How many fish can be added at a time

Sorry if this has been answered before. I did a search and could only come up with the answer for corals. It seems like it would be a fairly common question but I can't seem to find it.

Anyway, this is still a hypothetical at the moment. I was wondering, basically, how many fish one would be able to add to a tank at a time without overly stressing out the biological filter. I know the ideal guideline is one fish at a time, but I would like to know whether it would be possible to put two or three in a tank at once.

The two sizes of tanks I'm dealing with here are a 10 gallon quarantine tank and a 60 gallon display tank. I would assume they would go into the quarantine at the same time and go into the display tank at the same time. There seems to be a pretty good balance at present with the circulation, skimming, and clean-up crew taking care of any waste in the 60 gallon, and my water parameters have been good and stable since my cycle ended. Assume that when this would happen, say within 1-2 months, that the water parameters have remained good and nothing bad had happened. If a bad situation were to arise I wouldn't consider adding a single organism until the situation had been pinpointed, resolved, and remained trouble-free for a long enough time to decide things were safe.

As I'm sure people would like to know why, the reason I'd like to add more than one at a time isn't because I can't wait; it's because sooner or later I would like to purchase two or three fish online and not be expected to pay $35 for overnight shipping on each fish separately. The fish I was considering purchasing were on the lower end of the pricing spectrum and I think it would be pretty ridiculous to at the very least double the price and at the very most sextuple it or more.

As for which specific fish I would like to add, I have nothing set in stone thus far, but I have been aiming for fish of around the same size and with more or less the same temperament as the two clownfish already in the tank. The two clownfish are on the younger and therefore smaller side of things. I would say that neither one at present is that much more than an inch. Nothing I have looked at so far has exotic feeding requirements and everything should be able to eat the same food as the clownfish I already have in the tank, so I don't believe that there would be overmuch waste from multiple feedings to maintain everyone's dietary requirements.

I'm sure that this is a relatively common situation and one other people wonder quite often. Why pay significantly more for shipping if it can be avoided? But then again, I can understand the other side. I have my own personal ideas about how this works, but I'd like to hear the answers I haven't thought of as well as the ones I've probably already expected. Thanks a bundle!

 

With roughly a 60-50 gallon system overall, I do not see a problem with adding 2-3 fish at one time if it saves you significant money and you want to introduce all at the same time.
I would check the parameters closely for the first 2 weeks and do a water change if appropriate, keep feedings light. While the tank is relatively young it is not newly cycled and has 2 fish in it, that works in your favor IMO.

 

Corailline, by the time I get my tank to a point where I envision it to be in the future, I'm going to owe most of the success to you! Thanks. I really appreciate it.

By the way, does anyone ever get their tank where they envision it to be? It seems like enough is never enough with everyone on here. It will probably happen to me too. And if the tank is full to capacity, well, that just means it's either time to go buy a new tank or at least buy some new gadget to make the tank .1% better! ;D

 

its never enough...lol

 

We added 4 at a time in our 55 w/20 sump, and they are still (and will be) the only 4 in the tank. We had no spike at all, but we had a really high ammonia reading when we cycled, and were feeding crabs quite a bit before adding fish so we were really keeping the bacteria up. Tank was running for 2 months before we added any fish. I was worried we'd have a spike, but checked every day & nothing. I think you'll probably be fine.

And no, it's never enough, but we're really stocked as far as livestock, so we just add corals!

 

don't think so because the vision always seems to change

I don't think so because the vision always seems to change. But I do think you have moments before each change though.;D

 

The fantasy is better than the reality, the grass is always greener, seems to be the issue with me. I am always thinking well it would be better if I had better lighting, mp20, larger corals, less coralline. If I just tweak it a little bit here it will be perfect, never ever going to happen. Addiction=you can never get enough.............but have fun trying.