Stocking Question?

[Adrian Em]

Hello all,

I've been in the hobby for a year now (started tank 4/1/22) and have had my share of successes and failures to date. Battled Ich, dynos, Cyano and have unfortunately lost a few fish and corals along the way. I'm currently running a 72 gallon bowfront with a 30 gallon sump. I'll post a picture below. Currently have 7 fish which I will list. I've not had much luck when trying to add more fish, seems like once I go past 6, something bad would happen in my tank. I'm not sure if its an issue with the bio load. I think I have enough rock in the display and bio balls in the sump to support more than 7 fish. Is there a formula or recommendation for the amount of fish a given tank size can accommodate?

Not looking to pack the tank, but my fish tend to keep to the left side of the tank leaving it looking mostly empty. I recently purchased 4 Chromis but they all died within two weeks. I've added an Eibli mimic tang that lasted a 2 weeks. The same for various wrasses that I've tried to add. This is what's in the tank currently:

2 black clowns
1 juvenile Hippo tang (I know he will outgrow the tank)
1 Melanarus Wrasse
1 Yellow coris wrasse
1 Firefish goby
1 Tiger Wardi Goby

I'm looking for recommendations of fish that I can add to what I currently have. Looking to maybe end with 11 total. Please let me know if that's too many for the tank I have. Keep the suggestions coming. Still searching for a nice "centerpiece" fish to complete my stocking (if its wise to add more).

 

[Adrian Em]

Here’s the tank.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

Dwarf angel
cardinal
blenny
Your display is fairly open, you may want to add a few more rocks so they can have more hiding places. At least one for each of them. Arches are attractive but do not provide a very good cover.
11 of my 14 fish disappear completely from view at night or when they are scared. I know where they are, but cannot see them. The only one I see are the clowns, usually in the lower corner of the tang, and my rabbit fish, as he is a little big for his hiding place and do not disappear completely. If you think it happens when you go over 6 fish, it could be that they become stressed if they cannot secure a spot to call their own.

 

[Adrian Em]

Dwarf angel
cardinal
blenny
Your display is fairly open, you may want to add a few more rocks so they can have more hiding places. At least one for each of them. Arches are attractive but do not provide a very good cover.
11 of my 14 fish disappear completely from view at night or when they are scared. I know where they are, but cannot see them. The only one I see are the clowns, usually in the lower corner of the tang, and my rabbit fish, as he is a little big for his hiding place and do not disappear completely. If you think it happens when you go over 6 fish, it could be that they become stressed if they cannot secure a spot to call their own.

Thank you for your response. I can say that I didn't consider that to be a major factor but your reasoning makes perfect sense. I will look into the possibility of re-scaping but I must admit that I'm not 100% in love with the idea. As for the suggestions, I've had a coral beauty that didn't survive. I've also had a Midas Blenny that I had to return to the LFS as he was probably an adult when I got him and was super aggressive. I have considered Cardinals, but would prefer pajama instead of Bangai that my LFS always seem to have.

 

[Adrian Em]

Any other opinions out there?

 

[Nemo&Friends]

Of course it could be something else, but as you did not mentioned that the new fish were sick or that they got the original fish sick, I tend to blame stress. Without a shelter, a little bullying, could do a lot of harm.
My dwarf angel is an Eibli angel. It is constantly swimming in and out of the rocks. I lost a CB and blame my very aggressive 4 stripes damsel. But I learned to block the damsel in a corner with egg crate, whenever I introduced new fish, and release it a week or 2 later, and it worked.

Other fish you could consider are Damsel are very colorful and resistant. They can become aggressive, but if you introduce them last it could be ok.