comments on my bioload please

[andrewkw]

What do you guys think of my bioload? Too overstocked? Still have room? Originally I had said after a purple tang that's it, maybe a psychedelic mandarin since i have a lot of flatworms and a huge pod population as well but ever since I got a labouti wrasse I have wanted more of the crazy flasher wrasses. I look at other peoples simalar sized tanks and they have either more fish, or more tangs which account for at least a few small fish in terms of bioload and probably more as far as territory.

 

My tank is a 112 gallon 60x18x24, I haven't ever actually measured the water in my sump but i'm guessing its somewhere between 30-40 gallons. I have lots of cheato in my refugiuem,a good about of live rock in the tank, 1000s of mysis, pods and other micro fauna, many unoccupied hiding spots and a deltec mce 600 skimmer (will think about upgrading to a euroreef rc should the need arise).

 

I currently have 14 fish which seems like a lot however when you break it down its not really.

 

2 Naked clownfish (small) they host in the rbta and just stick to it other then coming out to eat.

 

Royal Gramma (small)sticks to a hole above the rbta and comes out to feed and at night.

 

Banggi Cardinal (small), sticks to the back area of the tank and comes out once in a while but not much of a swimmer.

 

2 Firefish (small), originally I thought they were a mated pair, now one stays in a cave near the front or hovering outside of it and the other hovers in the back. They swim around when I turn the pumps off or when feeding but other then that stick to their area.

 

Mated pair of carptenter flasher wrasses (small), they swim together during the morning and night, hang out on their own most of the day they do pretty much travel everywhere.

 

Yellow Wrasse, (medium) probably my most active fish, seems to finally be going for the flatworms, goes everywhere and covers some of my corals with sand at night.

 

Foxface lo (large) this guys only 4-5" now but will eventually reach 8-9 not sure how many years this will take but perhaps in 3-5 years a large scale upgrade will happen, but not for now. Eats everytting and is easily the largest waste producer, also does eat algae which is a big plus.

 

Labouti Wrasse (medium) my most colourful guy he rocks and is fast another of my active guys probably the 2nd biggest bioload since he is the second largest.

 

Dispar Anthias x2 (small) soon to be 3 again, just lost one of these guys to carpet surfing will replace her when possible. They're near fish but also the reason I feed frozen food several times a day. They are active swimmers and have no specific territory.

 

Green Chormis (small) hates his own kind and killed the other 2 I once had, likes the anthias and hangs with them. Would get rid of him if I could should bioload become too great.

 

 

What I'm going to add for sure

 

Purple Tang

1 Dispar anthias to keep my number at an odd one.

 

What I'd like to add

2 more fairy wrasses (1-2 of lineatus, scott's, rosy, Hawaiian flame)

mandarin

 

 

I have 1 large fish 2 medium and 11 small

 

I'd like this to go to 2 large, 3-4 medium and 12-13 small. I have to admit this really seems like a lot, however i've never seen any major aggression in any of my fish they are all peaceful except when I get the purple tang but he will be boss anyway and I see successful tanks run with higher bioloads.

 

any comments good or bad are welcome.

 

thanks

[mattyice]

switch out the dispar anthias with other anthias species, very very tough anthias to keep long term, not a good track record

[andrewkw]

switch out the dispar anthias with other anthias species, very very tough anthias to keep long term, not a good track record

 

I've had the other 2 for about 4 months and they are doing great. Colour is great and size has increased, I did lose a couple within days of adding them but the ones that survived are thriving. I know this is still short term but I fully expect the other 2 to be alive for years to come. I still feel terrible about the carpet surfer. I litterly have a 3/4" gap between the front of my hood and she somehow made it out. I will of course be correcting this shortly since my wrasses are known jumpers although I haven't seen any of them even come close to jumping other then being excited for food which i'm always there for.

[mattyice]

it has nothing to do with your experience or how healthy they are doing it is just like the tuka sp. of anthias they just dont do well in captivity, only anthias experts can sucessfully care for them, SDguy over on RC had a Dispar supermale for 2 years and mysteriously it died one day with no warning

[andrewkw]

i'll keep this in mind, but I don't think I will be able to get the dispars out even if I wanted to. I think the clowns are the only fish I could actually catch and maybe the foxface.

 

So you think I'm okay to add another flasher in addition to the purple tang? I'm not really worried as I'm not having fights nor water quality issues, just my number of fish has seemingly gotten quite high.

[mattyice]

i would say skip on the addition of another flasher and just go with the purple tang

[andrewkw]

i would say skip on the addition of another flasher and just go with the purple tang

 

 

Too late, I got the Hawaiian flame, its so beautiful and litterly the first one ever availible that I know if in Canada.

 

I am thinking about taking the yellow wrasse out though. Maybe even the foxface since he is the biggest and worst as far as bio-load. Either that or upgrade to a 180.

 

The PT i'm getting is quite small maybe 3" and its highly unlikley this will be my last tank. I never plan on adding anymore big fish, but wrasses are just so nice.