How many fishes???-New To The Hobby-3reef Forums

ebasallo430 · 04-17-2008, 01:35 PM

Hey Everyone I had a question, I have a 72g that still cycling next week is going to be a month that its been cycling ...... I took the water to get tested and everything is perfect, but im still going to wait a few weeks....

So, I was wondering how many fishes can I put in a 72g .....the pet store I went to told me I can put about 12 fishes....not too big...but i thought that was a lot of fishes .....is that true???

Bogie · 04-17-2008, 01:45 PM

depends on what kind of fish...but 12 does seem like a lot for a 72 gal. Maybe 6-8 fish plus your skunk cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp. Don't go all at once though. Even though you're near the end of the cycle, you want to increase the bio load very slowly. One fish at a time, unless introducing paired fish. Post up a list of the fish you want, and we'll help you put them in in the right order from least aggressive/least territorial to most aggressive. This is going to be fun.

luvreefs23 · 04-17-2008, 01:52 PM

I think it also depends on if the fish get along and how good of a skimmer u have invested in, not mention water changes etc. I dont think 12 is to much, i had 6 in a bio cube with no skimmer....but i was changing water alot more often. I plan on around 15 fish for my 90

omard · 04-17-2008, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebasallo430

Hey Everyone I had a question, I have a 72g that still cycling next week is going to be a month that its been cycling ...... I took the water to get tested and everything is perfect, but im still going to wait a few weeks....

So, I was wondering how many fishes can I put in a 72g .....the pet store I went to told me I can put about 12 fishes....not too big...but i thought that was a lot of fishes .....is that true???

God bless those LFS's...for some reason the want to sell fish, fish, fish...

We go around and around about this in thread after thread.

Is not a matter of number of fish, or even size of fish.

It is a matter of how much bioload (total fish mass) your tank can support.
(which is very little for a good while after initial cycle)

Is also a matter of fish compatibility and how much effort you are willing to expend keeping a healthy environment for them.

12 little fish...probably ok in time if they stay that way...

3-4 large fish max if they are big eaters.

Your water params will tell you how much you can add and when.

Mature and lots of LR, good skimmer, # & size of water changes will all be factors that help determine your possible fish load.

Start slowly with a couple of the smaller species and add to very slowly over time. Stop adding any time water specs not up to par or do not stay so consistently.

Fight urge to add a bunch quick...

Figure out what fish you want most...get as juveniles and plan on them growing in time to adult size.

Leave room for adding fish later you may not even know about now.

So many load tank up with standard varieties and leave no room for a really "special" fish or two later.

Good luck.

Keep us posted on what you come up with.

Rgds,

Scott

geekdafied · 04-17-2008, 03:15 PM

It all depends on the fish. Some fish stay small, no bigger then 2"s and dont move about the tank much such as clown gobies. Some fish like tangs typically get large and agressive so only one, but make it the one you REALLY want, also make sure its the last fish added so it doesnt have a problem with anything you add later.

wildreef · 04-17-2008, 03:21 PM

As a rule of thumb ' you should not exceed in a "reef tank"
No more than 1-inch per 5 gallons of water is suggested.

( '72"-gallons divided by "5"gallons/per inch = 14.4 )
And NO you should not add sump capacity to this equation.

An really i wouldint push it no more than 1-inch of fish per 10 gallons.
( that allows for compatibility and less squabling over turf / and they will grow larger )

But that still allows you up to "14+" inches of fish if you do the math.
I of course would NOT do that considering thats a Big Bio-load and
your corals/inverts could suffer for it if pushed to the max .
And will force you to do more water changes/more often.

Nemo 22 · 04-17-2008, 03:43 PM

It depends in my opinion and from what ive seen and learned on the equipment you have.ive seen people with 55g and they have 8 fish but their equipment is for big tanks like 120g.so it all depends on that and your cleaner crew your abaility to perform the maintence on it the type of fish(fish with purpose or without purposes).but i think 12 is to much for a basic 72g.maybe a bunch of clowns damsels gobies a tang that doesnt get to big.its up to you how you want to do it.but do introduce lil by lil the fish.

nemo1991 · 04-17-2008, 05:17 PM

yeah i agree it is too much but it depends, i have 4 clowns and 1 pair of them are like 2 inches and the other pair is really small, a small cromis, and a small blue damsel, and a 3 inch or so yellow tang, maybe 3.5 aha, but thats where i am going to stay probably oh i have a 55 gallon, but i am moving to a 72 soon as well, and am just going to add like 2 more fish or so., my filter is reated for a 150, and my skimmer for a 200

lunatik_69 · 04-17-2008, 07:35 PM

I have 12 fish in a 90 and cant add anymore if I want to keep my No3 at <20ppm. I think temperment and size has a lot to do with how many you can have. If it was me, 8 sounds good to me. Luna

ebasallo430 · 04-17-2008, 07:59 PM

Okay well this is what i got.....
Lights: 2 Smartpaq 96w 10,000k Daylight & 460 NM Actinic 34'' Compact Flourescent Lamp
3 Lunar Link Nocturnal Blue Moonlights 470 NM total of 6 lights

Skimmer:Sealife Systems SeaStorm 75 Protein Skimmer

UV Light
Wet/dry

2 Titanium Heaters 150w each

and the sump i dont know how big it is or what it is or anything....it came with the fish tank (and my fishtank was used so i have no clue.....) but the sump is only big enough for a 75g its not for anything bigger......

Right Now: I have 2 perculas and a Yellow Tang (which were given to me b/c my friend was tearing down her tank...

I also have a small sand sifting starfish , 6 mexican snails, and 10 turbo snails....thats all i have.....

Now i want to get a Blue Hippo (which i dont know if the yellow tang is going to be okay with that) i was told that if i get the blue hipo within this week that they will be okay, bc the yellow tang was introduced to the tank yesterday!

I want a flame angelfish, a cleaner wrasse, a sixline wrasse, a coral beauty, and a green mandarin dragonet

So what do you guys think???