Stocking Question

[jva7304]

Trying to get ready to start stocking my tank. Tank is still in its cycling stages. Been running bout 3 weeks. Tests have all been checking out good. I have a 58gal. How many fish will it house? Staying with all small fish, no larger than 5". I have an idea of the fish that i want but dont want to overcrowd it either. Any input will help out bunches. Do to my lack of reef tanks i dont know how many i can house without any problems.

Thanks!

[Holygrail45]

I would start off small, are you cycling with live rock or with starter fish? Will you take those out? I cycled with a ton of live rock (uncured ofcourse) as well as green chromies....looking back, I would have settled with rock alone, because the fish run risk of either dying or developing disease which can, if they survive long enough, spread to other more expensive and desired stock in the future.

A general rule of thumb is 4" of small-to-medium size fish per 10 gallons. Looks like your in the 5-8 category.

My lfs manager is a huge guy on over extending your cycle period and firmly believes that ammonia levels spike suddenly for small periods of often undetected time during cycling stages. He always tells me to wait 6 weeks, but at 4...I couldn't wait any longer.

Oh, and invest in a strong clean up crew. Peppermint and Cleaner Shrimp, plenty of Astrea (sp) snails and Hermit Crabs to munch of waste and uneaten foods. Always go 1.5LB+ live rock per gallon tank for optimal biological filtering.

Ofcourse, this is just one mans suggestion.

Good luck, have fun.

[theatrus]

General stocking:
- No tangs, no large angels, no triggers, no lions
- I'd limit yourself to 4-5 smaller fish, or a showcase fish such as a dwarf/pygmy angel and 3 other fish (such as an osc clown pair + other).
- LiveAquaria is a fairly decent site in order to figure out tank requirements of specimens. Not 100% accurate and sometimes too generous in "minimum tank size" specs, but otherwise fairly decent.

[jva7304]

I am cycling with live rock. Just the other day I bought 5 snails and added them. Are they the same as cycling with fish or not? Still have to add more live rock in which will probally extend my cycling time (which bites) but its a slow process for me as im going through a divorce. So if im in the 5-8 category, can i strecth that a little farther? So many fish so many dissions.

Thanks

[bertoni]

In a tank with live rock, "cycling" isn't really all that useful a term, in my opinion. Mostly, you just need to wait for the dead organisms on the live rock (if any) to decay completely. Once the ammonia has been zero for a few weeks, I think it's okay to add animals.

[jva7304]

Is there anymore suggestions out there?

[Scuba_Steve]

I wouldnt add anything else, cleaners included until your tanks chemistry has leveled out.




Like how I didnt say until your tank finishes cycling bertoni :P

[Holygrail45]

If you add more rocks, your just starting the clock back to zero....so make sure they are "cured rocks" that have already gone through the cycle or decaying phase and wont increame ammonia levels in your tank.

I know what you mean, but a bio load is a bio load and you just can't over do it or you'll start running into problems. Even if you decide on getting more smaller fish, make sure they dont have a perpensity of growing fast, or rather....research maximum growth because they can get big fast and before you know it, you have a stock that is sutable for a 100G in your 60G.

I think your best to listen to theatrus here and go with a showcase and a couple others. But you may want to wait until your more experienced with your tank, your system and overall before you drop $100 on a beautiful show piece

best of luck

[jva7304]

This is what im wanting to add.

2 true percs
1 purple firefish
1 lawnmower blenny
1 royal Gramma
1 coral beauty
1 bi color blenny
1 six line wrasse

is that overloading it or could i add a couple more maybe like the pj cardinals, etc.

[bertoni]

I would limit the tank to 4-5 fish from that list, especially for starters. The coral beauty and the lawnmower are rather larger than the others, so maybe they count as 1.5.

[kevin vara]

Originally posted by jva7304
This is what im wanting to add.

2 true percs
1 purple firefish
1 lawnmower blenny
1 royal Gramma
1 coral beauty
1 bi color blenny
1 six line wrasse

is that overloading it or could i add a couple more maybe like the pj cardinals, etc.

i think that, thats a nice list no more though if one more a small goby

[jva7304]

Ok here is what ive decided to go with.

2 True Percs
1 Bi-Color Blenny
1 Purple Firefish
1 Pygmy Anglefish
1 Royal Gramma

And maybe a PJ Cardinal!


Is there any problem with what I have a mixture of? Or any problem with any of them?

Thanks,
Jason

[bertoni]

The firefish might get bullied, but otherwise, the list seems compatible.