Do Coral take up fish space

[Burray]

I have a 32 gal reef tank with 2 Clownfish(1 1/4 inch each) a BiColor Blenny (1 inch) and a Coral Beauty (2 1/4 inches). I also have 2 cleaner shrimp along with a few snails and crabs. I read 1" of fish per 5 gal, do corals take up room from fish? I have 1 power head, canister Fluval 207 filter along with the filter that comes with the tank. Would I be able to add another fish or 2 if I add another power head for more airflow? Would I need another power head?

 

[afrokobe]

In terms of bioload, no, corals have very little added in bioload. So adding corals should not affect your stocking plans

 

[Burray]

In terms of bioload, no, corals have very little added in bioload. So adding corals should not affect your stocking plans

Great!! Thanks for the info.

 

[RedReefer]

You need to take in to account growth and swim room. Your tank size should be fine. Some of the larger fish can have car wrecks with coral.

 

[Burray]

You need to take in to account growth and swim room. Your tank size should be fine. Some of the larger fish can have car wrecks with coral.

Got it

 

[Burray]

I have a 32 gal reef tank with 2 Clownfish(1 1/4 inch each) a BiColor Blenny (1 inch) and a Coral Beauty (2 1/4 inches). I also have 2 cleaner shrimp along with a few snails and crabs. I read 1" of fish per 5 gal, do corals take up room from fish? I have 1 power head, canister Fluval 207 filter along with the filter that comes with the tank. Would I be able to add another fish or 2 if I add another power head for more airflow? Would I need another power head?

 

[Burray]

Any thoughts on adding one or two more fish? I wanted to get a Mandarin and possibly a Watchman or sand sifting Goby.

 

[DE FISH]

Any thoughts on adding one or two more fish? I wanted to get a Mandarin and possibly a Watchman or sand sifting Goby.

A mandarin would be a no go on a 32 gal in my opinion

 

[Burray]

A mandarin would be a no go on a 32 gal in my opinion

How many gal would I need for a Mandarin?

 

[Dave1993]

you can have a mandarin if you are willing to add pods every week i have a pipefish and i just constantly add pods for him and he's fine

 

[Burray]

you can have a mandarin if you are willing to add pods every week i have a pipefish and i just constantly add pods for him and he's fine

I added 2 16 oz bottles to the tank so they would multiply already so would I still have to add them weekly?

 

[Dave1993]

Yes i spend about £40 on them every 2 weeks if ur willing to spend the £££ you can have a mandarin easy anyone can

 

[MaxTremors]

I added 2 16 oz bottles to the tank so they would multiply already so would I still have to add them weekly?

Yes, especially with so little rock. Also, bottled pods just don’t seem to reproduce like pods from real live rock. I would add some more rock (at least a few pounds of real live rock). If you have a total of 25-30lbs of rock, a mandarin can be kept in a 32g, but only with at least some real live rock (that will seed the dry rock). You may still need to supplement pods occasionally, but you can also culture white worms, mandarins love them and they are highly nutritious. I would definitely recommend getting your mandarin from Biota, as they are already trained to eat prepared foods. The other alternative would be a scooter dragonet or Ruby Red, all of the same advice is the same, but they are just a little more robust and more likely to eat frozen or prepared foods.

 

[Burray]

Yes, especially with so little rock. Also, bottled pods just don’t seem to reproduce like pods from real live rock. I would add some more rock (at least a few pounds of real live rock). If you have a total of 25-30lbs of rock, a mandarin can be kept in a 32g, but only with at least some real live rock (that will seed the dry rock). You may still need to supplement pods occasionally, but you can also culture white worms, mandarins love them and they are highly nutritious. I would definitely recommend getting your mandarin from Biota, as they are already trained to eat prepared foods. The other alternative would be a scooter dragonet or Ruby Red, all of the same advice is the same, but they are just a little more robust and more likely to eat frozen or prepared foods.

Thanks for all the advise I will check out Biota. I forgot to mention I have a copepod hotel, not sure good they work and have about 20 lbs of live rock (just estimating) could be a little more. I will get some more.

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

Keep a fuge and grow copepods there. Stock it and replenish thank and fuge every so often. also Cultured manderins eat prepared food (biota...)

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

I added 2 16 oz bottles to the tank so they would multiply already so would I still have to add them weekly?

No... As long as you have a already established population and are dosing Phytoplankton the copepods should hold their own . I have 2 mandarins, 3 ruby reds , and a 6six line and haven't added copepods to my system in nearly a year . The Key is phytoplankton dosing something so simple yet so over looked in this hobby . With that said if you can afford it buy a captive bread mandarins ! Far to many wild ones die due to not having a proper environment for them in display tanks

 

[Burray]

No... As long as you have a already established population and are dosing Phytoplankton the copepods should hold their own . I have 2 mandarins, 3 ruby reds , and a 6six line and haven't added copepods to my system in nearly a year . The Key is phytoplankton dosing something so simple yet so over looked in this hobby . With that said if you can afford it buy a captive bread mandarins ! Far to many wild ones die due to not having a proper environment for them in display tanks

I got my copepods from you, they were great. Bottles were loaded with pods. I will start dosing phyto hope it's not too late.

 

[Treefer32]

No... As long as you have a already established population and are dosing Phytoplankton the copepods should hold their own . I have 2 mandarins, 3 ruby reds , and a 6six line and haven't added copepods to my system in nearly a year . The Key is phytoplankton dosing something so simple yet so over looked in this hobby . With that said if you can afford it buy a captive bread mandarins ! Far to many wild ones die due to not having a proper environment for them in display tanks

I don't want to hijack this, but what is the best place to get good quality Phyto? I have a 340 gallon and it seemed like it could run $50-100 a month to dose it daily. Plus, may need a doser to actually dose it unless there's an option to dose it once a week?

I tried it for a month and noticed more critters coming out of the rock work. Even without dosing it I noticed at night my sand bed is covered in movement from pods.

 

[Burray]

I don't want to hijack this, but what is the best place to get good quality Phyto? I have a 340 gallon and it seemed like it could run $50-100 a month to dose it daily. Plus, may need a doser to actually dose it unless there's an option to dose it once a week?

I tried it for a month and noticed more critters coming out of the rock work. Even without dosing it I noticed at night my sand bed is covered in movement from pods.

Check out jaysreefbugs on ebay that's where I've purchased.

 

[KonradTO]

I have the same tank as yours, with very similar settings (external filter+ default filter). At the moment I have 1 HUGE YWG, 1 bicolor blenny (love him!), 2 clowns, 1 chromis, 1 sixline. Also 1 hermit and many other inverts. They seem fine for now with the space available. For pods what I can tell is that I had a massive pod population some time ago, but since I had a dino phase the population collapsed and never recovered like before, even if there is tons of hiding space where the macroalgae are. As far as I understood it is better to avoid dragonets unless you have a tank big enough where you are sure they can always find pods..