How irrresponsible am I being? - Fish stocking levels

[Bad Company]

Ok, there are so many stocking guides out there, that I am having trouble determining if I am being reasonable or not. SYSTEM/FILTRATION: 70 gal rimless tank 30"WX30"LX16"H (roughly) with a 20 gal sump that is generally holding about 15 gallons. 45 pounds of Figi live rock making 4-5 decent caves, 110 pounds of a mix of fine aragonite sand and 1/4" crushed coral/shells, this gives a base of between 3-5". Lighting is 6 12" Ecoxotic stunners (mix of white and 430nm). Eheim 1260 return pump at about 500GPH (throttled) and a 720 GPH powerhead. Filtration is a 100" square algae scrubber with 50W of mixed lighting CFL/LED, and a hang on Eshopps PSK-100H skimmer. TANK AGE: It's been set up for about 5 months, and the PARAMETERS are as follows: Ammonia: 0.1 on API (really hard to tell if zero or not), Nitrites: 0, Nitrates 0, pH 8.3, temps at 74.8 - 75.4 depending on time of day, and salinity at 1.0245 - 1.026 depending on how recently I've topped it off. I had algae blooms and now there is very little algae in the tank (it all grows on the scrubber). STOCKING: Flame angel (1.5"), Coral Beauty (1.5"), 3 blue green Chromis (1 - 1.5"), Occelaris Clown (1.25"), Yellowtail Damsel (1.25"), Bi-color blenny (2.5"), and a blue spot jawfish (2.5"). At this point I've had all the fish except the Jawfish for more than 4 months, and the two fish I've lost (tallow head jawfish and 1 chromis) didn't last a week so I suspect shipping stress/other issues. QUESTION: With these nine fish I am extremely happy with my tank, it's very low maintenance, and has a wide variety of beautiful fish. I do not want any more, how reasonable is it to expect that as they grow I will not have to donate any back to a store? They all get along at this point, and seem happy. I'd love to hear the opinions of more experienced fish keepers. Thank you very much!

 

[buckeyereefer]

Honestly you will probably be 2 more fish short in next several months. The chromis tend to pick each other off until one left. Not saying you are doing anything wrong. But most times that is what happens.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Nothing wrong with your fish list.

 

[PatW]

All of your fish are appropriate for that size of tank. None of your fish really gets very big so your bio load should not go through the roof. I often read of people putting fish that get over a foot long in that size of tank.

 

[ReefKeeper09]

I don't see anything wrong with your stocking list. Even the chromis. I have 3 in a 75g and they've been in there for 2 years. Also, One of my customers tanks I maintain has 3 in theirs as well and no issues. IME Blue/Green Chromis are usually(Not always) peaceful. Everyone experiences differently though.

 

[Eienna]

Yellowhead jawfish are actually a temperate species, I believe, though often sold as tropicals. Usually ends badly for the fish. :/

The only possible issue I can see is that your two angels _may_ begin to fight. Generally centropyges do not get along. However, your tank size may allow a truce. Just watch them close.

 

[Bad Company]

I've read that the blue spot jaw fish is a temperate species as well. However, liveaquaria put the temps for that species at 72-78°F, and I am running right around 75° F. I really hope that is cool enough. I saw him at the LFS for $70!! He is already eating sinking pellets, and building his home out of whatever he can find. they are awesome!

 

[PatW]

Yellowhead jawfish are actually a temperate species, I believe, though often sold as tropicals. Usually ends badly for the fish. :/

The only possible issue I can see is that your two angels _may_ begin to fight. Generally centropyges do not get along. However, your tank size may allow a truce. Just watch them close.

I am a scuba diver. I have seen yellow headed jawfish in Key Largo, Turks and Caicos, Utila, Roatan, and Little Cayman. All of these places are either tropical or subtropical places. The last place I saw them, the water temps were at 84 degrees. This jawfish can survive in a reef tank.

 

[specvjeff]

Do you have a cover over the tank? Because if not, you might be down three fish after the Chromis pick each other off and the Blue Spotted Jaw jumps out. Blue Spotted Jaws come from Mexico and can handle reef tank temps.

 

[JMSKI333]

Your fish list looks good! Nine fish seems like a lot, but I am sure it's fine. When I had 9 fish in my 90 I thought it was a lot but it was awesome,

 

[Bad Company]

Do you have a cover over the tank? Because if not, you might be down three fish after the Chromis pick each other off and the Blue Spotted Jaw jumps out. Blue Spotted Jaws come from Mexico and can handle reef tank temps.

I think with other fish to worry about, the chromis pick on each other less. The flame angel is the king of the tank, but the clown, blenny, and jawfish ignore him. I do have an all glass top on the tank, with small spacers fro some air exchange, the sump is in a cabinet that is open in the back, so air exchange can happen there too.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Only time will tell with the Chromis. Not likey going to be 3 in there in the end, not in a 70g. I couldn't keep 3 ina 125g.
If you run into PH problems then your glass lids will be the culprit.

 

[Mike J.]

I've seen the issue about Chromis sooo many times. I believe that in order to keep a school of them they need to be down a notch or two in the pecking order. If you have bigger, more aggressive fish with them they will school. Same as in nature - the reason fish school is their chances of getting eaten go down.

It's the same with all the schooling fish.

I don't see any fish on your list that will keep them in order.

 

[ohio reefer]

I've had cromis together in a group of 5, and they did great for the first month. Then they started to turn on each other like clowns would. This was in a 180

 

[ohio reefer]

Not sure why that pic is attached lol