Is it possible to have too FEW fish?

[wcfost]

I often hear that fish waste provides free coral food, which led me to wonder if having too few fish could effectively starve my coral.

I have a 55g with 20g sump, a mix of LPS, softies, and SPS, and 2 bangaii cardinals and 1 blue chromis. I feed sparingly (maybe 1/4 cube of mysis every 3 days). I dose marine snow and phytoplankton once a week, but still wonder whether more fish would improve the health, growth rate, and color of my coral.

[davocean]

I've known a couple people that have absolutely no fish, and just coral, and one was a fairly large tank, I think 150g.
Too boring for me, but their corals were still thriving.
They did feed their corals.

[Spyderturbo007]

Originally Posted by wcfost

I often hear that fish waste provides free coral food, which led me to wonder if having too few fish could effectively starve my coral.

I have a 55g with 20g sump, a mix of LPS, softies, and SPS, and 2 bangaii cardinals and 1 blue chromis. I feed sparingly (maybe 1/4 cube of mysis every 3 days). I dose marine snow and phytoplankton once a week, but still wonder whether more fish would improve the health, growth rate, and color of my coral.

I'm currently trying to answer a very similar question. I have 4 fish in a 55g, my nutrient levels have always been 0ppm (PO4 & NO3) and all my corals are pale. After trying almost everything imaginable, I've begun dosing NaNO3 in an attempt to get the coral to "color up".

I just started the dosing on Monday, so it will be some time before I can say one way or the other. I have a thread in the Chemistry forum if you're interested.

[ca1ore]

Originally Posted by wcfost

I often hear that fish waste provides free coral food, which led me to wonder if having too few fish could effectively starve my coral.

Probably not, though without fish at all you might find it necessary to feed the corals; plus you will still need to provide some food for the worms, crabs, etc., and to keep the biological filter functioning well. There are anecdotal reports that clams do much better in reef tanks with a good fish load, though I've not seen any scientific validation of this (makes logical sense though).

[tkeracer619]

Yes and no but I say yes because if you have too few fish a lot of food gets wasted which pollutes the tank.

[davocean]

Originally Posted by tkeracer619

Yes and no but I say yes because if you have too few fish a lot of food gets wasted which pollutes the tank.

This is why it's a good idea to spot feed fish w/ a turkey baster, feed the fish, not the tank.
A good CUC will take care of what is missed.

[Longdave]

I would certainly be thinking about a separate coral feeding regime for corals with that few a fish, something like DD reef paste or salifert coral food.

EDIT:- Uuh just realised first post in 3 1/2 years lurking

[John Helm]

I'd try a mixture of Reef Roids and Cyclop Eeze which seems to work extremely well in promoting growth and coloration for all coral types.

[phillrodrigo]

I think in a sps tank you couldnt go wrong with less fish in a softie tank it can make things alittle better but not a big deal

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by ca1ore

Probably not, though without fish at all you might find it necessary to feed the corals; plus you will still need to provide some food for the worms, crabs, etc., and to keep the biological filter functioning well. There are anecdotal reports that clams do much better in reef tanks with a good fish load, though I've not seen any scientific validation of this (makes logical sense though).

While clams do filter feed (especially when young), larger clams tend to get much of their nourishment from photosynthetic algae, called zooxanthellae, that live in their tissues and provide the wonderful coloration. That is one reason that some algae grazing fish that may otherwise be clam safe may nip on clams absent sufficient algae.

[brob22]

Few fish can definately cause sps to pale in color especialy if corals arnt fed.

in my opinion the best way to feed corals is either with live rotifers or by feeding the fish and leting them feed the corals. ( which is alot easier)

the key is strong import where the corals have plenty to eat and then strong export where the organics dont polute the tank.

[brob22]

the other thing that can cause corals to pale is if the lighting is to strong

just incase that could b the issue

[MellowReefer]

Originally Posted by Longdave

I would certainly be thinking about a separate coral feeding regime for corals with that few a fish, something like DD reef paste or salifert coral food.

EDIT:- Uuh just realised first post in 3 1/2 years lurking

Too funny After three years you finally felt compelled to say something. Congrats! You must be a good listener.

[Breadman03]

Originally Posted by ca1ore

Probably not, though without fish at all you might find it necessary to feed the corals; plus you will still need to provide some food for the worms, crabs, etc., and to keep the biological filter functioning well. There are anecdotal reports that clams do much better in reef tanks with a good fish load, though I've not seen any scientific validation of this (makes logical sense though).

I've had a crocea for around 18 months, and got a derasa around a month ago. WRT the crocea, I didn't see much/any growth when I had just a clown in the tank. I got a few more fish and the clam began to grow. A mulched anemone killed everything but the clown and I stopped seeing growth. I bought a few fish and now I'm seeing growth in both clams.

Each one of those 1 fish/several fish cycles lasted a couple months. During the growth cycles, there was always fresh growth visible. Actually, I had a longspine urchin take a few bites out of the derasa shell that removed about 1.5mm of material from a short section of the edge of the shell. It only took 4 days before fresh material covered the damage.

I don't believe that the fish load is directly responsible, but that the life in our tanks need differing amount of food in order to survive or thrive. While there are foods tailored to corals, I prefer to feed fish, which produce excellent coral food.

[SGT_York]

If your nutrients are really near zero then your coral aren't receiving enough nutrition. Very close to zero is not zero. Coral growth will stagnate without enough nutrients.