How many fish with corals

cuttingras · 06-13-2007, 02:00 PM

I was thinking about getting some corals/mushrooms, when my tank gets healthier. How many fish can be kept with them? Is there a rule of thumb. I notice, most of the tanks have a few fish and a lot of corals. Is there a reason for that? I understand lighting, temps, calcium and other factors are involved, and are different for FOWLR tanks. Can someone lead me in the right direction to understanding this? Thanks in advance!!

Jason McKenzie · 06-13-2007, 02:34 PM

the amount of fish is really dependent on the size of the tank not if there are corals. Now certain fish eat coral so the addition of any type of coral limits your fish choices. Typical "Reef safe" fish with not eat soft coral, LPS or SPS, and will not eat inverts such as snails worms and crabs.

coral reefer · 06-13-2007, 04:55 PM

The number of fish kept in the tank will have alot to do on the fish's size, and the tank size. The reason why many reefers don't keep too many fish in their tank is due to the fact that too many fish will ultimately lead to decreased water parameters...more nutrients, waste, respiration.

cuttingras · 06-13-2007, 05:56 PM

ahhhhhh makes sense! So, if I was to get a 100gal, I should just put the fish I have currently, or can I add one or two and how aobut cleaner pkgs? Do reef tanks use them too?

ziggy222 · 06-22-2007, 11:01 AM

yes you'll still need cleaners in a reef.i prefer alot of snails.astrea and turbo,also i have a bunch of stomatellas.i had a sea hair for awhile to battle hair algae but after the algae was gone it was eatting green star polyps so i took it back to the store.cleaner shrimp are good for clean up and the fish.my nassarious snails stir the sand for me.i have alot of worm type cleaners-bristle worms spaghetti worms peanut worms madusa.tiny star fish are all through my lr and sand,most are white and help clean.your copods from the lr are part of the crew.they eat waste.crabs are more invasive imo but alot of people use blue leg hermits.i've had alot of snails killed by crabs so i prefer to not have many hermits.i may get an emerald crab soon to eat some bubble algae but i'm waiting for the algae to get worse before adding it.i don't want him to go hungry and then start tearing corals off rocks in search of food.be careful with certain cleaners such as crabs,they can kill alot of things and are so hard to catch.alot of starfish are not safe,some eat fish,some eat coral and shrimp,linkias are safe.i may put a peppermint shrimp in my sump to eat the food that gets sucked out of the tank to soon,for now i'm using a damsel that i did'nt want in my display for that purpose.

omard · 06-23-2007, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cuttingras

ahhhhhh makes sense! So, if I was to get a 100gal, I should just put the fish I have currently, or can I add one or two and how aobut cleaner pkgs? Do reef tanks use them too?

Sure, add some more fish --- just make sure they are "reef-safe" and compatable with the ones you already have.

Keep an eye on water params and do water changes accordingly.

Lotsa fish (either in size or number) = lots of water changes.

(Uggg - I have much experience in this -

)