How Many Fish for 160g?

[teddscau]

Okay, so we've ordered a new 160g rimless tank, which will be arriving in a couple of weeks. We're going to be moving our current fish, inverts, and corals into it after getting everything up and running. With the new tank being so spacious (24" x 72" x 24") we wanted to get new fish as well.

We currently have:
3 Ocellaris clownfish
4 pyjama cardinalfish
1 firefish
1 convict tang
1 blue tang

We're thinking about adding:
4 eastern hulafish
5 or 6 blue streak cardinalfish (Zoramia leptacantha)
3–5 yellow cardinalfish
2 Banggai cardinalfish
1 royal gramma
1 pink-spotted watchman
1 Red Sea mimic blenny

What I care about is whether or not each fish will have adequate room to swim around and carve out their own territories. I know the clownfish, pyjamas, firefish, and Banggai stay in pretty much one spot and don't swim around that much, so they don't really factor into things here. We only get captive-bred fish and fish in need of rehoming, so we're limited on what fish we can get. Thanks for the advice.

[Dmorty217]

With the addition of the fish you have listed it should be fine since most of the fish you listed only get 3-4"

[teddscau]

Okay, thanks! I thought it would be fine, but then I started worrying since we don't have any first hand experience with the aforementioned species. We're actually going to Ripley's Aquarium next week to get a better idea of how marine fish interact in a captive setting.

One of the things I'm grappling with right now is whether or not to get a BTA for our clownfish. We've had our clowns for well over a year, and they're completely non-aggressive and get along amazingly well with one another. If we get them an anemone, I'm worried that will all change, and that they'll start beating on Little Henry, terrorizing the other fish, and biting our hands. On the other hand, an anemone (should they choose it as a host) would provide them with a ton of enrichment, as well as a safe place to call home (our convict tang has chronic gill issues which causes him to become agitated and pick on the clowns). I can't help but feel the cons outweigh the pros, but at the same time, I think they'd be a lot happier hosting with an anemone rather than the Mag-Float we have in there right now.

Edit:
Well, it looks like it'll be nearly impossible to get most of those fish, so we'll have to go with Plan B (i.e., buy a bunch of more readily available captive-bred fish I don't particularly like the look, size, or aggression of). Might buy a pair of baby clownfish of another species. I mean, as long as they don't decide to bully big Delilah and her harem, everything should be fine. Again, Delilah is the most mellow clownfish I've ever met.

[teddscau]

Huh, just realized Delilah is unusually large—she's nearly 9cm long. Guess I'll have to snap a photo of her next to a ruler when we move them to the new tank.

[Michael Hoaster]

Those dimensions equate to 180 gallons. You could do a harem of captive bred fridmani basslets. I'm considering one for my 180. They are the mellowest of the dottybacks. Get one fish larger than the rest and you've got your harem.

Props to you for buying captive bred!

[hkgar]

I have 18 fish in my 180 (see list with my signature). The most important part of a high number of fish, IMHO, is excess nutrient removal (NO3 and PO4).

I keep a lot of fish because it makes my corals very happy.

[teddscau]

Thanks . It's a pain doing a strictly captive bred tank, since Canada doesn't have access to as many suppliers as the US. We'll have to order most of our fish from J&L Aquatics, which means we'll have to make several trips to the airport to pick them up >_>.

I'd love to get all the fish I mentioned, but we'll see what happens. As for the dottyback harem, how would they do with wimpy fish like cardinals? A harem definitely sounds interesting, but I wouldn't want them bullying my cardinals or firefish.

I'm thinking about maybe getting a captive bred purple tang to go with our convict and blue tang, but I'm not sure yet. It's such a hard decision, choosing what fish to get. On second thought, maybe a yellow tang. We're now thinking we might get 7 Banggai, rather than just a pair.

We're going to be buying 40lbs of Reef Stax, and I wanna have a deep sand bed, whereas my dad isn't so sure. Still deciding whether or not to get a mandarinfish. If we were to get a mandarinfish, we'd have to reconsider some fish. We're also wondering about whether or no to get a coral beauty/Singapore angelfish, but again, that'll depend on what fish we're getting.

We're definitely getting a school of Banggai, a pair of watchman gobies, and a pair of pink skunk clownfish. That I know. If the skunks don't work out with the Banggai, we'll move them to the sump.

I've been thinking about having an area of the tank be a macro garden.

Anyways, thanks for the replies guys .

[moondoggy4]

I do love your choice of a Mimic Bleeny, hard to find though.

[teddscau]

Yeah, I love the look of the mimic blenny! Hopefully J&L Aquatics can hook me up with one. I'm so excited for the new tank! We had our LFS order a bunch of Two Little Fishies Stax and CaribSea rocks, which should be in this week. There was this really nice artificial montipora made by Underwater Treasures, so I bought it for the tank. It's extremely realistic looking (explains the price) and I'm sure the fish are going to love it. I'm hoping the pink skunks will host in it.