another stocking question.........

[jennymit21]

although it will be at least another 3-4 months before we start adding fish to the tank we are starting to narrow down what we want in the tank


i know that the general rule with SW is 2" of fish for every 10 gallons. and i won't do anything that will cause problems long term.....does where they swim in the water column give any leeway to that rule? ie: dragonnettes and gobies generally being at the bottom of the tank so maybe i can squeeze in a second clown......

if my bf had his way we'd have 50" of fish in a 75gallon tank (he's always had FW).....i already gave him the disappointing news so we're arguing over which ones are gonna have to get knocked off the list IF only he would get me that 180 i've been eyeing LOL for some reason he doesn't want to risk it Something to do with our 2nd floor apartment and the other tanks already all over the house

 

[c0mf0rt]

Just my personal experience...... I LOVE my psycho goby and my lawnmower blenny..... they've got ALOT of personality.... O and I only have a 60 gal.

 

[loganj]

In your 75, I'd say you could have a yellow tang, a clown of some sort...maybe even a pair of ocellaris or percs, and perhaps a small gobie or blenny. I know that is very conservative and I'm sure folks are going to chime in and say they have much higher stocking levels. The lower you keep the bio load, the easier it is to keep the tank clean and working properly. Inverts such as shrimp, crabs, snails, ect... don't really add much to the load so you can be a bit more liberal with them. If you are going to have any carnivorous fish such as puffers, triggers, lions, ect..., you really have to watch the stocking levels as these guys will produce a lot of waste and most of them are messy eaters. My puffer will cram his mouth as full as he can get it, chew a minute, and spit 2/3 of it back out.

 

[jennymit21]

i am going to start out as FOWLR and eventually move on to reef once i get the hang of things......very long term goal is to have a mandarin, but that is at least another year or so away. I wasn't sure if having certain fish that like to hide in the rocks would allow me to have a couple extra inches of fish that like to hang out elsewhere.

 

[lando]

the whole inches/gal. of fish is more of a guideline then a hard and fast rule. There are a lot of variable to consider. First off, the type of fish. Aggressive fish and messy eaters tend to pollute the water more then grazing community fish. The type of filtration is also important. Your tank can handle a larger bio-load if it has more LR. A few here would think my tank is over-stocked (check my profile for a list of fish) but I have no problem with amonia, nitrites or nitrates. My system is set up to handle the bio-load I have. Just do your research and plan appropriatley. Don't get too tied up in the inch/gal. thing. Just be smart with what you do and you should not have a problem.

 

[RocketSeason]

I would say that you could get way with a bottom feeder or two. a couple of Ocellarious Clowns, a tang, perhaps a small angel, and another tiny fish like a small firefish or neon goby.

stay away from damsels and some of the more aggressive guys (puffers, groupers, eels, lions, etc.)

 

[jennymit21]

thanks guys.....will get back to you with what we come up with once the two of us narrow down the list a lil bit and can agree on what we're getting i'm thinking along the lines of bristletooth tomini tang, flame angel, watchman goby, lawnmower blenny and maybe a gramma if possible. I also intend (as stated earlier) to have a mandarin once there are enough pods and everything is stable (prob. a yr or so down the road) BTW there is approx 150lb of live rock in there.

 

[ChrisB]

to maybe have a guaranteed pod collection go to
http://www.sjwilson.net/reef/
this girl breeds pods and has been for a while. seems fairly complicated but dont expect to just get it done in a day. still wait a year though. And about the inch/gal as lando said it really matters on type. purple firefish stays in one place all the time but my coral beuty can cover the whole tank in two seconds

 

[MACATUA]

Haha loganj, my puffer does the same thing. He is so scared something will get his krill that he swallows them whole then spits them back out, only for the Trigger to get them anyway.