Livestock suggestions anyone?? :)

What "rule" do yall use to determine the max number of fish in your tank?I've heard a few different inchs of fish per gal number, but then I've also read that whole idea is inadequate. What do yall go by?

 

The rule I believe is 1 inch of fish per 3 gallons of water. The only thing is oviously fish grow and thus you cant use how many inches they are when they first introduced as usually they are only juvineilles.

The rule is a solid rule but also flexible in this sinse..everything in your tank effects biolaod, IE, Fish, Crabs, Shrimp, snails, and many other inverts. which makes the inch per gallon rule a little more complicated.

Also this. Everything you have in your tank that you have for filtration will effect your max biolaod. So somone with more filtration, more maintenace, etc could possibly keep a larger biolaod than somone with less filtration.

The more ways you have to remove organic watse the more your biolaod can be. theortically you could put 20 fish in your tank, if you somehow had an incredible way to remove the waste product.

So Skimmers for example, the better your skimmer, =the more organic waste in can remove, =the higher your bioload can be.

Other things include, Live rock amount. the more=more bioligical filtration=waste broken down faster=higher biolaod. any forms of filtration. nitrate reactors,mechanical filters,phos reactors.etc etc.

Also.Increased water changes will help tremendously with a large bioload.

hope that helps.

 

btw, there is no such thing as "end of cycle" your tank is always cycling, fish are at the top of the cycle, any means of filtration we have helps the cycle. If your filtration cannot keep up with the amount of waste your fish produce or the amount of food we feed then the cycle is interupted, which leads to, wacked parameters and casualties. So just remember that when researching how much equipment as well as live stock to purchase the purpose of what are goals is. To make are tank as effcient as possible.

 

this is good at the beginning but its really just common sense, if your tank looks overcrowded when you look at it you should lose a couple fish.

 

...I dont think you can always just look at your tank and say its over crowded. my LFS for instance has probably 45 fish in a 100g. but he has a tremendous skimmer and a sunp with a boatload of liverock in a tubsump. theres no way to know how much weight the amount of fish you have are putting on your biolaod without testing the water for nitrate, nitrite, spikes. It has nothing to do with how many fish are swimming in your tank it matters what there straining on your system.

 

I make my decision depending on how the inhabitants interact. I have a 55 with a 20+ sump, but I only have 4 fish. If I added another of any kind of fish, there would be war. There's the occasional chase or open mouth in the tank now, but 90% of the time everyone minds their own business. Don't want that 10% to be any higher!

 

it does not matter the type of filtration they still need room to swim about, a 10 gallon aquarium with an angelfish in it is not healthy at all even if it has a massive filtration system and skimmer

 

Bio load vrs water quality- this is it in a nut shell- provided everyone gets along.

More often then not- and this includes chiclids from the FW world- sometimes more IS better.

The reason is that it cuts down on agression towards weaker/younger fish, this in turn creates diveresity, just like in nature.

However the trick is - providing quality water, and this is more difficult with SW critters in some ways- esp. if it is a mixed reef.

Like I said before, seeing 40 look downs or 30 anthia's in a single tank is very cool, but let's not forget this also takes into consideration the person/people keeping them in a high quality enviroment.

 

this is also a method used, however mostly by pet stores and is extremely discouraged. with this you just load the tank with fish so they cant develop territories in the tank so therefore there is no fighting because everyone is in everyones space. but the water quality is good because it has a massive filter. it is a horrible way to start a tank

 

no hawk fish are great fish some are not that aggressive well some are but some not! who gives a **** about a swim bladder they eat lots of prepared foods and lots of personality!