Enough Fish?

[Mr._Bond]

I have a pair of tomato clowns, royal gramma, firefish, and a coral beauty angel fish. Want to add more. Would it be too much you think to add a six line wrasse and a Bengai Cardinal fish (or a pair of them)?

[Jason McKenzie]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

Not saying I haven't seen it done, but I have to agree with Jason.. that's a bit much. Not much margin for error so to speak and your fish could get really stressed - stress leads to health problems, etc. My 2 cents.

[SAW39]

I have to agree with Matt and Jason. If the five fish were all you had, I'd say yes. But, you also have a lot of invert biomass to consider.
I know the desire, though. I want to add a tang and a dwarf angel to my 45 gallon tank, but I'm afraid that will be too much.

[Big Wally B]

I agree with all aforesaid. Interested in your tank parameters right now though? Particularly nitrates? Protein skimmer? How much testing do you do? How much experience do you have or how long have you had salt? Just curious for my own selfish reasons.

[Mr._Bond]

So, you all think that the five fish I have now should be it, or maybe one more - either a wrasse or the cardinal?

[Mr._Bond]

Big Wally, in answer to your questions - My nitrates seem to hover around the 25 mark (can't seem to get them to go down, and not that I'd want to but up either). I do have a protein skimmer, I got it used and can't find a brand on it, so not sure about it, but it seems to be pulling something out as I usually have a little bit in the collection cup when I clean it out. I don't have much experience - this is my first salt water tank. It has been up and running for about 1 year now. I have "lost" a firefish (literally, he just disappeared so I'm not sure if he jumped, was killed, or just died and was taken care of by the rest of the tank) and an Angel fish (who died the day after he came from the store, so not sure that was my tank at fault there). As for testing, I try and test nitrites, ammonia, nitrates, Ph, Alk,Calcium and specific gravity weekly. I try and do a small (10 gallon) water change monthly. Let me know if you are interested in anything else. I'm always happy to talk about my tank (just ask my wife )

[Big Wally B]

You understand that your nitrates are already high, especially for inverts, right? Most fish can handle high nitrates better but the consensus is that they are still stressed by them. If you had zero nitrates I'd say go for it (some more bio-load), but ......... You need to enjoy and learn for awhile, as the others have said. You may note that I have a 90 and 7 fish, although admittedly considerably more bio-load with larger fish and many inverts, my nitrates are still immeasurable, and I have a good skimmer pulling loads of yuck out every several days. You are pushing your biosystem already. Noone wants to see your tank crash and the associated headaches, heartaches, physical and monetary labor.
Chill
and enjoy.
Speed kills.

[Mr._Bond]

Big Wally B - I hear what you are saying (and everyone else). However, all that being said, you have any ideas as to why my nitrates are where they are? My skimmer is skimming, my wet/dry filter has all the bioballs removed, I no longer have an undergravel filter, I don't have an algae problem (except for on my glass I have no visible algae at all), I do water changes (10 - 15 gallons) every month and have done much larger ones as well (like 30 to 35 gallons), I use RO/DI water. And it seems no matter what, when I had 1 fish in the tank to now with 5 I've had 25 ish for my nitrates (thought it was the test for a long time, but the LFS confirms it). Any thoughts? This may belong in a new post, just your mentioning it here and you sound like you've "been around the block"...

[SAW39]

I'd like to hear the opinions of all of the more experienced members -- Jason, Matt, BirdLady, Big Wally, et. al. What do you do to get the Nitrates down?
Once the Nitrates are low, how many more fish could Mr. Bond add? Is it still the same answer -- zero?