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Adding more fish to new Red Sea reefer 170


John L

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Hi, I was just wondering if anyone can advise on how many more fish I can add to my new Red Sea 170.

 

I currently have moved over 1 firefish, 1 sixline wrasse ( they are both best buddies btw!) 1 scooter blenny and 1 royal gramma.

 

I would like open swimmers if poss. Maybe 2-3 chromis? Or one bigger fish. Any ideas would be appreciated!

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RIP Sebastian

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone can advise on how many more fish I can add to my new Red Sea 170.

 

I currently have moved over 1 firefish, 1 sixline wrasse ( they are both best buddies btw!) 1 scooter blenny and 1 royal gramma.

 

I would like open swimmers if poss. Maybe 2-3 chromis? Or one bigger fish. Any ideas would be appreciated!

 

You appear to be fully stocked to me.

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Ok thanks, that's a bummer, I thought I could add 2-3 small fish comfortably as one of the featured tanks with the same tank as mine has 9 small fish incl a clown.

Can anyone suggest a small open swimming fish. Mine tend to keep to the rock work, 1 chromis maybe although I know they are better in small groups.

I don't have a huge amount of rockwork.

post-91020-0-06506900-1484236499_thumb.jpg

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Mine is the Red Sea reefer 170 ( main tank 34g and 9 g sump).

 

 

just I've heard conflicting things, one person said I can put a small tang in, and someone else I'm at max load with my 4 small fish.

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burtbollinger

conflicting advice is often the name of the game....but please no on the small tang LOL. youre not trolling are you ;)

 

one thing you might wanna do would be to make a note of whoever told you about that small tang...begin to take any of their advice slightly less seriously. Now...Clown79's advice....never wrong that I've seen. When in doubt, go with Clown79. Respect to RIP Sebastian, as well...rock solid advice.

 

Anyway, so, you have 4 fish now by my count? I'd say you could toss in ONE more, that isnt too large....like percula sized. just my opinion.

 

I was planning on 4 total in my reefer 170...5 was the absolute ceiling, and thats pushing it. You mentioned a tank with 9 fish? I think the deal with Lawn's? tank that had all those fish is that it has a lot of small fish, like clown gobys, etc...i think 3 or 4 were tiny little masked gobies.

 

Also, you don't have a percula? Man...that's what I do...if you research that they do ok single, then I'd research tossing a black & white clown in there. Nothing cooler than the motion of a clown swimming, IMO.

 

That said, with that sixline you got in there, it might get nasty? I wonder if with that sixline not being agressive to anyone, do you wanna push your luck? curious what others think on that.

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conflicting advice is often the name of the game....but please no on the small tang LOL. youre not trolling are you ;)

 

one thing you might wanna do would be to make a note of whoever told you about that small tang...begin to take any of their advice slightly less seriously. Now...Clown79's advice....never wrong that I've seen. When in doubt, go with Clown79. Respect to RIP Sebastian, as well...rock solid advice.

 

Anyway, so, you have 4 fish now by my count? I'd say you could toss in ONE more, that isnt too large....like percula sized. just my opinion.

 

I was planning on 4 total in my reefer 170...5 was the absolute ceiling, and thats pushing it. You mentioned a tank with 9 fish? I think the deal with Lawn's? tank that had all those fish is that it has a lot of small fish, like clown gobys, etc...i think 3 or 4 were tiny little masked gobies.

 

Also, you don't have a percula? Man...that's what I do...if you research that they do ok single, then I'd research tossing a black & white clown in there. Nothing cooler than the motion of a clown swimming, IMO.

 

That said, with that sixline you got in there, it might get nasty? I wonder if with that sixline not being agressive to anyone, do you wanna push your luck? curious what others think on that.

 

I've had / seen lots of great advice from clown 79 definately taken onboard! I know tangs are big swimmers and need lots of space, just I know people who put small ones. in and take them out when they get too large, I wouldn't do that.

 

My sixline so far doesn't bother anyone, beautiful active fish. Maybe I won't rock the boat by adding another fish.

I originally had a pair of percula clowns, I found they were gluttons, I was feeding them so much, 20-30 pellets each feeding and mysis daily, they loved it, but my tank didn't , so I sold them on, and I've now got my current fish.

 

,
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A tang in a 34g, no. That is not good advice. Tangs need lots of swimming room and produce a lot of waste. 70g is minimum for the majority of tangs.

 

I had a yellow tang in a 55g and it was small, I'd never advise it.

 

I had 6 fish in a 55g but they were all small fish.

 

You could add 1 clown, a cardinal, or a chromis. But i'd only do 1 fish

 

You need a small to medium fish that isn't aggressive. Liveaquaria.com has a good listing with a compatability chart

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Btw I didn't know what trolling meant, just looked it up....no im not trolling lol, just asking for some helpful advice :)). I've recently upgraded to the 170 so excited to add new things, I just want to be careful and sensible!

