Rsm 250 14 fish overstocked?

[eguld]

I have a rsm 250 with 9 fish and I plan on adding 5 more (my must haves), they are almost all fairly small fish. Will it be overstocked? I do 10G water changes every 2-3 weeks would that need to change?

Current fish:
2 false percs
2 circus gobies
2 filefish
1 mystery cardinal (passive personality)
1 watchman (might return: he is not pairing with pistol shrimp)
1 six line wrasse ( in my old tank waiting to go into rsm)

5 to be added (over the next 2-3 months):
2 Ora mandarins (psychedelic mated pair)
2 bangaii cardinals
1 copperband (to eat aiptasia, not sure if he will be ok long term)

Thanks in advance!

[paddyob]

Be careful asking for ORA mated pairs.... the ones I saw in Edmonton were fairly small and seem too young to be a "mated" pair.

Also... are you filefish not already eating your aptaisia?

I have a rsm 250 with 9 fish and I plan on adding 5 more (my must haves), they are almost all fairly small fish. Will it be overstocked? I do 10G water changes every 2-3 weeks would that need to change?

Current fish:
2 false percs
2 circus gobies
2 filefish
1 mystery cardinal (passive personality)
1 watchman (might return: he is not pairing with pistol shrimp)
1 six line wrasse ( in my old tank waiting to go into rsm)

5 to be added (over the next 2-3 months):
2 Ora mandarins (psychedelic mated pair)
2 bangaii cardinals
1 copperband (to eat aiptasia, not sure if he will be ok long term)

Thanks in advance!

[eguld]

Be careful asking for ORA mated pairs.... the ones I saw in Edmonton were fairly small and seem too young to be a "mated" pair.

Also... are you filefish not already eating your aptaisia?

I already pre-ordered the Ora mandarins worst case I give one to my brother and the filefish are eating the aiptasia but not as fast as it is growing. They seem to mostly eat just the tiny aiptasia spores and harass my peppermints....

[bowkry]

the copperband is way to big of a fish for a rsm 250, I have the same tank and right now I only have 4 fish. Plus you cant have neer enough rock for your manderins, I have about 150 pounds and my tank is full of rock and I am concerned about one. I think you are way way overstocked. But some people can get away with it plus if you are running the stock skimmer I hope you have better luck than me.

[eguld]

the copperband is way to big of a fish for a rsm 250, I have the same tank and right now I only have 4 fish. Plus you cant have neer enough rock for your manderins, I have about 150 pounds and my tank is full of rock and I am concerned about one. I think you are way way overstocked. But some people can get away with it plus if you are running the stock skimmer I hope you have better luck than me.

Overstocked already or will be?

My two clowns and six line were fine in a 14g Biocube for over a year and this tank is about 4 times the size plus it has a skimmer. So I would think 12 small fish would be fine, but maybe I'm over simplifying.

Btw your tank is not even 6 months old and therefore your pod population has not had a chance to stabilize. If your not doing this already you should be dosing with live phyto.

[Bloodasp]

the copperband is way to big of a fish for a rsm 250, I have the same tank and right now I only have 4 fish. Plus you cant have neer enough rock for your manderins, I have about 150 pounds and my tank is full of rock and I am concerned about one. I think you are way way overstocked. But some people can get away with it plus if you are running the stock skimmer I hope you have better luck than me.

ORA mandarins are captive bred and have been reared with frozen food, the have the best chances of survival in the aquarium as far as mandarins go.

[paddyob]

ORA mandarins are captive bred and have been reared with frozen food, the have the best chances of survival in the aquarium as far as mandarins go.



This is true of ORA... but many wild mandarins... both spotted and psychedelic have been known to take mysis. A 65 gallon tank should be able to handle a mandarin that only eats pods.

BUT as you are getting ORA.. you should have no issues either way.

[daniella3d]

I had 2 wild green mandarins in my 75 gallons for many months. Before that they were in my 21 gallons alone and I trained them there to eat frozen food. They both eat fish roe, Hikari frozen bloodworms and live white worms as well as pods. Neither of mine toutched mysis. Most Ora mandarin are as hard to feed as wild mandarins and much more expensive because all they eat is OVA eggs. I read a lot of stories about people buying them at high price only to see them die from starvation because they did not know the fish eated OVA shrimp eggs and did not want to take mysis. Caplan eggs from the fishery does the same. It's the Masago, or these little orange eggs that we find on sushi. Most wild mandarin will love that.

They were both fat and healthy after one year until I got a yellow tang and he killed my male mandarin. Now I only have the female remaining.

I would skip the bangai cardinal pair as if they pair up they will be terror to other fish. One bangai is enough unless you want to breed them and you don't mind them attacking your other fish.

[daniella3d]

How can you fit 150 lbs of liverock in a 65 gallons tank? no wonder you only have 4 fish in there..there is no more room for anything else. Putting more porous rock in the aquarium avoid having to fill it up to the top with liverock. I only have 45 lbs of Totoka liverock in my 75 gallons aquarium and my water quality is perfect with no detectible nitrates or phosphates and I have a niger trigger in there. That rock is so porous deep inside that it also take care of a good part of the denitrification as well as nitrification.

No need for more rock and the fish have a lot of room to swim. As for the mandarins, again the rock make a big difference as putting tons of large heavy non porous rock that does not offer a lot of hiding surface for pods will not be better than having 50 lbs of good porous liverock.

the copperband is way to big of a fish for a rsm 250, I have the same tank and right now I only have 4 fish. Plus you cant have neer enough rock for your manderins, I have about 150 pounds and my tank is full of rock and I am concerned about one. I think you are way way overstocked. But some people can get away with it plus if you are running the stock skimmer I hope you have better luck than me.

[eguld]

I would skip the bangai cardinal pair as if they pair up they will be terror to other fish. One bangai is enough unless you want to breed them and you don't mind them attacking your other fish.

I did not know they become more aggressive if they pair. I might stick to 1 then.

[eguld]

How can you fit 150 lbs of liverock in a 65 gallons tank? no wonder you only have 4 fish in there..there is no more room for anything else.

I have about 140 lbs of live rock: 80 lbs of low density and 60 lbs of denser Hawaiian waterfall base rock (it is great for building caves). I used to have 180 lbs but it was just too much rock. I can understand puting more rock because it gives the fish some good hiding places and brings down their stress (and because I like the look).

[reefwars]

I have about 140 lbs of live rock: 80 lbs of low density and 60 lbs of denser Hawaiian waterfall base rock (it is great for building caves). I used to have 180 lbs but it was just too much rock. I can understand puting more rock because it gives the fish some good hiding places and brings down their stress (and because I like the look).


alot of people use 2-3 lbs per gallon, i have around 60lbs in my 33g some jakarta some tonga branch.i think its more on the rock you use, the layout of your tank and what you plan to have in there:)

in my new 200g i plan on having 100lbs of liverock in the sump alone and close to 200 in the display:):)

like danialla said though porus rock is much better for pod production and its lighter too so you will get bigger pieces or more bang for your buck. 25 lbs of tonga branch could fit into a five gallon bucket while i have some pieces in my liverock bin that are around 10lbs and could fill two buckets :):)


my female was eating frozen but should note that most that eat frozen will eat pods as well.:)

[naesco]

I share other reefers concerns that you are already overstocked.
If you decide to go ahead anyway, cancell the order for the mandarins (yes you can do it) and definitely do not add a copperband.

[eguld]

I am kind of surprised that 9 small fish is overstocked in a 65 gallon tank but I may have to change my plans a bit....