How many fish can I add at once?

[Variant]

I have typically added one or two small fish at a time to my tanks but am recently wondering if I can add 3 or 4 medium fish at once to avoid any territorial issues.

Just afraid of spiking ammonia...

 

[Jib]

What are the details of your tank? New, old? Cycled? Size?

 

[PatW]

I would think that a well cycled tank would not have any ammonia issues when you add fish. Now it would need to be recently cycled. If you had it up and running for months with no source of ammonia and added a significant fish load, you might get some ammonia. I just do not know how long nitrogen cycling bacteria hang around in the absence of ammonia.

Territorial issues are another matter. It is usually best to add fish together if they have similar levels of aggressiveness. If some fish are far more aggressive than others, it is best to put the most peaceful fish in first and add the aggressive ones last.

 

[rapid]

I would assume it would be up to the size of the tank !

 

[Kal93]

Depends on the size and age of your tank/biofilter, and also how often/how much your fish are fed. Adding a few clowns that are fed every other day might be okay, but 3 anthias that you feed 2-4 times per a day may not.