Thanks clown 79, il have a look. I like the peaceful look /nature of chromis. I may add one. As I mentioned my sixline seems very chilled out so it may be ok. What do you think?

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I've never had a wrasse but from reading, they can get semi aggressive in smaller tanks.

 

One will never truly know 100% how a fish will be. My clown was super friendly and now its not.

 

Some have great success with 6 lines and others not so much. They can bully more passive fish if its not getting enough food or there isn't enough hiding

Places for it.

 

Chromis and 6 line are compatible

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jedimasterben

What kind of skimmer are you going to have? That will pretty much determine how much you can feed (which is what determines your bioload, not the number of fish, which is one of the most godawful arbitrary metrics ever).

 

My tank is similar in volume using a Coral Box D500 skimmer, and I feed about a 'cube' of frozen food daily and 1-3 feedings of dry foods, either NLS pellets, Golden Pearls, or a mix of finer foods. I think I'm at 13 fish as of today, ranging from tiny and requiring little food (2" marine Betta, five chromis, a red bandtail waspfish, a red scooter dragonet) to medium activity and size (pearly jawfish, lyretail anthias), to larger (3.5-4"), more active, herbivores (magnificent foxface, starry blenny, desjardini sailfin tang). Skimmer pulls a nice, decently dark liquid, and after not bothering with N/P test kits for years, surprising they are not running wild.

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What kind of skimmer are you going to have? That will pretty much determine how much you can feed (which is what determines your bioload, not the number of fish, which is one of the most godawful arbitrary metrics ever).

 

My tank is similar in volume using a Coral Box D500 skimmer, and I feed about a 'cube' of frozen food daily and 1-3 feedings of dry foods, either NLS pellets, Golden Pearls, or a mix of finer foods. I think I'm at 13 fish as of today, ranging from tiny and requiring little food (2" marine Betta, five chromis, a red bandtail waspfish, a red scooter dragonet) to medium activity and size (pearly jawfish, lyretail anthias), to larger (3.5-4"), more active, herbivores (magnificent foxface, starry blenny, desjardini sailfin tang). Skimmer pulls a nice, decently dark liquid, and after not bothering with N/P test kits for years, surprising they are not running wild.

 

Dang you've got 13 in a 35ish gallon tank? That seems pretty intense :D

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jedimasterben

Ben has a 60.

Nope, display is like 34 gallons, sump is like another 8-10.

Dang you've got 13 in a 35ish gallon tank? That seems pretty intense :D

Yep, just takes a bit of patience and decent fish selection to make sure there aren't any glaring compatibility issues or overly aggressive fish, and picking a good mix of smaller species to round out with some that are a bit larger. This tank isn't a permanent installation, but the fish I have show no signs of stress, so they're okay for a while.

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RIP Sebastian

Nope, display is like 34 gallons, sump is like another 8-10.

 

Yep, just takes a bit of patience and decent fish selection to make sure there aren't any glaring compatibility issues or overly aggressive fish, and picking a good mix of smaller species to round out with some that are a bit larger. This tank isn't a permanent installation, but the fish I have show no signs of stress, so they're okay for a while.

 

Oh.

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jedimasterben

 

Oh.

Uh huh. Hard and fast rules aren't always so hard and fast. ;)

Keep in mind he is a jedi master so he gets away with shit most of us can't. Plus I always thought his tank was bigger...

 

But I agree that it's not about number of fish but type of fish.

:lol:

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  • 2 weeks later...

IMHO having 13 fish in a 34g isn't just about the right mix of fish, it's also about the experience and skill level of the owner.

 

An experienced jedi master may be able to keep the force in balance for such a heavily stocked system, but may not be the best path to walk for an average reefkeeper...

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jedimasterben

It actually doesn't take a lot of skill IMHO, just planning and proper filtration. The planning will go better with experience, or at least significant research on fish behavior, how much food they need, actual average adult size (not wild super-male maximum size), etc.

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burtbollinger

It actually doesn't take a lot of skill IMHO, just planning and proper filtration. The planning will go better with experience, or at least significant research on fish behavior, how much food they need, actual average adult size (not wild super-male maximum size), etc.

 

your tank is badass...you get a pass for whatever IMO.

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I agree, you could add one more fish and be safe. However I personally tend to keep a fairly high bioload in my tanks and currently am running a skimmer less reefer 350 with 12 fish (2 clowns, royal gramma, azure damselfish, diamond goby, spotted mandarin, grey head wrasse, ruby head fairy wrasse, kole tang, sailfin tang, flame angel and bangaii cardinal). And I'd still like to add a blotched anthias. I keep my nitrates at 2-5 with just monthly water changes, and a fuge.

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