8 fish in 30 gallons?

[bubba005]

I just set up and cycled my 31 gallon AIO system currently stocked with a juvenile Wyoming white clown. Down the line, I wish to add a tailspot blenny, blue neon goby, clown goby, red firefish, royal gramma, Valentini Toby, and a black and white chromis. I am currently setting up a Chaeto refugium in the tank’s back chamber to boost its filtration capacity. Will this stocking be okay in this tank?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I think its fine... the clown and neon goby are tiny and not territorial. I would just suggest to have adequate rockwork to provide enough hiding spaces for everything.

 

[Reef Psychology]

I think it’s ok too, if you use bottled bacteria for the inevitable nutrient spike. I’d have a mirror ready to place on one side to deal with any aggression - but I don’t think it’s likely. I’d also look up https://drreefsquarantinedfish.com/. His services are excellent.

 

[Tired]

You'll need a lot of rockwork, and to watch for aggression, remembering that the final tank dynamic won't be determined until they all hit adulthood. Could work out, though. And, yeah, you can pretty much consider the neon and the clown goby to be one fish, both in terms of bioload and of space demands.

Frankly, Dr Reef has gone way downhill, from what I've been hearing. Good return/replacement policy, but bad shipping practices and insufficient quarantine- people have been getting sick fish from him. There's a couple threads discussing it here:

Quarantined Livestock Vendor Information

humble.fish

I love FisHotel for fully QTed fish, though it is a bit tricky to get stuff from him. If you can be around on the forum when he gets a semi-custom order in (he'll give a list of what he can order from X place, people put in requests, then he orders all that), you have a solid chance, or you can stalk the website for whatever people don't buy off those orders.
Though do remember that if you go full QT (which is generally a good choice), you need to QT nearly everything wet. Non-fish need a fallow period, 10+ feet away from your display, before going in with fish.

 

[vlangel]

Another source to consider for fish, ( although they are not captive bred) is KP Aquatics. They have the royal Gramma, toby puffer and neon cleaner goby and I have never had a bad experience from them. In fact I would describe them as excellent.

 

[fish farmer]

I'd say that will eventually be too much with regard to the puffer...they get 4 inches long. I generally suggest less fish for future growth, although the gobies will be on the small side and count as one fish.

I don't care how much filtration you have....give your fish space to grown and interact and not be bumping into each other....4 to 5 fish max.

Now this is based on not upgrading in the future....with that said if you plan on upgrading in 2 years, then it could work short term.

 

[bubba005]

I think it’s ok too, if you use bottled bacteria for the inevitable nutrient spike. I’d have a mirror ready to place on one side to deal with any aggression - but I don’t think it’s likely. I’d also look up https://drreefsquarantinedfish.com/. His services are excellent.

You'll need a lot of rockwork, and to watch for aggression, remembering that the final tank dynamic won't be determined until they all hit adulthood. Could work out, though. And, yeah, you can pretty much consider the neon and the clown goby to be one fish, both in terms of bioload and of space demands.

Frankly, Dr Reef has gone way downhill, from what I've been hearing. Good return/replacement policy, but bad shipping practices and insufficient quarantine- people have been getting sick fish from him. There's a couple threads discussing it here:

Quarantined Livestock Vendor Information

humble.fish

I love FisHotel for fully QTed fish, though it is a bit tricky to get stuff from him. If you can be around on the forum when he gets a semi-custom order in (he'll give a list of what he can order from X place, people put in requests, then he orders all that), you have a solid chance, or you can stalk the website for whatever people don't buy off those orders.
Though do remember that if you go full QT (which is generally a good choice), you need to QT nearly everything wet. Non-fish need a fallow period, 10+ feet away from your display, before going in with fish.

I have a bunch of really good LFS in my area and I’m a bit scared of ordering fish online. I do have a 10 gallon qt tank set up though so I’ll focus on purchasing healthy looking fish and keeping them there for a few weeks. Thank you so much for the resources!

 

[Tired]

Observational QT is good, but medicated QT is better- you'd be surprised what can sneak by. The fish supply system is the equivalent of several airports in a row, with lots of chances to pick up something or another.

 

[Jekyl]

I guess it depends on if you have a ton of rock or not. I have 8 in a 90g and still have mild aggression issues. My thoughts would be way too many.

 

[fish farmer]

I guess it depends on if you have a ton of rock or not. I have 8 in a 90g and still have mild aggression issues. My thoughts would be way too many.

My take on the ton of rock scenario. It does provide more nooks and crannies say for certain fish, BUT also takes up real estate...so the 30 gallon recommendation for fish. Is that open water? Heavy rock/coral load?

I consider my 29 gallon heavy on rock and coral and I have a mature spawning pair of clowns who generally don't mind additions whether it is a goby, wrasse or gramma which I have had at different times. My current sixline wrasse is constantly moving though out the tank, but still gets too close to the clowns home base. I had similar stand offs when I had a royal gramma, they would display from time to time, but the gramma had a good cave to hide in. But toward the end of it's life around 6 years, he had grown to full size and seemed cramped and skittish, it hid a lot more.

 

[kevgib67]

I have 7 in a 32g that is working well. I agree with @fish farmer , the puffer would be pushing it.