My Current Fish List - Add more?

[d2mini]

I have the following fish in my tank and wondering how much more room I have available? The tank is 84x24x24, normally considered a 200g but in reality it holds more like 180g of water. I'm curious as to what this amount of fish would be considered in bio-load terms and if more (and how many) could be added in the future. I normally have very little fish in my tanks, focusing more on coral, so this higher number is new to me. I have a lot of live rock in my tank, good for hiding places, but less swimming room.

1 Blue/Green Chromis
1 Snowflake Clown
1 Desjardini Sailfin Tang
1 Orange Fin Tomini Tang
1 Blonde Naso Tang
1 Spotbreast Angel
1 Pink Spot Diamond Goby
1 Green Spotted Mandarin
5 Bartlett's Anthias
1 Mystery Wrasse
1 Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse
1 Blue Throat Trigger

Most of these are currently in the small-medium size range. You can see pics of all of these fish in my Inhabitant's list in my aquaticlog.com profile if that helps any, but I'm sure the list above is probably enough.

Thanks!

[TankStudy]

How long have you had these fish?

I'd wait to see how your bioload does with these fish first before adding. Based on how your tank responds will determine if you can add more or not. Especially since you want to focus on corals.

[d2mini]

Thanks!

The tank got wet last august, set up with The Package from TBS. Fish have slowly been added since then. No losses. I don't want to overdo the bioload, but at the same time I want to have enough to help feed my coral. So far the tank seems to be doing fine, nitrates are in check, but other than that not really sure what to look for. I also have a lot of cuc. Beyond the plethora of hermits and various snails, i have cucumbers, conical sea starts, serpent sea starts, basket sea stars, one fire shrimp, pistol shrimp.

[TankStudy]

If your tangs or fish that will become much larger, are large and appear to have slowed in growth and your bioload is stable, I would say add 1 smaller fish. That way if your bioload starts to topple, its a slow topple and you don't have to worry about a quick change because you added a 14" tang to the tank.

If your tangs and to be bigger-fish are still growing, like an inch a month or so, I'd wait for them to hit a larger size and slow down in growth. Check how your bioload is doing from there and if it still stable you can start adding more. Preferable 1 at time since you will be having corals.

[dkeller_nc]

I've seen many tanks that had way more fish than you list in an equivalent space that were happy for many years. But to your question, the previous poster has it right - there's a big difference between adding 4 barnacle blennies to a tank like that and a 10" Emperor Angel.

By the way - you might want to check out barnacle blennies. Considering how small they are, they're not cheap. But they're fascinating, and unlike most other saltwater fish, they're communal. Another one that might appeal to you is a blue-spot jawfish.

[o2manyfish]

"If your tangs and to be bigger-fish are still growing, like an inch a month or so"


An inch a month.... Wow. I have 9 yellow tangs, 2 blues, 2 Chevron a purple and an Achilles. Only the small Chevron has been in the tank less than a year. Some of the yellows are 4 years old.

You might get that kind of growth in a juvenile Vlamingi or Dussemeri (sp?) but for the fish he listed nothing should be growing like that.

You should have no issues adding additional fish to your tank. As always add slowly. Your given fish list only has 3 fish that get large. And the rest of your list shows you like small reef fish. You have plenty more room to grow.

Dave B