Added fish after wipeout

[TimmyVoo]

Hey guys I am new to this site and am glad to be apart! About a month and a half ago I brought 2 new fish into my tank and encountered a massive fish loss and I'm left with a porcupine puffer, squirrel fish, sailfin tang, twin spot wrasse, and a blue damsel. I am going to start to add one fish at a time to get the tank going again. I am very interested in getting a zebra moray eel and was wondering if this should be my first to put in. Should I try a less expensive fish and see if he survives and how the tank reacts than add the moray? Advice will be appreciated!

 

[Brad.Sedore]

how big is the tank?

 

[TimmyVoo]

125 gallons

 

[Brad.Sedore]

how many fish did you have in there. also the puffer will outgrow your tank

 

[TimmyVoo]

10 fish

 

[Brad.Sedore]

10 fish really doesnt help much. if you want to get to the root of your crash we will need some detail as at least 4 of those fish can range from 1 inch to 10-24inchs.

also the zebra moray would more than likely cram your bioload right up. what else are you looking to add besides this?

 

[TimmyVoo]

2 tangs were about 4 inches and the 3 damsels were about an inch and a foxface was about 3 inches. I really wanted an eel and was looking at either the snowflake or zebra but I guess they both produce the same bioload. I was looking at some tangs also. I have a protein skimmer along with my filter if that matters

 

[Brad.Sedore]

the snowflake will be significantly less bioload than zebra. it seems like your overstocking a bit. i probably wouldnt put more than 1 tang in a 125. the puffer and the wrasse will get to large for your tank. as of right now your fish would total about 70 inchs of large bodied fish. if you were to put just an eel in i would think youd be at the very top end of your stocking but thats just my opinion. likely by morning someone will chime in.

 

[mr_X]

brad is right. the reason you lost the fish is most likely complications from overstocking. i wouldn't put too many more fish in that tank. it's not seeing if the fish do ok...it's making the system ok for the fish. you can keep any fish you want providing you have the correct environment for them. that might mean a larger tank for some.

 

[TimmyVoo]

I understand now. Complications of a 6 month old tank and overstocking is what brought out many of the diseases. And the eel situation would be better I I got a snowflake opposed to a zebra moray even though I love the zebra 100 better than the snowflake?

 

[Brad.Sedore]

snowflake stay small... like 2 ft small. zebra will get up to 5 ft. bigger fish bigger bioload (usually)

 

[TimmyVoo]

Even with the protein skimmer to reduce it?

 

[mr_X]

the protein skimmer couldn't keep up last time. what's different this time?

 

[TimmyVoo]

I didn't have the skimmer last time I got it while my fish were dying and waited till the diseases cycled than installed it

 

[mr_X]

well then, every system is different. you are going to have to evaluate your situation and decide. feeding is a big component in your bio load also.
what skimmer did you get?

 

[TimmyVoo]

A remora pro hangon skimmer with a mag drive 3 pump

 

[TimmyVoo]

Keep in mind guys I'm 16 years old and this is my favorite thing to so when I first started 6 months ago the local fish store put me in a basic aquarium to soon find out they steered me wrong with a lot of things so any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[mr_X]

that skimmer is underpowered for your tank tim. just be aware of that while you stock. i always suggest a protein skimmer that is rated for 1.5 to 2 times your tank volume.
yeah, it seems that many LFS's tend to recommend whatever they have in stock.

 

[TimmyVoo]

Yea they told me a lot of things during water changes that were wrong that killed a lot of my natural bacteria. Do u suggest any other eels for my system or is the snowflake the right one?

 

[mr_X]

well, it's the smallest one except for the garden eel. that requires a deep sand bed though.