Just how many fish???

[Reptoreef]

I'm only housing 6 fish in my reef tank(aga 55 gl) with a few additions to allow an approx 80 gl of true water volume. Things seem happy, enough, but who would dare add a few more and what kind??? Here's what I have:
1 yellow tang
1 bi color blenny
1 pj cardinal
1 blue devil damsel
2 gbm clowns
When answering, please describe what your system is housing and how well everything seems. I want a few more fish, but am leary of overloading and risking my corals.

[Whoyah]

How big are the tang and the clowns? If they are medium size I would say that you are probably getting close to capacity.

In my 75 (90 gross) I have

2 false percula clowns (1 small, 1 tiny)
2 green chromis
1 royal gramma (pretty fat and big)
1 blue tang (small)

I am considering added a lawnmower blennie soon and mandarin next spring.

I think that will be about it for me.

[Reptoreef]

Tang is about med... clowns, 1 lg female and a smaller male.... I know... limits are made to keep us safer. Just, well, there's some realy sweet fish at the LFS and, dang it... I WANT THEM ALL!!!

[jerryc]

I have 3 fish in my 55 with a water volume of 75 plain to add 1 more
Your water volume is more but i thank you or about at your limit.
But then I'm more in to the coral then fish if not for the wife i might
not have fish at all.

[dakar]

If you didn't have CC substrate I'd say an Engineer Goby would be a great addition, very social, and a total loon, a riot to watch. Not sure how well they take to anything but sandy substrate. Although he turned more like our lawnmower blenny, waits for the other fish to be fed and gets his share plus of the flake food.

[davejnz]

In my 30gal(35 gal system water),I have 3 fish.2 Pseudochromis spp.(dottybacks) and a mandarin.This system is nutrient poor and only gets small daily additions of flake and sometimes mysis.The mandarin only eats pods and has been with me over 2yrs.In hindsight,I wouldn't have put a mandarin in this system because they decimate the pod population and those(amphipods) are excellent grazers of turf algae.The 1 dottyback is very aggresive and is clearly dominant.My sunrise dottyback has coexisted with him but because he's submissive he doesn't have the bright colors like he used to.Probably will be taking the aggressive one out and moving the mandarin to my 40.
In my 40 gal(48 gal system water)i have 3 fish.A breeding pair of Tomato clowns(Amphiphiron frenatus) and a Radiant Wrasse(Haliochoeres iridis).
The clowns are very aggresive and nothing can enter near their territory(bottom left side of tank).Even when i have my hands in the tank,the big female bites me.The wrasse does coexist but if he ventures too far to the left side,the clowns quickly chase him off.I wont be adding any more fish to this system(maybe my mandarin) as i don't want any more bioload because the clowns receive saturation feeding everyday.

[wrassman]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#ok how does this sound?...a 5 gallon tank with a small chunk of live rock, live sand, a small anoemone, with a tiny maroon clown(maybe even a tiny cleaner shrimp) i also want to add a couple of tiny blue legged hermits and a turbo snail.i know it will take a while b4 i add the critters, but i want to add bacteria to make the process a little quicker. is all this very possible or am i dreaming???#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Reptoreef]

Sounds like a good plan. You can add bacteria via live rock and another local reefer's live sand.

[wrassman]

what about the live sand sold at the aquarium shop? the sand that comes in a plastic bag with a small amount of water in it. is that good live sand??

[KG]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#No offense, but I'd say you're past your limit already. 55 is consider by most to be too small for tangs. I guess it really depends on what kind of filtration system you have and how often you're changing your water. If you do decide to get more, I'd go small. Good luck.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#KG#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#