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I'd love some input on stocking levels for a 55g

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CMcTay View Drop Down
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    Posted: February 23 2015 at 9:47am
It turns out there isn't much in the way of resources for stocking salt tanks in terms of hard rules of thumb, and I am still pretty new to this hobby in general. So, I defer to those that have more experience than me that can guide me :)

It's a 55g, for filtration it has an HOB marineland penguin rated for 50-70, a UV sterilizer of some kind (I've never seen these things before), and a reef octopus protein skimmer. Also tons of live sand and ~70lbs live rock.

I already have:

Two ocellaris clowns

A Wheeler's goby

A pistol shrimp

A diamond goby

A Hector's goby


Here's the fish I have my eye on for adding:

Longnose Hawkfish

Flame Hawkfish

Valentini Puffer

Blue Dot Jawfish

Adorned Wrasse

Red-lined Wrasse

Midas Blenny

Flasher Wrasses, a male and two female

I selected the above using liveaquaria's compatibility chart and min tank size ratings for all... But I have no idea if a 55 can comfortably house ALL of them, I assume I'll have to pare down the list quite a bit... unless the filtration is all that matters in keeping them comfortable? Any additional advice on the interactions between these species is super welcome, as well.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Marcoss Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 9:55am
It seems like a lot to me but I am a novice. I had heard the rule of thumb is 1 inch per every 5 gallons. So if you only have 40 gallons you want a total of 8 inches of fish. Some of those get huge.

This person seems legit and helps a ton of people:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068112

Marcos

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Molli Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 10:03am
A 55 gallon with tons of sand and all that live rock plus the space at the top of your tank probably cuts your water to less than 40 gallons. Not only do you need the equipment to handle the bioload, but many fish can become aggressive when they are overcrowded.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote BobC63 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 10:11am
14 fish total for a 55g is too many
 
I'd knock off 1 of the 2 hawkfish and the Puffer for sure.
 
The jawfish may not be compatible with all those gobies and the Midas blenny, either.
 
If you just added in the wrasses you want to your existing livestock and 1 of the hawks, that puts you at 10 fish - that would be my limit 
- My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) -

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 10:28am


Your concern is appropriate. One of the reasons I like this hobby is because there is so much to learn. Even after 23 years in the hobby, I'm still learning every day.
Originally posted by CMcTay CMcTay wrote:

...It's a 55g, for filtration it has an HOB marineland penguin rated for 50-70, a UV sterilizer of some kind (I've never seen these things before), and a reef octopus protein skimmer. Also tons of live sand and ~70lbs live rock...
The major filtration in a reef aquarium, 80-100% is the biological filtration; the bacteria, bugs and worms living in the LS, LR, LW and also algae the amazing water cleaner. This is called biofiltration
Each tank is as different as the hobbyist that sets it up. 
All LR and LS is not the same. The LS that comes from a bag has hardly any life whereas the same amount of LS from a mature tank is as much as 100 times as capable.

I agree with everyone above about the fish load. Is this tank already set up? Where did the LS come from? The LR? Is there any Macroalgae? Can you post a pic? I can tell a lot from a picture. That will help us help you to grow the biofiltration so it can support all those fish.

Also, what about planned coral? Did you know that coral filter the water while fish pollute the water?

Check out the thread linked in my signature line. It has tons of good information. from hobbyist discussions here since 2002.

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Mark  Hug
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote DMower Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 10:49am
The "x" number of inches of fish per "z" number of gallons is not a good way to measure fish tank capacity.
None of those fish get huge.

Be aware of your bioload and what corals you want to keep. It is easier to keep corals happy with less fish. A soft coral tank would require less filtration and work to keep the water "clean".

Think more about where the fish live and provide each of them with space. You have a lot of bottom dwelling sand movers. I would probably not add a jawfish. This could change after an evaluation of the first round of additions and seeing where the fish found a home. That puffer is awesome and they stay very small. It is not a threat to any of the other fish on this list. I would remove a few of the wrasses as I see more conflict with them.

Get some sand dwellers, some rock/mid tank, and some open water/ top tank fish. There are lots of choices. A small bristle tooth tang would be a good fit, or a small rabbit fish instead of all those wrasses.

So: gobies and pistol shrimp for the sand, the long nose hawk and a blenny for the rock (I like the Orange spotted blenny), Valentini puffer, flasher wrasse pair, pair of clown fish,and a yellow eye cole tang.

Something like that.
150 gal reef with 50 gal sump. Reef Octopus DCS-200 Skimmer. AI Sol Blues.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote DMower Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 10:53am
Some dart fish would be a fun choice too. They stay at the top of the tank.
150 gal reef with 50 gal sump. Reef Octopus DCS-200 Skimmer. AI Sol Blues.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CMcTay Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 11:23am
Originally posted by Mark Peterson Mark Peterson wrote:

Is this tank already set up? Where did the LS come from? The LR? Is there any Macroalgae? Can you post a pic? I can tell a lot from a picture. That will help us help you to grow the biofiltration so it can support all those fish.

Also, what about planned coral? Did you know that coral filter the water while fish pollute the water?

Thanks so much for the input! I will sort out how to get a picture up here so you guys can see... it is an established tank that I bought from someone yesterday, he'd had it for almost four years. He says the biofiltration is very well established with the sand and rock, and I will be confirming that myself throughout the week with testing kits to make sure it's healthy. No macroalgae that I can see... unless I'm misunderstanding the difference between macroalgae and regular old algae (there's plenty of that). 

