how many fish in a tank is okay?

[steve569]

I read in a book that if you multiply L X W / 24 gives you the number of fish you can put in a tank. It didn't say anything about corals and inverts. Please help

[Gringoloco]

IMO I keep fish acording to total adult length, and then go with 2 inches per gallon.

[MikeS]

It all depends on the tank and the fish in question....

The inch per gallons rule is pretty subjective...ie if you can keep 1 inch per gallon....then you should be able to keep one 5 inch tang in a 10 gallon tank....which we all know is out of the question. A 5 inch tang needs a minimum 55-75 gallon tank to thrive, because they need room to swim alot.

Bioload is a factor as well. A single 6 inch lionfish in a 20 gallon will quickly place more bioload on that tank than it can reasonably handle. The inches per gallon rule is however more applicable when it comes to bioload. This "rule" however is a debated question itself. 2 inches per gallon is totally out of the question. That's WAY too much biolad. Try putting 20 inches of fish into a 10 gallon and see what happens :D . The average recommended bioload I've seen ranges from 1 inch per 3-5 gallons of tank size.

Mike

[miztahphong2]

very true mikejs.

[Gringoloco]

That makes sense mike about the bio load, but I guess I thought he already took that into consideration with the setup. But the whole inch thing is def. very subjective. You brought up a good point with the tang, never thought about that. But I would never put a tang in something so small :)

[MikeS]

Yeah....there are so many "rules" out there that are very subjective...like inches of per gallon....watts of light per gallon....most of them are meaningless when you get right down to it.

Mike

[travisito83]

u should put one fish per 10 gallons of water dependind on the size. u dont want to overload the tank.

[steve569]

i have a 29g reef and I want to put a flame angel and two clowns is there going to be enough space for these guys

[Gringoloco]

In a 29 gal a flame angel and 2 clowns will be ok depending on the clowns (which ones are you getting) ?

[steve569]

my wife wants the true clowns

[MikeS]

True percs are cool...one of my favorite....I had a very long lived one....nice fish. Very peacefull, hardy, beautiful, lots of personality (well as much as a fish can have :lol: )

I recommend them...they are great fish.

Mike