Fish count

[Jeremey’s reef]

When determining how many fish to keep in a certain system how can you tell when your at capacity? I understand that the fishes max size should be incorporated when coming up with a list of livestock, but I can’t see myself settling for 3-5 fish in my 130g DT. I currently have 2 clowns, a Copperband Butterfly and a pinktail triggerfish. I plan on adding a Hawaiian cleaner fish and some tangs (purple) (yellow) and Gem. I’m considering doing away with the trigger, he is not aggressive at the moment but I’m aiming for friendlier fish which is the exact opposite of tangs in some cases so they are not set in stone either. So I’m my eyes the clowns, wrasse, Copperband and maybe a black female box fish are what my tank would consist of in the next couple of weeks if the LFS’s can get suppliers shipping again of course. But that’s only 5 fish I mean that seems like a light load to me, am I wrong? I am also considering a Moorish idol I know they are difficult to keep but I can’t deny the urge to at least give it a try that would bring my grand total to six and I think that would keep me satisfied for a short while. Three bigger fish and three on the small side but eventually I would want more, would I be out of my mind to want 9-11 fish in my 130g display?

 

[Collink91]

Your 130 can handle 9-11 fish no problem... just... not all in the next few weeks. Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[ichthyoid]

It also depends a lot on their size, territoriality & activity/metabolism level.

So for instance, those tangs you are planning on, check all of those boxes. Which equates to fewer fish. Tangs are notoriously prone to stress related disease & crowding contributes to that.

I’m going to ask that you rethink the Moorish Idol for now. Those are challenging for even experienced reefers and definitely not a beginner fish. They also do better with room.

 

[ichthyoid]

It also helps if you plan on putting more docile species in first, to allow them a chance to settle in. Then add more active & territorial ones later.

 

[Jeremey’s reef]

It also helps if you plan on putting more docile species in first, to allow them a chance to settle in. Then add more active & territorial ones later.

yea this is why I considered taking the trigger and trading for some store credit at a LFS.

 

[Rainblood]

yea this is why I considered taking the trigger and trading for some store credit at a LFS.

do stores normally take back fish? i've always been hesitant to buy fish because i'd have no place to put them if they didn't get along with each other.

 

[Jeremey’s reef]

do stores normally take back fish? i've always been hesitant to buy fish because i'd have no place to put them if they didn't get along with each other.

So I found that they won’t take them back but buy them from you and issue store credit usually at a fraction of what you paid. For instance I purchased a clown tang from premier and he was fine for a week but went after my Copperband soon after I added it and I chose the copper band over the tang and he was evicted swiftly. I paid $90 and received $31.80 in store credit once returned to Premier. Lots of store do this Premier, Nemo in Stone Mountain/ Lilburn and Pure Reef are a few. The difference is Nemo and Premier take the fish immediately and Pure Reef does some sort of observation method where they take the fish and look over it for multiple days and then issue store credit