# of Fish

[flsandwoman]

What is the max # of fish in a 12 gal? I have a small flame goby, small yellow watchman, and a tiny neon goby. Am I maxed out or can I get a small percula (tank-raised)? I do a 20% water change once per week; clean filters & carbon once per month.

 

[hooterhead]

that's already too much IMO. lots of people say 1" per 5 gal. i say you can push that number around a little. wait...you have 3 gobies in a 12 gal! is there no aggression there? usually gobies don't like to be with other gobies. but if you are making it work now, i wouldn't add anything else to off-balance what you've got going.

 

[sadielynn]

I would skip the perc perhaps trade 2 and get the perc but I think that you would be pushing the biological limits

 

[flsandwoman]

Thanks for your comments. I inherited an established, but unattended 12 gal about 4 months ago - so still a newbie. Sure love my tank & critters, though.

 

[sadielynn]

I also see that you have a serpent star and a sea star your tank is not big enough to support those also you may want to consider removing the horse shoe crab and the scallop . Reasons the serpent will get agressive in that size tank and go after your fish the sea star not sure there will be enough food for him I am not sure if either one is reef safe . As for the scallop they have a poor servival rate in the home tanks here is a link with some info
http://nanotank.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... me+scallop
here are some links for the star fish
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/seastars.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/seastars2.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/cav1i4/ec ... oderms.htm
here are some links on the scallop
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bivalvfaq2.htm
I am sure others will have some input

 

[flsandwoman]

The sand sifting star has been in the tank for over a year - long before I inherited it. He seems docile. The brown serpent star and flame scallop (not electric) have been in there for at least a couple months. We add zooplex for the scallop. I feed the serpent star pieces of clam/shrimp every couple of days, so he's kind of fun to hand feed. I may need to move him to our 90 gal if he's a risk to my red shrimp or gobies. They all hang together in a cave.

There's too much current for the small horseshoe; when he comes out of the sand he often takes flight. Is he in danger or just best to reduce the critters? I can move him to the 90 gal, also.

 

[sadielynn]

I am not sure if the horse shoe is a danger maybe some one could add to that , but I do know that they can get big . As for the stars the serpent could reduce the fish population and may not be reef safe (if memory serves it is the green on that is the most agressive) but both can be a menice in that size tank, the sand sifter star may eventually starve as it depleates its food source in the sand and they usually are docile and they are reef safe I had one for a period and it seemed fine till one day I found him dead after further reading hear and on other sites I found out that he cleaned himself to death in other words he had no food left and he staved to death . The scallop's also have poor surviaval int the home tank because of the special care. I would move the aformentioned to the larger 90 gallon established tank where they will have a better chance. In nano our choices are far more limited due to the size of the tank, and the space needed for most fish species. These are my opinions and others may differ , I hope that others will help ya out here

 

[skipm]

You should also consider adding the conches to your list to be moved, they need a much larger sandbed to clean that is available in a nanotank (in fact depending on what type of conch you have the 90 may be just big enough for the pair of them). If you want something just for cleaning the sandbed find a few nassasrious snails, their size makes them much more suitable for a nanotank and they are excellent scavengers.
The starfish and horseshoe crabs would also be happier in the 90, they are not very good nano-residents.