Enough Fish?

I would have to say Nitrate build up never crossed my mind. No matter how many fish you put in a tank there is always a way to remove nitrates.

Mr.Bond has 5 smallish fish in a 55g tank. My main reason for saying he shouldn't add more fish is because 5 fish in a 55 is enough. Each fish requires some territory and every time you add a fish the others either fight for territory or accept a small piece of the tank. This causes each fish in the tank a great deal of stress. This causes decease and could cause deaths to fish

 

Yaba-daba-doo. I like a good fight.

Sorry. Lost track of this thread. Jason's observation is of course correct also. On the other hand, just like humans and all creatures, some can take closer quarters than others. My nearest neighbor is 400ft. away and all the others are at least 1/5 mile away. I like it that way. Some fish school and others drool at the thoughts of a school. This is why life is so much fun. Answers are not usually black and white. I have in fact kept dozens of freshwater fish in a ten gallon with nary a problem. As I am sure others here have.

However, nitrates in the ocean are of course imperceptible. They are typically the most difficult byproduct of the food chain to get rid of in aquariums, and although not as dangerous as ammonia or nitrite, they can still cause trouble. I look at it like smog in our cities and there are many similarities as to how, why, etc. Most healthy people can handle smog. Others are slightly stressed by it and still others, like the very young, the sick and the elderly, can literally die from it. Mr. Bond may allow his nitrates to remain or climb and forget about them. He sees a nice invert and buys it. Soon it is jello.

Mr. Bond can of course attempt to keep more fish. If they all seem happy and healthy, then add one.....then another......etc. Until he is paying a little less attention, maybe next summer when there are so many other more fun things to do, or over vacation, and the crash comes. Or if Jason is correct, he loses one, then another, etc.

I am relatively new back in the hobby, and have worked very hard to get my nitrates down to indiscernible levels. This was because I was a dufus and did not understand the differences in quality of live rock. I used mangroves, caulerpa, deeper sand, frequent filter changes and less frequent feedings. In my next tank, I will buy better quality LR and see what happens. Most of us move up from fresh water, and one very hard lesson is that Marines are different and troublesome creatures. (double entendre purposeful)

Speed kills.

And now I can't get off my horse. Can someone help me please? ;D No boots allowed.