When should I stop stocking aquarium?

There is a calculation WRT eels that doesn't equate to fish like tangs. Can't remember what it is, but it is google-able.

 

The reason it's confusing is because this rule is about as useful as Watts Per Gallon and Pounds of LR per Gallon. I.e. not useful at all. Most tangs require a lot of swimming room, are voracious eaters, and voracious poopers. That puts a substantial strain on smaller systems.

Rather than trying to use the inch guideline, I suggest you start a thread, list your filtration, and then list your current fish.

 

according to this calculator I can add another 1-2 fishes....i am a beginner tho so i have no idea if im overstocking....the tang is about 3-4 inches...and i read somewhere that it was okay to have a regal tang with a yellow tang?...not sure if that was true?

 

You can't have ANY tang in a 46g tank. Maybe for a year at the most if it's a baby. They need larger tanks for swimming space and better filtration.

 

The tang at 3-4" is bordeline in that size tank, i would take it to the lfs and get a nice smaller addition, a regal tang could probably be kept in a bigger tank with a yellow tang, 150gallon + loads of space, but in a 46gallon one will surely die, as for not knowing if your tank is overstocked or if you can add another 2 fish that would be yes to the first and no to the second, i have a yellow tang in a 55 and he will be going to a better home when he gets too big also, good luck...

 

ya I don't want to overstock...I really just wanted to add one more fish like a regal tang or a blue neon goby maybe something small...many people told me the yellow tang shouldn't even be in my tank when my LFS said it would be fine so that's why I'm so confused...to me it looks like there's a lot of space but then again I'm a beginner..would it be pushing it to add a small blue neon goby?

 

I'd totally agree with this its not the size of the tank or number of fish its more about filtration capacitiy and type of filtration employed and experience being applied .. The Inch per Gallon is one of the most far off base ideas I ever heard of .. If I listed what all I have now in a 90 I know the fish cops would be all over me LOL

 

the LFS will or course say its fine. they want to sell you one. they dont care about the outcome of the fish or your system.

 

It's also important to keep in mind not the size of the fish when you get them, but how big they get. Yellow tangs can get up to 8"+. Dwarf angels can get up to about 4-5". Compatibility is not necessarily an issue with the tangs in general, when you have a large tank and of course some can't be put with others, it's just that you are trying to put the two fish into such a small tank for them.

 

If you try to keep 2 tangs in that system, you can't possibly feed enough to keep the tangs happy and healthy without overloading your filtration and eventually crashing it. My 3 tangs eat ALOT and poop ALOT and they are constantly swimming. They need a little space.