if I get everything running just right, but whenever I've added a sixth, one of the fish ends up dying within a month or two.