Fish Max Limit

[Vet246]

Sorry if this question has already been posted. I have a 75 gallon tank and I want to make sure I don't overstock it. This is a reef tank. I currently have 2 clowns, pseudochromis, foxface, dragon goby, scooter dragonet, fire shrimp, sally light foot, some snails, lg hermit, 3 sm hermits, 3 anemones. I want 3 more fish...can I without overloading the system?


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[Vet246]

Also I have about 100 lbs of rock, 3 chamber sump with live sand, skimmer, aprox. size 5x4x2, & a few frags, live sand in DT


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[darkblack]

I d be ok. But try to get small fishes

 

[Vet246]

Thanks...this was my first post! I still want a hippo tang, leopard wrasse, and bluespotted jawfish, copperband butterflyfish, 2 banggai cardinals, anemone crab...too much?

 

[Trex]

Yes, IMO/E, that is too much.

That tang needs a much better tank.

The copperband is pushing it in a 75.

What species of anemone? How large are they?

 

[bucksfan1976]

This theory of to many fish is so up in the air. While I agree tangs espically need room to swim, with smaller fish I try to do it this way.

a. Swimming room- they are fish so movement around the tank is always helpful
b. Rock work- Fish like caves so building caves so that each fish has its own little get - a - way will be helpful and lessen the stress
c. Equipment- if you are going to stock the tank with alot of fish I would suggest getting a skimmer that is rated for at least double your tank size so it can handle cleaning out everything
d. CUCs are vital when overstocking, you want to make sure you have plenty of scavangers to clean up the fish poo poo and extra food floating around.


also another thing, if you can throw some extra live rock in your sump. Live rock is very beneficial to filtration and the ecosystem. I have a 92 gallon tank, I have aprox 150 lbs in my tank and 100 lbs in my sump( I have a external skimmer so I gained alot of room there.

 

[Vet246]

Are yellow tangs okay..as in size? I have bubble tips. I really only wanted two but the rose split about 2 weeks ago. The green is small (half fist) the rose is fairly big. During the day the rose covers the rock become bigger than the size of my hand.

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[AZDesertRat]

All Tangs like lots of swimming room and can grow quite large given the chance.
Since our goal as reef hobbyists should always be to provide the best possible environment for our inhabitants so they can live out their full lives it is best to consider a fishes adult size, habits and lifespan when stocking a reef tank. Any Tang will soon outgrow a 75 and while we often say its only temporary and we will get a larger tank "someday" it is often not the case and the fish suffers as a result.

You are borderline overstocked as it is. There is no hardfast rule but you need to look at your systems maturity, stability and ability to process the bioload. Also its ability to adapt to changes. I have a 9 year old 100G reef with 170 lbs of live rock, 330 lbs of sand, a sump with skimmer, reactors and refugium and only keep 5-6 fish plus a couple anemones in it. many of my fish have lived past 13 years in my systems so I think I must be doing something right by keeping the bioload low. You also need to look at the fish you are thinking of, their feeding requirements and how they interact with other inhabitants, ie peaceful or timid fish with semi-agressive foxfaces and wrasses. Make sure they all play nice together. Plus fish like dragonets, gobys and butterflys have some pretty strict diets or they don't do well. You may find the butterfly will nip at corals and the dragonet will starve without massive amounts of live pods.

I thnk you are going way too fast, take your time and think things out before acting on impulse. We all get impatient and sometimes we need to step back and think things through with the advice of others as you are wise in doing here.

 

[Vet246]

Thank you for your feedback...it is very appreciated

 

[mainereefer]

Thanks...this was my first post! I still want a hippo tang, leopard wrasse, and bluespotted jawfish, copperband butterflyfish, 2 banggai cardinals, anemone crab...too much?

with 100+ pounds of lr your 75g tank just turned into a 50g tank and you will lose around 5g per inch of sand

the jawfish requires 3"-5" of sand for its burro
butterfly's dont work in a reef

if you add anymore fish I would go with 1 or 3 banggai's

 

[rworegon]

Your dragon goby will soon become the bane of your tank. They are very cool looking fish but are very destructive and will rearrange anything they can. You will be saying to yourself, "How did all my sand get over there?" And be careful about the Sally Lightfoot. THey are opportunistic feeders and have been known to pick off slow or even sleeping fish. I would watch it closely with the Dragonet.

 

[Vet246]

So far so good on the dragon goby. He drops the sand right where he picks it up from. I will keep an eye on the sally. Thanks for the tip.

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