How many fish can I have?

Bryon · Apr 21, 2013

Is there an unwritten rule as to how many fish can be in a tank. I have a 65g tank (20g refugium) with 2 clowns, 2 green chromis, flasher wrasse, and a mandarin. I also have some corals, a fire shrimp, and live rock. The tank seems like it could use more fish, but I didn't want to overload it. What would you guys recommend for the quantity and possible reef safe fish to add. Thanks in advance.

BENT STIX · Apr 21, 2013

What fish do you want?

120 gallon reef
45g clown anemone

Bryon · Apr 21, 2013

BENT STIX said:
What fish do you want?

120 gallon reef
45g clown anemone

I'm looking for colorful reef safe fish. I was leaning towards an anthias, royal gramma, or firefish. I wasn't sure how many total fish my tank can keep safely.

Reefing Madness · Apr 21, 2013

Anthias would be ok. The Firefish are jumpers so you'd need a lid for the tank.

peter505 · Apr 21, 2013

It really all depends on the behavior of the fish. What size do they reach fully mature? Do they need a lot of swimming room? Will they need their own territory? Those are the kinds of things I consider. In this case, I agree that an anthias should be fine.

Rikerbear · Apr 21, 2013

Are your clowns showing signs of aggression? If so I would not add the firefish or he could seriously get beat up on. Royal gramma would be a nice addition, as would a couple anthias.
The firefish and the gramma will certainly compete with the mandarin for pods, so that could be an issue also.

Bryon · Apr 21, 2013

Rikerbear said:
Are your clowns showing signs of aggression? If so I would not add the firefish or he could seriously get beat up on. Royal gramma would be a nice addition, as would a couple anthias.
The firefish and the gramma will certainly compete with the mandarin for pods, so that could be an issue also.

I haven't seen any aggression from the clowns. They just recently started to host my frogspawn and pretty much mind their own business. My mandarin is pretty beefy and started to eat frozen brine (the clowns in the frogspawn and the mandarin eating frozen food are my most exciting and proud moments in this hobby so far). For the anthias, which ones would you recommend for my tank and how many?

Rikerbear · Apr 21, 2013

Bryon said:
I haven't seen any aggression from the clowns. They just recently started to host my frogspawn and pretty much mind their own business. My mandarin is pretty beefy and started to eat frozen brine (the clowns in the frogspawn and the mandarin eating frozen food are my most exciting and proud moments in this hobby so far). For the Anthias, which ones would you recommend for my tank and how many?

Excellent!! Clowns can turn, so watch them...as for the mandarin AWESOME!!! They do need to eat often, as they have no way to store food....
My personal favorite Anthias are the purple queen, but Bartletts and lyretail are both nice too.