To many fish for a 120 gallon

[bluetimes]

I have a 120 gallon 60x18x26 aquarium and it houses a 100 pounds of live rock and 9 fish a 5 inch huma huma a 5 inch pink tail a 3 inch niger 4 inch one spot fox face , saddle back butterfly, valentini puffer and 2 pecula clowns opps forgot 2 inch file fish. the sump is a 55 gallon in basement with a 29 gallon aquarium used as a refugium. is my tank alright for these fish? if not what size would be Im stuck with 5 foot long but could go to 24 or 30 deep by 26 high is the max tank because built in wall. I want to keep fish long term but i am on a budget i know bigger is always better but need some more input if 120 will do it thanks in advance. sorry for so long

[IamFowlrThanYou]

This is a tough one. I'm going to say as long as your fish are happy it should be fine, but boy I am not sure.

[palmer373]

That's a lot of large fish for your 120. You will have to upgrade or get rid of fish when either the fish start to fight or when the fish get too large and they start to be less active. I would be worried about the aggression the most, I can see the humu going gung ho soon.

[bluetimes]

my huma is actually the nicest of the 3 triggers the pink tail is actually the aggressive one but the 3 chase eachother here and there but not much more then that

[podom2007]

Personally it has been my experience that when you start asking yourself this question it answers itself. Because regardless of wether or not your system can handle a larger bioload you already believe you may have too many. So by adding more your aesthic enjoyment may be dimenished.

[StephLionfish]

You should consider the adult size of these fish. For the time being, sure. You could probly get away with it fine as long as aggression stays down and you have a good skimmer on the 120g. But, long-term... At least two of those fish get bigger than a dinner plate, and I've seen a huge Foxface before. Sorry, but you'll need to sell some of them unless you can go with a much bigger tank. I'd sell the more aggressive ones. They really limit what you can have.

[Dr Colliebreath]

You have some aggressive fish there that are messy eaters. I would go with a larger tank. I have pretty much the same tank (110 gal - 60x18x24). The extra front-to-back depth to 24', or better yet 30", would make a world of difference in room for the fish. I would commit the funds to get the bigger tank as it is difficult to upgrade once you are set up.

[noahlito]

I know ur saying ur humu is docile, but a humu is a humu, the whole mix of fish sounds like a recipe for future disaster. I could be wrong and I hope I am for ur sake, but there are some fish on ur list that scream incompatible. statistics and probablity are telling me to warn u. Good luck and may the fish gods be with u...

[mattsilvester]

I've always used the rule of thumb that a tank should be 6-8 times longer than the fish. This 'rule of thumb' assumes that the tanks proportions are roughly in the ratio of 4:1.

Obviously, that needs to be applied with a degree of sense and sensibility.........

Generally, for very active / cruiser fish ..... the type that never keep still (like your pink tail or niger), then apply x8 times. For slower but nonetheless active fish such as butterflies or your picasso, you can apply the x6 times.

So, correctly aquascaped and notwithstanding inter-species aggression / territorial concerns / biological capacity of the tank, then your tank is good for the pink tail and niger until its about 7-8" long..... maximum...... but the niger will keep growing well past this..... the pinktail too, but no nearly so quickly.

My opinion is that what you will find over the next 12-24 months is that the bioload limits of your tank will peak meaning you'll need to do more and more maintenance. You will begine to see a decline in the colour and health in the percs, filefish, and butterfly. You will then see a decline in colour and slowing growth rates of the other fish, as well as increasing algae problems etc. This will be attributed to (a) water quality and (b) stress induced by territorial matters. They may not "fight", but the stress will be there.

In conclusion, I would say you are ok for now, but monitor things closely and if you find the fish are looking as good as they once did, its time to take corrective action. But this comes with a caveat - if you wait until the triggers begne to exercise the agressive tendancies, then a strict pecking order will have established itself - removing fish from that pecking order will upset everything no matter whether you remove the alpha or someone in the middle...... relationships are dynamic and change according to environment. To that end, I would advise that you should now start picking favourites and thin your stock out now - perhaps replacing some potentially bigger fish with potentially smaller ones - i.e. maybe swap the niger for a yellow tang (just an example).

Hope this all helps.