Thoughts on my fish plan

[ctopal]

I have a 90 gallon mixed reef with 30 gallon sump running UV and things have been going well. I want head over to the pet store tomorrow for another livestock purchase and wanted to throw my plan out there and ask a few questions.

Currently I have 7 fish (the most I've ever had) - 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 long nosed hawkfish, 1 tribal blenny, 1 pyramid butterflyfish, 1 hippo tang and I just added a purple firefish last weekend.

I ultimately want to also add in 3 green chromis (which is what I think I'll purchase tomorrow), 1 coral beauty, and hopefully a pair of yellow clown gobies. I've checked against the compatibility grids on all of these, should good.

Should I be concerned on this # of fish? I've always had 6 or less, but in seeing others stock and knowing I change water weekly, I don't think the above is unreasonable. And this may be a dumb question, but is there a problem with having so many fish at night, does something happen to the oxygen? I thought I saw referencing to a problem with a lot of fish once the lights got out, I've never had to pay attention since I didn't have a lot of fish.

I've seen postings on groupings of chromis where they will kill one another. But it was larger groups getting down to a smaller #. I was thinking 3 would be ok together. I want to have a group of fish instead of all singles. Any feedback? And lastly, I read that a group of these would make good dithering fish that get others comfortable to come out, which is why I want to add them next. My new firefish has been getting picked on and rarely comes out except to eat. It seems to be lessening and I did see him in the cave area of my tank today when it wasn't feeding time. I'm thinking if I add the chromis group it would take pressure off of him.

Very curious on reactions!

Thanks,

Christine

 

[kb1094]

3 chromis should be fine. You shouldn't have any problems.

 

[FishWrangler]

Will the 2 clown gobies even really count towards your bioload in a tank that big? They are tiny......

 

[ctopal]

Will the 2 clown gobies even really count towards your bioload in a tank that big? They are tiny......

LOL - That's another reason that I thought I'd be good, several of the fish in my plan are on the smaller side.

 

[TMC1313]

Coral Beauty will be hit or miss. I've never had luck with angels in my reef tanks. That being said, I don't feed all that heavily, so mine would always pick on my LPS. Then there are those who say they've never had a problem. I'm not one of them. Just watch your corals closely. If they don't look right and are not opening up as much as they used to, the first place I would look is the angel. Mine would nip so cleverly that I never noticed until my trumpet colony wasn't opening up as full as it once was. Sure enough it was the angel. If I watched long enough he would just quietly swim by and take a bite and go about his way. He never just stayed in front of it to munch.

 

[fishroomlady]

in my own experience, I have tried two times a group of 3 chromis and they withered down to 1. My advice would be to go with a larger number like 5. If you go with a larger grouping, I might take out the coral beauty though and I'd be hesitant to add 5 fish at once.

 

[143MPCo]

Should I be concerned on this # of fish? I've always had 6 or less, but in seeing others stock and knowing I change water weekly, I don't think the above is unreasonable. And this may be a dumb question, but is there a problem with having so many fish at night, does something happen to the oxygen? I thought I saw referencing to a problem with a lot of fish once the lights got out, I've never had to pay attention since I didn't have a lot of fish.

No, you'll be increasing your bio-load a bit but seem like that tank should be able to handle it, as you stated "things have been going well".

I've seen postings on groupings of chromis where they will kill one another. But it was larger groups getting down to a smaller #. I was thinking 3 would be ok together. I want to have a group of fish instead of all singles. Any feedback? And lastly, I read that a group of these would make good dithering fish that get others comfortable to come out, which is why I want to add them next. My new firefish has been getting picked on and rarely comes out except to eat. It seems to be lessening and I did see him in the cave area of my tank today when it wasn't feeding time. I'm thinking if I add the chromis group it would take pressure off of him. e

I would try and see if your LFS has a group of 3 that are doing well in the same holding tank, try to procure those as they would be somewhat accustom to one another.

 

[sassAwrasse]

We did several groupings of chromis. Started with 7, ended up with 3. I would go with at least 5.

 

[SteelerMike]

I started with 5 chromis and ended up with 2 :squigglemouth:

 

[KRAZE]

You will be fine on that stocking. And yes, start with more than 3 chromis and see where youend up.

What protein skimmer are you using currently? Before I say adding 5 chromis and a coral beauty down the road will be safe, we should be sure you have enough filtration.