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View Full Version : Am I overstocked?


dous
07/16/2006, 05:55 PM
in a 55gal, I have the following...

fish:
2 false percs,
1 royal gramma
1 red firefish
2 green chromis
1 high finned banded goby

inverts:
2 skunk cleaner shrimps
1 red blood shrimp
1 pistol shrimp
1 serpent star
1 red linkia star
1 Bulb Tip Anemone
1 tree sponge
13 hermit crabs
30+ snails

corals:
zoanthids
mushrooms

I guess I'm more concerned about the number of fish I can have in my tank. I'm planning to add 1 madarinfish, 1 purple firefish and a couple of more TBD in the future.

sir_dudeguy
07/16/2006, 06:07 PM
nope...maybe on snails, but as long as theres food for them, you dont have too many...but the number of fish is fine, those are all small fish...well..maybe you would want to take the chromis out, because ive seen a lot of fully grown ones at peoples houses lately, and they're all really big..prolly 4 inches at least..but i dont know if thats how big they normally are or not..and yes, they were green chromis's that i saw...just something to consider.

dous
07/16/2006, 06:12 PM
Yeah, I don't like the chromis that well also, but my 3 year old loves the green color. Maybe I could look into some other green colored fish.. any suggestions?

masterqaz
07/16/2006, 06:13 PM
the firefish will fight. There probably wont be enough food in the tank for the mandarin dragonet for that as fish populations go up pod pops go down. You can put a few more fish in there but after that i call it quits.

masterqaz
07/16/2006, 06:16 PM
scott's fairy wrasse(male, as they have the better colour and the females are just blue). The green variant (austrailian) vs the blue (cooks island).

sir_dudeguy
07/16/2006, 06:20 PM
where was the manderin meantioned? i didnt see that anywhere...

anyways, ya the firefish might fight, i have no experience w/them.. but imo you could either add a somewht bigger fish like a dwarf angel size, (i would take the green chromis out first tho..)

I dont know of any mostly green fish offhand, but i'm sure there is some flasher wrasse that is green..

also, if you just wanted to go for really colorful, and not nessesarilly green, i suggest the flame angel...very colorful..but i'm not sure how they'd be w/the firefish..no experience w/them.

dous
07/16/2006, 08:05 PM
I read somewhere that the Mandarinfish dragonettes need around 70 lbs of rock to thrive. I have over 80lbs. with lots of pods everywhere. Would that still be OK or should I reconsider? I was also going to wait until the tank is more matured.

carfac
07/16/2006, 08:34 PM
What is bad about a Chromis? I was kinda thinkin of 1 for my cube...

dave

dous
07/16/2006, 08:43 PM
don't think there's anything bad about them. I just would rather have nicer looking fish in my tank. Besides my chromis chase each other sometimes (I head they kill each other too). But now that I have 2 O. clowns, the chromis just run away from them, but they're tough enough to be out and about still.

sir_dudeguy
07/16/2006, 08:49 PM
well, they're agressive towards themselves kinda, but they like to school...they'll sort of make a pecking order, and all the weaker ones will die...also, they get way bigger than you'll see them at the lfs.

i've also heard where they have a tendancy to run into things (like the glass) and it will cause internal bleeding?

erc111
07/16/2006, 09:24 PM
I have 13 chromis in my 120. They school always and sleep? in a small pod in the back of the tank, The 5 dispar anthias also school with them. They are both primarily plankton feeders so you need to feed them 2 or 3 times daily.

I think they look way cool, They are always in the upper water column

dous
07/16/2006, 10:03 PM
If I had a bigger tank I would definitely have a school of chromis as they look nice schooling together as i have een from my LFS.

brownsugar
07/17/2006, 03:54 AM
I had 5 blue green chromis and yeh perfect water conditions but they are evil little things. The establish a heirachy and eventually tend to hunt each other down.

They look cool to school im left with 3 which seem to get along with each other quite well but yeh im looking for other schooling fish to replace them. There are many other alternatives to chromis and fish that are much better looking. But its all on personal preference.

Ive got a pair of red Nemateleotris magnifica's. They do well in pairs usually. Anything more than than that it gets messy.
However ive seen a tank thats got a pair of Nemateleotris magnifica's and a pair of Nemateleotris helfrichi's that do well. The purple Nemateleotris decora's are pretty sweet im deciding if i shud get a pair of those or the helfrichi's myself.

How much live rock do you have i guess you could get away with a flame angel or another dwarf angel since most of your fish are pretty small ?

Maybe a pair of bangaii cardinals ? Ive heard they may hassle shrimp so mayb thats not a good idea with your shrimp population.

dous
07/17/2006, 08:07 AM
i have over 80 lbs of LR in my 55g.

Yes, most my fish are small and don't even take a lot of swimming space. My goby, hardly comes out of its burrow with the pistol shrimp and my royal gramma basslett hides in its hole as well so really, the only ones out and about are the 2 chromis, 2 false percs and my 1 red Nemateleotris magnifica.

Is it safe to add another firefish to the tank or is it best to introduce them together?

I was looking into the dwarf angels, but am afraid of them nipping corals down the road.