# of fish to put in Tank

[ou812pezz]

I'm sure this has been asked time and again but how many fish can I keep in a 100gal reef tank? I'm looking to house Tangs, clowns and various small fish. Is there a simple calculaiton for this?

[Reef69]

You are looking for roaming space, so tangs..well, I have 3 in a 125 but there is plenty of roaming space so, my rule is, house as many as you want, but make sure they all get along and the water quality is perfect.

Oh, forgot to mention, clowns dont need alot of room. in the wild, they dont venture far from their hosta anemone ( no further than 5 ft) so, they will be fine in the tank, they usually stay on one side (varies from clown type to another.)

[Ram_Puppy]

your not going to find a hard limit like you would in fresh water with the ' 1 inch per gallon ' pseudo rule.

Your limits are going to be:

1) agression towards their fellow tank inhabitants
2) Bio Load

Some simple rules:

Tangs, keep in odd numbers per body type, for instance, if your going to have yellow tanks, don't keep 2,4,6, or 8, keep 3 or 5 (I would infact keep a low number of tangs)

Clowns - live in a harem, they are progenerate hermaphrodites, they are born sex neutral and become male, then one of the group will become female. not all clowns are peaceful and idillic, maroon clowns can be downright vicious and will kill other clowns in the tank, even their own kind, making a pair of them can be difficult has to be done when they are very small. You will most likely want to keep a small harem of ocellarius.

Also remember, with most fish, if they can fit a smaller fish in their mouth, they will probably attempt to do so. do your research on every fish before you even start buying, as you will want to add the shyest fish first, and the most aggressive fish last.

a reef tank by it's very definition needs very good water condition, and having tons of fish is the antithesis of good water quality.

[ou812pezz]

Thanks guys!

[bigdscobra]

As many as you want, there is no general rule what ever you feel like having and makes you happy. Many people say one inch per gallon but thats worthless I have 20 tetras in a 10g and they have lasted over 5 yrs. Just rember the more fish you have the more water changes you will also be doing and have a good skimmer and a fuge if possible. Also check online or ask people about the different types of fish cause you want passive fish no aggressive ones especially if you have a lot in a tank. A quick site that I use is www.Saltwaterfish.com just find the fish you want and it usually tells you what they eat, temperment, and if reef safe.
;)
Dan

[Reef69]

Dan is right, research as much as you can. This site has really good articles (www.liveaquaria.com) and this one (www.marinedepotlive.com) also, good luck! ;)

[GaryP]

I have seen some tanks that have a huge number of fish. However, they also have a huge amount invested in filtration equipment too. I think the question has more to do with how much time, money, and effort into your water quality then it does with the magical number. Years ago, before the advent of a lot of the equipment we now have, they recommended one inch per 7 gal. in a reef tank. That was before monster skimmers that would suck everything except the salt out of the water. So, the question is do you want to invest in a $700 skimmer, or a POS $100 hang on skimmer for your tank. The other factor is what else is going to go in the tank? LPS, SPS, Clams, etc? Are you going to have a fuge? Run carbon and/or phosphate absorber? Physical Filtration? DSB, SSB, or BB? How do you plan to deal with high nitrates?

Remember, the more fish you have, the more you will have to feed them, the more waste will be produced, and the more water quality issues you will have to deal with.

The other factor you will have to deal with is fish aggresion. The more tightly packed the fish are, the more they will be stressed, and the more aggressive they will become. This stress can also result in outbreaks of diseases such as Ich.

This is a perfect example of how the art and science of SW tends to merge. Its not a matter of simply "having" an aquarium, but rather, a matter of managing the aquarium. Our aquariums are a minature ecosystem. The health and well being of the critters we force to endure the conditions in the ecosystem is up to us to manage.

Now, open your textbooks to page 103.

[Reef69]

LOL, Gary is the king of "Ok..shut up and listen.."..hehe..;)

But its all true..In fact, Brian(Greenmako) and his Fiance Christina (C.Mydas) have a gorgeous SPS tank, and they have lots of fish (which some people say you can have tons of SPS and tons of fish..well, not true)..but they have invested alot of money in their "reefing appliances". They have a big skimmer, lots of filtration and so on, so if you want more fish than usual, like Gary said, you need to invest more..but i can assure you, its worth every single penny. Bottom line is, everything poops in one way or another, so, you need equipment to clean and filtrate all that water, the more fish/inverts..the more poop..;) HTH's

[GaryP]

LOL, Gary is the king of "Ok..shut up and listen.."..hehe..;)

"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king." OK, I'm taking off my crown and getting in the shower.

[Reef69]

LOL!! :D

[hobogato]

we dont need to hear about that!! keep what you do with your crown to yourself - this is a family site! :P