How over stocked am I?

Baronen · Apr 10, 2024

Hi there. Recently I ordered some fish for my, what felt like, understocked 90 gallon 4ft tank.

Before the order:
Tomini tang
Midas Blenny
firefish
Pair of dwarf possum wrasse
2 small shrimp gobies
Leopard wrasse
Yellow assessor

So basically all cryptic fish besides the tang and blenny and the leopard wrasse. It felt very empty

After the order:
Same as above
2 male line spot flasher
1 mccoskers flasher
2 ornate leopard wrasse
1 blotched Anthias

I ordered everything except the Anthias from Petco and they messed up my order so badly they sent two extra wrasse.

It seems too busy. I think giving up one of the line spots and maybe the tang (kind of a bully) would bring me back in to acceptable here?

slogan315 · Apr 10, 2024

IMO if you aren’t having aggression, have proper filtration to maintain water quality, and there are enough spots for sleep/cover, it seems fine to me.

If it feels too busy to you, then that’s personal taste. But ethically it doesn’t seem like too many.

Baronen · Apr 10, 2024

Whoops meant to say blue star leopard wrasse, but anyways. It just seems a little chaotic at feeding times. I think I need to get used to seeing fish everywhere lol. The Anthias got his tail bitten pretty good initially but it is growing back and he is started to fit in to the pecking order. The blue stars are still settling in so I am not sure if both will make it long term. I haven’t had luck with them in the past

CKW · Apr 12, 2024

Petco is not reliable. Ever. I’m very much in doubt that any quarantine occurs.

doubleshot00 · Apr 12, 2024

I have 17 fish in my 90. Zero aggression.

Baronen · Apr 12, 2024

CKW said:
Petco is not reliable. Ever. I’m very much in doubt that any quarantine occurs.

To my surprise, all fish were extremely healthy. One wrasse came with a messed up spine and died shortly but everything else is doing great. One of the blue stars actually pecks at the top for food and eats directly from a thawing cube of mysis. Both eat pellets as well.

What I can say about Petco is that the shipping and customer service side of things is down right awful. I paid extra for Saturday shipping and it sent out the next day on Tuesday. They also sent the wrong fish twice to replace the dead wrasse.

You can’t beat 50 bucks for a blue star with a month guarantee though..

PharmrJohn · Apr 12, 2024

Well, I guess that if your parameters are stable (and as mentioned above no aggression), the question would be How much bigger are your fish going to get? If they are all full size and all is well, you're cool. But if they all have a way to go, you're gonna have to keep watch.

Doctorgori · Apr 12, 2024

I don’t advocate overstocking but both of my tanks are…
In some cases more fish = less aggression
…I wouldn’t overstock young fish that need room to grow out like fox faces, tangs, idols, et
Edit add: none of your fish get very large, so the answer is no, not overstocked

Baronen · Apr 20, 2024

So just 24 hours ago the mccoskers went missing and I woke up today and I haven’t seen one of the line spot flashers. Are these fish known to hide after being established for a few weeks? Perhaps they were collected with cyanide and just now succumbed? I check under a good chunk of the rocks and haven’t found anything. They are pretty thick fish so I would assume I’d see a tail or head poking out somewhere if they were dead? I have a mesh top but also looked everywhere and still no fish

N11morales · Apr 23, 2024

doubleshot00 said:
I have 17 fish in my 90. Zero aggression.

Very nice. May I ask what fish do u have? I have 2 clowns, melanarus wrasse, blue throat fairy, orange back fairy wrasse, Tomini tang, bicolor blenny, and small scopas. Wanted to add more but my Tomini is aggressive. No issues with anyone but my bicolor blenny.

exnisstech · Apr 23, 2024

Baronen said:
It just seems a little chaotic at feeding times.

It's supposed to be chaotic at feeding time. They are all competing for food to survive.

Baronen · Apr 23, 2024

Well nature took care of itself I guess. 2 of the flasher wrasse simply disappeared. I believe Petco collects them with cyanide because the same thing happened last time I ordered a flasher wrasse from them

doubleshot00 · Apr 23, 2024

N11morales said:
Very nice. May I ask what fish do u have? I have 2 clowns, melanarus wrasse, blue throat fairy, orange back fairy wrasse, Tomini tang, bicolor blenny, and small scopas. Wanted to add more but my Tomini is aggressive. No issues with anyone but my bicolor blenny.

Foxface 1
Scopus tang 1
Falco hawkfish 1
Bangaii Cardinal 1
Purple firefish 1
Flame angel 1
Tomini tang 1
Leopard wrasse 1
Mandarin 1
Springeri damsels 6
Lyretail anthias 1
Red-lined wrasse 1

Doctorgori · Apr 23, 2024

also even odds they went carpet surfing…wrasses can find holes in the net

N11morales · Apr 23, 2024

doubleshot00 said:
Foxface 1

Scopus tang 1

Falco hawkfish 1

Bangaii Cardinal 1

Purple firefish 1

Flame angel 1

Tomini tang 1

Leopard wrasse 1

Mandarin 1

Springeri damsels 6

Lyretail anthias 1

Red-lined wrasse 1

Very nice stock. My nutrient lvls are very low so wanted to add more. U don’t have a problem with ur foxface going after lps?