Number of fish in aquarium?

[marinegeek101]

Hi I have 2 percula clownfish and 1 white-spotted toby puffer in a 32 gallon aquarium. Is there a possibility that i could buy another one? If yes what kind? Thanks

 

[returnofsid]

I assume since you have a Toby Puffer that it's a fowlr tank. A little more information about your tank would be of help. How much live rock...skimmer? Other types of filtration? If you have plenty of live rock, which does most of your biological filtration and a skimmer, I think you'd be fine adding another fish. Just make sure it's compatible with what you've already got. Wrasse, Blenny, Goby. Also keep in mind the feeding needs of whatever fish you're thinking of adding and the size that it'll eventually get.

 

[Krish]

I wish I knew the answer here, but I'm not sure what a white spotted goby puffer is so couldn't really say what can be added. Depending on the size they grow and their temperment towards other fish etc, I think 4 fish is quite fine for a 32 gal. Your 2 clowns won't take up much space or require the same so as suggested a goby or a wrasse or similar sized fish may be more than fine depending on the puffer

 

[marinegeek101]

So what kind of corals can i put in my aquarium since its a fowler? And i have a swc protein skimmer and a submersible mini filter that surves as my extra water flow. I have about 20 lbs of live rock.

 

[Krish]

Well, what sort of lighting do you have? That will be one of the main factors determining what corals you can add

 

[marinegeek101]

I have a 24 inch t-5 lighting

 

[Krish]

How many watts?

 

[returnofsid]

The problem you'll have isn't with the lighting at the moment...your problem will be with the puffer. It'll love munching on corals.

 

[marinegeek101]

watts dont matter with t-5 lighting. Aparrently white spotted toby puffers are reef safe.

 

[ReefJunkie]

The Whitespotted Puffer is omnivorous, meaning it eats both meaty fares and plant matter. It feeds on a wide range of crustaceans, echinoderms and invertebrates, such as sponges, tunicates, polychaetes, bryozoans, sea urchins, brittle stars, crabs, peanut worms, shrimps, zoanthids, fishes, amphipods and foraminiferans, and will eat marine algae and detritus as well. Because of its food preferences, it is not a fish recommended for a reef tank. However, it does very well in a fish-only tank, along with other species with similar eating habits.

 

[marinegeek101]

That sucks cause i wanted a reef aquarium and my LFS said it was reef same when i asked her before purchasing

 

[ReefJunkie]

Well, you could try and take it back to your LFS. If they truly made a mistake telling you it was reef safe they shouldn't have a problem taking it back. If they are like some and just wanted to make a sale, you may be out of luck. Worth a try anyway. Good luck.

 

[marinegeek101]

He's an awesome addition to my tank but i thought i could buy corals. But i dont know if i can return him. Ive never tried returning a fish to my lfs.

 

[Krish]

watts dont matter with t-5 lighting. Aparrently white spotted toby puffers are reef safe.

Where did you hear that watts don't matter with T-5 lighting or did I read that wrong??? If that was the case, everyone would run T-5 lighting and could keep any coral they wanted . You asked what types of corals you could keep in your tank and the only way that could be answered is if you say how many watts of T-5 lights you run. Too little watts and you can only keep stuff like softy and mushrooms and not SPS's and clams etc.

 

[returnofsid]

Krish, I think that might have been in reply to my saying that lighting wasn't the problem this person was facing...but rather the puffer, which as I understand is not very reef safe.
MarineGeek, I would do some more research on your particular puffer. Try WetWebMedia. It seems I recently read an article there where some people where also under the impression that Toby Puffers were reef safe. This article seemed to indicate that they are NOT actually as reef safe as some assume.

 

[marinegeek101]

Ya I did some more research yesterday and all of the sites I went to said that they were not reef safe. But I don't get it they live in reefs. About the t-5 lighting its 2 35 watts

 

[marinegeek101]

I also would like too know about gobys. One of the workers at our LFS said that the gobie will just eat all our sand until theres no food left and the eventually die. Is this true?

 

[Krish]

Krish, I think that might have been in reply to my saying that lighting wasn't the problem this person was facing...but rather the puffer, which as I understand is not very reef safe.

Ahh...

Ya I did some more research yesterday and all of the sites I went to said that they were not reef safe. But I don't get it they live in reefs. About the t-5 lighting its 2 35 watts

Cool...Well, you won't be able to keep anything like SPS's in there, but softies should be fine. As for the goby's, not sure what they eat (although I did hear they like copepods), but I'm sure someone will chime in soon

 

[marinegeek101]

Well my LFS said i could keep sps cause they use t-5.

 

[Krish]

Well my LFS said i could keep sps cause they use t-5.

Just because they are T-5's doesn't mean you can keep SPS. You are only running about 2 watts per gal and the LFS are probably running atleast 5 watts per gal or more.