TFA101

So... I don't understand the stocking ratio for saltwater tanks... can anybody enlighten me? I've found several different ratios, what do you use?

Also, I want to start off with some hardier marine species before taking on the challenge of getting a catshark, and I've found the following fish.

Pacific sailfin tang
False Percula Clownfish
Clarkii Clownfish
Sixline Wrasse
Bangaii Cardinalfish
Flame Angelfish
Longnosed Butterfly
Longnosed Hawkfish
Royal Gramma

Could I get some help stocking a 180 gallon aquarium please? Any help or suggestions are welcome!

Stang Man

1/2 inch to 1 inch for saltwater fish depending on size of tank and filtration methods, For your 180 g I would do 1inch per gallon keep in mind that you don't want to over stock unless you have high quality filtration then you should't have to worry to much.The fish you suggested are fine with the exeception of clowns those two put together may fight each other alot you can have two of the same species of clowns with a tank that size.

sgould

IMO, 1" per gallon is too much for a saltwater tank. 1/2" per gallon would be safer, though it is not difficult to find recommendations out there for far more conservative stocking levels yet (I recently read 1" for every 10 gallons...which to my thinking is far more conservative than necessary). In fairness, all of these "inches per gallons" rules are somewhat arbitrary and should not be taken as gospel. Every tank is going to have variables that influence how much you stock your tank with. What kind of fish, what kind of filtration, water source, etc, etc. So, I look on the "rule" as a starting point, not necessarily an absolute.

TFA101

@ stang

in regards for a stocking list (at least something to start with), how does this sound?

1 Pacific Sailfin Tang
2 False Percula Clownfish
1 Sixline Wrasse
1 Flame Angelfish
1 Longnose Hawkfish

@sgould,

just using it as a guideline don't intend on using it as a surefire way of stocking the tank. The tank however will be filtered by a Model 4 Megaflow Wet/Dry sump Filter, made for up to 240 gallon tanks, so I don't think filtration will be a problem.

Stang Man

that sounds good don't see any problem with that!

locoyo386

Hi there,
Stocking a saltwater fish tank depends on several things. The dimension of the tank, type of filtration, type of tank (reef, FO, FOWLR), the type of fish (peceful, semi-agressive,agressive) also the species of fish (tangs,angelfish,damsels), and the individual fish itself. There is no real rule for stocking. The place where I start is with the main fish that is a must have, than work around that. In a big tank like a 180, most fish will be ok (there are exception, like groupers for example), but most will do fine. If it is the 72"x24"x24", I would go with no bigger than a 10"-12" fish to start with.

Stang Man

I totally agree with you I always heard and told people helping a freind out at his fish store that the size of fish> per inch of fish is a basic rule most people don.t even get that close because it all depends on what set up or what there achievments to have as an aquatic feature, This in turn is a big step for anyone that wants only fish in there setup some customers I sold fish to was wanting alot of fish in there tanks. So I would sell them fish that would coordinate with such as aggresive or peaceful fish that do well together and what type of setup such as filtration etc. it was those customers that said wow I love all the fish in my tank makes a person feel good when you can do that any how a good subject and it is a question that really is a hard one to say to someone because how are you actually going to measure each fish and calculate it!!! Lol It really does depend on setup that is really true as well as if the person wants that many fish wow better be prepared to do alot of maintenance!!! I had 25 leopard sharks in a 150 gallon tank with wet and dry filtration but man that was alot of work I almost was ready to take them back to the fish store but I didn't untill they started getting to big It sure was cool though.