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View Full Version : Would I be overstocked?


nobleprole
05/06/2018, 04:08 PM
Hi! 1st marine tank.
Background:
90 gallon reef been up for 5 months (zoas, devil leather, xenia,gsp). I currently have a maroon clown, valentini puffer and dwarf golden eel. Skimmer, 20 gallon sump and 10 gallon fuge (fuge contains lots of denitrate, marinpure and some rock-focus was anaerobic bacteria to help with nitrates).
ammonia-0, sal 1.024, phos -.01, nitrates-2. I have alittle hair algae off 2 LFS rocks and some alagae on glass after several days. 10% wc weekly.

Question: Looking to add perhaps 1 or more of the following: ;longnose hawk,hoevens wrasse, coral beauty angel (not all of them just 1 or 2). HOWEVER - twin 9yr old sons want dwarf lion.So, thoughts on adding 1 or 2 of above AND a dwarf zebra lion? Too much? other suggestions? BTW DGM has been excellent in the tank and puffer/clown hang out together).Thanks!!

Anemone
05/06/2018, 05:52 PM
Your puffer and eel add A LOT of bioload to the tank. Keep in mind a dwarf lion will be able to eat other fish up to its own body size, so not sure how big your Maroon is, or how big of a Coral Beauty you were thinking of getting. And, keep in mind, especially with inquisitive 9 year old boys, lions are venomous.

So, yes, you can get the dwarf lion - make sure you actually get a dwarf! It will add even more to your bioload, so make sure you have a good skimmer. Every fish you add is going to increase YOUR workload with maintenance, so keep that in mind, and chose any further tankmates with both the lion and the eel's dietary preferences/abilities taken into consideration.

Kevin

monkeysee1
05/07/2018, 06:54 PM
You can get ONE Coral Beauty. If you get two dwarfs in a 90 they will fight.
You can get ONE wrasse as well ( make sure it is reef safe of course).
A Kole Tang would be nice for your tank too!
Skip the Lionfish. ANYTHING it can fit in its mouth WILL get eaten!!
DON'T let the term "dwarf" fool you. Lionfish get huge!!

m14socom
05/07/2018, 07:37 PM
I've heard that 1" of fish per gallon is a decent maximum limit. Obviously this would change with heavier fish. It has a lot to do with the amount of waste they produce. When I was a kid I had a 55 gallon with a 1lb catfish and in one day you couldn't hardly see through the water.

Frogmanx82
05/07/2018, 09:23 PM
The 1" of fish applies to freshwater and doesn't even really apply that well. It really comes down to how much food you put in the tank to sustain the fish and how well your filter and maintenance schedule perform.

I'd be curious if there was a rule of thumb for that. X grams per day per gallon.

I think you easily have room for the hawk, wrasse and dwarf angel. The dwarf lionfish on the other hand pretty much moves you to a speciman tank as you won't be able to house much else. So many decisions.

Sstanley223
05/07/2018, 09:31 PM
1" per 10 gallons for marine... and that is vague

Anemone
05/07/2018, 09:39 PM
1" per 10 gallons for marine... and that is vague

Yeah, somehow I have difficulty believing 1" of firefish equals 1" of tang. :rolleyes:

Kevin

lapin
05/08/2018, 06:21 PM
Its like chickens. They say 10 Sq feet per chicken. If you do that you will have issues. Fights, disease and way too much poo. Better to go 10x that 100 sq feet. So 1" per 10 gallons should be 1" per hundred gallons. Captive fish can only dream of that.

Ab129
05/09/2018, 01:16 PM
Just curious,
Love the valentin puffer but my lfs told me it was definitely not reef safe but you’ve been doing well it it not nipping?

nobleprole
05/10/2018, 11:33 AM
Hey all! No I haven't had any problems with the Valentini nipping any corals - I have almost all softies. He's been a pretty good resident so far - hasn't messed with snails or the 2 emerald crabs or the very large pincushion urchin. I probably just jinxed myself! BTW - my wife wanted the puffer and it is a real cool guy. I was concerned that my very territorial maroon was going to have issues but the two of them just hang out together. The GDM was suggested as an alternative (an expensive one!) to a snowflake - my boys wanted an eel and it too has been great so far. WRT the lion, again, boys will be boys and they want predator like fish so I'm trying to thread the needle a bit.Tank is too high for them to get into and they are pretty good with not messing around with it. Still not sure what we'll add, but the dwarf lion would be last and only after I get it eating in a QT first. Next thing in is 20lbs of Tampa Bay LR (been in QT for 3 weeks). I think the puffer will have fun picking at all the stuff on those rocks. We'll see what 'slitherin' the GDM thinks about things! Thanks again for all insights!