I did know that coral helps filtration :) I don't have any coral in there yet, but I do plan to move some in there fairly soon. I have a little zoa and a candy cane that was gifted to me just last week for my 20g, I'm still in the process of figuring out how to take care of it. I do want it to live in my 55g eventually though.

Originally posted by DMower DMower wrote:

The "x" number of inches of fish per "z" number of gallons is not a good way to measure fish tank capacity. 
None of those fish get huge. 

Be aware of your bioload and what corals you want to keep. It is easier to keep corals happy with less fish. A soft coral tank would require less filtration and work to keep the water "clean". 

Think more about where the fish live and provide each of them with space. You have a lot of bottom dwelling sand movers. I would probably not add a jawfish. This could change after an evaluation of the first round of additions and seeing where the fish found a home. That puffer is awesome and they stay very small. It is not a threat to any of the other fish on this list. I would remove a few of the wrasses as I see more conflict with them. 

Get some sand dwellers, some rock/mid tank, and some open water/ top tank fish. There are lots of choices. A small bristle tooth tang would be a good fit, or a small rabbit fish instead of all those wrasses. 

So: gobies and pistol shrimp for the sand, the long nose hawk and a blenny for the rock (I like the Orange spotted blenny), Valentini puffer, flasher wrasse pair, pair of clown fish,and a yellow eye cole tang.

Something like that. 

Originally posted by DMower DMower wrote:

Some dart fish would be a fun choice too. They stay at the top of the tank.

This is all really great input, thank you so much! :)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pete Moss Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 11:30am
Coral consumes food and produces waste just like everything else. No creature is 100% efficient. They definitely are much cleaner than fish, but anything that eats has to expel what it's body doesn't need.

You could say that fish filter the water as well, they eat small animals and chunks of food out of the water column, then they poop out what they don't need. Food works it's way through the chain of life and is broken down into smaller and smaller pieces as it goes.

Corals eat some of the food we introduce into the system to feed them. I wouldn't go as far as to say they "clean" the water though. Really comes down to interpretation of the word I suppose.

Edited by Pete Moss - February 23 2015 at 11:50am
125g 90g 2x33g 34g
What stores do I recommend?
Up North: Bill ( Saltwater Paradise 801-317-8115 )
Down South: Jerry ( Reef On 801-563-0600 )

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hogie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 11:53am
Wait, are you saying everything poops?!

Edited by Hogie - February 23 2015 at 11:54am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Marcoss Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 11:57am
Originally posted by DMower DMower wrote:

The "x" number of inches of fish per "z" number of gallons is not a good way to measure fish tank capacity.
None of those fish get huge.

Be aware of your bioload and what corals you want to keep. It is easier to keep corals happy with less fish. A soft coral tank would require less filtration and work to keep the water "clean".

Think more about where the fish live and provide each of them with space. You have a lot of bottom dwelling sand movers. I would probably not add a jawfish. This could change after an evaluation of the first round of additions and seeing where the fish found a home. That puffer is awesome and they stay very small. It is not a threat to any of the other fish on this list. I would remove a few of the wrasses as I see more conflict with them.

Get some sand dwellers, some rock/mid tank, and some open water/ top tank fish. There are lots of choices. A small bristle tooth tang would be a good fit, or a small rabbit fish instead of all those wrasses.

So: gobies and pistol shrimp for the sand, the long nose hawk and a blenny for the rock (I like the Orange spotted blenny), Valentini puffer, flasher wrasse pair, pair of clown fish,and a yellow eye cole tang.

Something like that.

I meant that as a very broad suggestion. It is up to the aquarium owner to know what species work together and what they each do. For instance, you could not add a dozen tiny clown fish because they would likely kill each other. On the same not, you could not add 20 schooling fish either to a small tank because they school. 

To me a fish that is a couple of inches is huge. I based the huge comment on the size of a tank. If you have a dozen 2-3 inch fish in a tank, well, they are huge. If you have a dozen 12" fish in thousands of gallons, those are tiny. 

I agree with where the fish belong and am glad you said that. I research what each fish needs in terms of room and what they do before I add them. I only have one tang and he has a long run, in a short tank, so he is the only one that takes that lane, per se. My cardinals do their weird thing towards the top, and my clowns do whatever they want all over the place.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pete Moss Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 12:00pm
Yup everything "poops" to some extent. My palythoas poop all the time. They poop out their mouths. That's a terrifying prospect. Dead

We throw food into the water be it flakes, pellets, or frozen foods. That food is then processed through every step of the food chain in our small ecosystems. Organisms take what they need, and expel the rest. Every plant, every coral, every organism helps in the process of converting introduced food into energy, and molecular waste, right down to the bacteria responsible for the Nitrogen cycle.

We're really creating food processing machines, we supply elements to a reef which it uses to grow. Organisms only grow when there is food available to them. Biology is really cool ****.




Edited by Pete Moss - February 23 2015 at 12:04pm
125g 90g 2x33g 34g
What stores do I recommend?
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Down South: Jerry ( Reef On 801-563-0600 )

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Softplan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2015 at 1:43pm
I love my midas blenny.  It adds a different type of movement and cool personality.
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