How many fish in a 265?....

[Demeat50]

Is 28 fish too many for a 265 gal tank?  I already have these fish in there...

 

Yellow tang

Purple tang

Blue tang

Bartlett’s anthias

4-line wrasse

Blue sided wrasse

3 Vanderbilt chromis

2 diamond sleeper gobies

Cleaner shrimp

 

And over time would like to add these...

 

2 Black White clowns

Blonde naso tang

Powder brown tang

Bi-color angel

Flame angel

3 Bartlett’s

6 blue/green chromis

2 diamond sleeper gobies

Blood red fire shrimp

 

I used to have 19 in the tank and did not seem crowded at all.  Learned the hard way to quarantine fish.  I am slowly restocking the tank w fish and is mostly LPS and softs now but adding some SPS since I got new Radions.  Curious to hear others' opinions on whether that is a good amount or overcrowded.

 

Thanks.

[YHSublime]

That seems like a good amount in that size tank. It appears the only tangs you have from the same genus on that list are already in your tank, but it's also big enough that you're probably not seeing any real fighting. 

[flooddc]

You've seen my tank! similar length as yours. I have 23 or so in mine.

The fish listed should be okay. 4 big fish and the rest of the fish on your list are small and will remain small. You might have issue with adding tangs as established purple tang is very territorial.  

[Demeat50]

Cool. Thanks.

[BtmDweller]

I’m a fan of large water volumes and smaller bio loads. A lot of the better reef tanks you see have a small fish count or large ratio of water/fish for a reason. This is especially true for SPS and mixed reef. Also, when thinking of fish count think about the adult size. As you mentioned you had a problem in the past. Large amounts of waste means disease can spread easily. I dumped a powder blue covered in ich into a 150 was healed with no spots with a few weeks. Also, he fights with a yellow tang and each one gets gashed tiny infection and heals within a week. They’ve both been thriving together for over a year.

 

Other people love the large fish loads. If you do, I’d recommend a larger volume. I have two sumps. Drain through the wall into 100 gallon Rubbermaid, back into the under tank sump and return.

 

Bottom line - less fish, cleaner water, less algae problems, less fish disease problems. If you do keep a high volume it will be imperative to do your water changes on time changing out filter socks, etc.

Edited July 21, 2018 by ReefBum

[gmerek2]

I’m so a fan of small bio load and large water I agree with reef bum. It makes it easier in the long run for controlling algae during the new tank years. Right now my tank runs to clean but it’s loaded with corals up taking nutrients and only has 14 fish in 240g

[Demeat50]

Interesting thoughts. Will take all into consideration. Thank you.

[Rob A]

I don't know if it's relevant...but I had a 220 for awhile with a handful of decent size tangs and any time I tried to add branching type coral (acro/digi's/stylos/etc) they would break it and/or knock it down. Like I'd glue in a frag and later find it in pieces on the sand bed.  I don't know if it was by accident or if they were just jerks. Small flatter stuff (acan/favia/etc) didn't usually didn't get messed with. I have a 150 now (still have a few tangs) but I'm not adding more fish because I'd like to have a higher ratio of coral to fish.