Minimum tank sizes and selection of animals.

IMO, these minimum tank sizes should also have experience level factored in. More often than not, the people with the least experience are trying to push the limits and go against good advice. Rock on, Vinny.

 

Thanks again now I am getting choked up. Don't worry Alex is gonna get his.LOL Agree 100 percent with you Jerry.As those who have been doing this long enough know increasing the odds in ones favor can only help. There are so many things that can go wrong. Limiting those things is what keeps you in the game.

 

As Vinny knows, I'm all about responsible keeping as well. I love how receptive everyone on this forum is for advice on limiting stress on potential critters. I doubt we have even one "im gonna do it because I saw a buddy do it" situation where people put their trustees in danger. Thanks for the write up Vinny, and sorry to trash the place up!

 

Lol!

 

No worries man!! Scared of the retaliation I see. Well you should be.;D

 

This thread peaked my curiosity, so I did a little research. First of all let me say that I am not trying to be argumentative, nor do I have any ulterior motives other than being curious. I randomly picked 10 different species, there is no reason for the species I picked other than I tried to pick different sizes of fish, I just thumbed through reference book I have, A PocketExpert guide to Marine Fishes by Scott W. Michael, and chose 10. I then compared the recommended minimum tank size of each fish in the book with two different web site retailers, LiveAquaria and Blue Zoo Aquatics. I must admit that I was surprised with the results. In most cases, one or both web sites recommended the same or larger tanks than the book. As far as I know, Mr. Michael is a well respected authority on marine and reef fishes and not connected with any retail fish outlet. Here are the results I found.

FISH SPECIES BOOK LiveAquaria Blue Zoo
Green Mandarin 20 30 20
Ocellaris Clown 20 20 24
Porcupine Puffer 75 180 75
Volitans Lionfish 55 120 50
Yellow-Belly Blue Tang 100 180 75
Lyretail Anthias 55 125 70
Emporer Angelfish 135 220 100
Clown Trigger 135 125 75
Orbiculate Batfish 200 180 80
Raccoon Butterflyfish 75 70 75

I personally think that recommended tank size should only be used as a loose guide to be used in conjunction with other factors such as other community residents, temperament, structure within the aquarium, and hobbyist's experience level. Like I said, I'm not trying to cause a fuss, just sharing what I found.

Sorry I don't know how to make the table appear properly in this format.

 

As you can see we are in full agreeance here.
Discussion is what its all about!!Like I stated in the second post most people use LA as a loose guide for this very reason IMO it is much more in touch with the real world.Blue Zoo aquatics I am not touching that one but ask yourself would you keep a fish (Yellow Belly Blue Tang)that can reach almost a foot in length in a 75 gallon aquarium ? I sure wouldn't; but I probably wouldn't try one in less then a 225 either. These Minimum tank sizes are really mostly speculation and since we can't ask the fish it really comes down to common sense and researching an animals needs and habits.One thing I did not touch on is overcrowding but it is just as important if not more!!Throwing twenty fish that have a minimum tank size of 30 gallons into a 30 gallon tank is a recipe for disaster IME.This hobby is full of comers and goers the reasons for this vary.Life,Money,bad decisions, bad advice, and failure because of these are very common.The people who last are usually ones who can excercise control over the what I call "I want syndrome". When I first started doing this it seemed every pretty fish that I wanted I could not have for one reason or another.Its almost like Mother Nature was trying to play a trick on me. However I quickly discovered that there are plenty of great fish in the sea that were completely appropriate for every type of system. It was just a matter of finding the right ones and the right number of them.Use the search feature here and look at the numbers of Ich treads,Aggresion issues,and such and you will get a pretty good idea of the dangers of overcrowding and inappropriate selection.Sorry for the novel.LOL
Heres a good link. It was really directed towards Ich but it is a blueprint that I have successfully employed for over 30 years with great success.8)
http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hob...general-rules-successful-aquarium-126326.html

P.S. Have you ever tried to catch a fish in a fully stocked reef aquarium?Not fun; and just one more reason rehoming fish, and picking appropriately is so important.
P.S.S. That book you are referring to was published in 1999.

 

Although I agree to a point I do think we sometimes over exaggerate a fishes needs. Of course an aquarium could never be to big, the larger the better , and when it comes to a min tank size the larger we are than the bare minimum the better of the fish will be. Larger tanks give us much more room for error and make keeping any species much easier.

However, I do believe that we emphasize the importance on a larger tank to reduce fish stress. In the wild a fish may swim miles every day to search for food but in a captive home the magic hand of God reaches in daily to feed them without swimming more than a few feet. In the wild they have to hide and be mindful of predators looking to have a tasty morsel whereas in a captive tank God has removed all these predators to make sure everyone plays nice (there are exceptions where people put a lionfish with a clownfish but there will always be those who push the boundaries too far!). I wish I could find an article that studied the cortisol (stress hormone) in parrotfish that were from the wild and different tank sizes. They found the levels to remain constant throughout tanks that would be much to small and larger tanks. Most of the stress we put on a fish does not come from a tank that would be too small, but from improper diet, poor water quality, poor choice of tankmates, or to many hands in the tank rearranging everything! A larger tank makes it much easier to provide a suitable home but with experience and diligence it can be done successfully in a smaller tank.

With that said I do believe there are always exceptions, if a fish needs certain foods such as a mandarin than a 10gallon will not keep up with its needs. Same with anthias, food and aggression make a larger tank a MUST otherwise they will beat the crap out of each other. Certain tangs only swims miles each day for food and if they did not have to they would not such as species from Zebrasoma and Ctenochaetus , however others swim just to swim which I believe is more common with species from Acanthurus and Naso. I hope I am not shunned for my view being somewhat different than many others as I have the same goal in mind, to provide the best possible care to the creatures I own as possible. It is just I feel like we humanize fish to much and talk about them being "happy" when really the only measurable thing we talk about is stress levels. Even then we only look for signs of stress but the only measurable variable would be the hormone levels of the fish which we do not usually have the means of measuring.

 

Also if you don't overstock then your tank can go for several days without electricity and have your fish come out of it alive.
Which is good if you are in an area that has weather realted power issues.

 

Also just to clarify, I am not opposed to everyone else point of view and am in no way offended by anyone elses beliefs. I also hope not to offend anyone else in this forum as I do value you opinions greatly and Vinny and Cosmo have personally helped answer many questions of mine with their great advice