Could anyone comment on my stocking level?

[Cunning_plan]

I was hoping I could get some input into my current stocking level. This feels to be a fairly ephemoral concept so it would be great to hear from people with more experience.

I am running a 180g mixed reef. Rockwork is setup so that there are tonnes of places to hide and so line of sight is broken up fairly well - I'm likely to add a bit more rock in the future to improve this further.

I currently have:

• 1x Engineer Goby (8 inches)
• 2 x Picasso Clown
• 1 x White Belly Wrasse (Halichoeres leucoxanthus)
• 2 x Bangai Cardinals
• 1 x Orchid Dottyback
• 1 x Purple Firefish
• 1 x Foxface Rabbitfish (6.5 inches)
• 1 x Purple Tang (6 inches)
• 1 x Filefish
• 1 x Yellow Eye Kole Tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus, 3 inches)

I guess it would be good to understand if I have space for any more smaller fish, or if I need to be looking to re-home anything in the future!

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I was hoping I could get some input into my current stocking level. This feels to be a fairly ephemoral concept so it would be great to hear from people with more experience.

I am running a 180g mixed reef. Rockwork is setup so that there are tonnes of places to hide and so line of sight is broken up fairly well - I'm likely to add a bit more rock in the future to improve this further.

I currently have:

• 1x Engineer Goby (8 inches)
• 2 x Picasso Clown
• 1 x White Belly Wrasse (Halichoeres leucoxanthus)
• 2 x Bangai Cardinals
• 1 x Orchid Dottyback
• 1 x Purple Firefish
• 1 x Foxface Rabbitfish (6.5 inches)
• 1 x Purple Tang (6 inches)
• 1 x Filefish
• 1 x Yellow Eye Kole Tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus, 3 inches)

I guess it would be good to understand if I have space for any more smaller fish, or if I need to be looking to re-home anything in the future!

Sounds like you are in a good place.

Yes you could add another small fish, assuming all is now going well with feeding and water parameters to account for bioload of current population

 

[Cunning_plan]

Sounds like you are in a good place.

Yes you could add another small fish, assuming all is now going well with feeding and water parameters to account for bioload of current population

Awesome, thanks.

 

[WVNed]

I think you could add several fish (3-4) provided they stay small. When your nitrates start to go up you went too far.

 

[Dbichler]

I think you have a quite a bit more room I have a 210 with
Desjardini tang
Kole tang
Powder brown tang
Emperor angel
Foxface
Huma huma
2 clowns
Flame back angel
2 diamond gobies
Lawnmower blenny
Bird wrasse
Cortez wrasse
And I feel I could still add more but that depends as mentioned above if your nutrient export methods are sufficient

 

[WVNed]

Dwarf angel and 3 chromis. Something like that.

 

[nereefpat]

I guess it would be good to understand if I have space for any more smaller fish, or if I need to be looking to re-home anything in the future!

I agree with having room for a few smaller fish, as long as they're compatible and your nitrate/phosphate is in check.

Nothing on your current list ever needs rehomed, in my opinion.

 

[Cunning_plan]

Awesome. Nutrient export is more than adequte, large productive fuge, + GFO + skimmer all dialed to about half way is keeping things stable and I have a dosing head spare for organic carbon if needed. It's great to know I have some more space to work with.

Now the tough bit of working out what to add!

 

[blaxsun]

I’ve got a 200-gallon with 24 fish. Most are small (under 1.5”-2”), a few medium (2-3”) and a couple slightly larger (3-4”). Phosphates are under 0.025 and nitrates hover around 10. I have:

4x Green Chromis
3x Clownfish (Ocelaris)
2x Dwarf Angelfish (Midnight, Coral Beauty)
2x Mandarin Dragonets
2x Dottybacks (Orchid, Indigo)
1x Flame Hawkfish
1x Sailfin Tang
1x Emperor Angelfish
1x Pajama Cardinal
1x Sixline Wrasse
1x Melanarus Wrasse
1x Red Coris Wrasse
1x Marine Betta
1x Midas Blenny
1x Cleaner Wrasse
1x Azure Damsel

 

[jdiefenbaugh]

I like to stock heavier, but I always thought ~20 fish was fine for a 180. That's what I had for a home tank in 2008, with around 18 fish (mostly wrasses/herbivores), IIRC, and never had a nutrient problem.