On the fence....please help and leave your opinion...

Alright.... I have a 350g tank. Currently I have a xl porcupine puffer, juv emperor angel, small niger trigger and large huma trigger. I know with a big tank you can add a lot of fish but knowing how big they will be in 5 years, how many should you add. I've got four and I want really 11 fish but they all will grow to be huge.

I've planned for:
Male and Female Sunset/banana wrasse (lutescens)
Clown trigger
Yellow Belly Hippo Tang
Mappa Puffer
Blonde Naso Tang
Volitan Lion
and MAYBE a Clown Tang (would make 12) b/c I think they look cool.

I care more about the fish and would be "OK" with one wrasse, the clown trigger, the hippo, mappa and volitan (makes 9 instead of 11 or 12) and say forget the 2nd wrasse, Naso and Clown. My tank has a lot of swim room at the top, its 30" tall and 8 foot long, 2 foot wide and I purposefully did not stack my ornaments up high or get a lot of live rock (----'s ugly). I'm going to add artificial corals down low (did you know Nature's image went under) but anyway, i am going to add more color but keep all that stuff low.

Any advice would be appreciated on how to figure the max number of fish for a tank my size. I care more about having a healthy community tank then having a whole lot of fish if you know what I mean, just want them to grow comfortably and i'm trying to think ahead before I make my purchases.

Thanks!

 

whats really funny is that my juvy emperor angel actually has been "shooing" away the porcupine puffer and even my huma on occasion; he's bossy and we laugh at it..... I will try to get them all the same size i agree but is buying so many fish that will grow to large sizes irresponsible? I dont HAVE to have 11 or 12 fish, but i think it would look cool to have large diverse fish only tank.

 

yow - 350g is a big tank!

How much live rock is in there?
I am admittedly curious about what it looks like.

 

Live rock = zero

I don't have any live rock in my tank at all. I will post my pics in an album now.... I'm considering adding a second 100 gallon sump with just rock in it, i'm probably just gonna buy some lava rock though, its cheaper and will be live soon enough. I'm also trying to figure out how to build a refugium, still researching and hoping someone on here points me in the right direction. Pics are coming though....

 

Don't use lava rock. It is full of heavy metals. Just get base rock.

 

really? i didn't know that...... its just when you buy rock from a pet store its 10x the price it should be, no way i can pay 5 or 6 a pound, hell 2 or 3 a pound would hurt....... i was just told any porous rock would turn live after awhile. it's definitely only going in the sump, none going in my tank....

 

i just have some live sand and crushed coral, tank been running since 2004.... i dont have much if any rock in my tank whatsoever. since i'm about to add fish i've been planning on adding a second sump and i recently started to install/setup my first refugium in a 30 gallon tub..... ive been on the hunt on craigslist for some cheap live rock but even folks on there are nuts and asking 2 or 3 a pound, i need like 100 or more pounds...not paying that much! my equipment has kept my tank in good condition though, even without the live rock but keep in mind for almost 4 years i only had 2 fish in there; an undulated trigger and my huma, i just traded the undulated and got the emperor, niger and porcupine within the last month. Long story short i had 8 fish when i started my tank but the guy who set me up convinced me to use some heater that looked like a reptile heater, it broke and heated my water too hot and killed all my fish except the huma. I WAS PISSSSSSED!!!!! Still pissed, i had a 7 inch long clown that was gettin along with all my fish, after we lost all that money we just never had the nerve to spend money like that again on fish and just enjoyed the two triggers.... i guess not so short but thats where I am with my tank....