Matt's 20 gallon long

Are you referring to the 1 fish per 10 gallon rule Hannah? I know im not as experienced as you guys but to me it looks more of a territory issue for happy living. My clowns never leave my torch now, my goby lives in a cave 3/4 of his life. that leaves quite a bit of open space. I housed my friends lawnmower blenny for a few weeks for him while he was re setting up. He was fairly large too. They all did fine togeather, never got in eachothers way, no spats. I really have no plans on adding any type of fish other than a sand sifter. But if its going to mean getting rid of Goby-won, its not worth it, Thanks for the input Hannah. :)
 
Its not just about territories, its also about letting the system mature to handle the waste. Young tanks a much more unstable and can go through some wild parameter swings, mature tanks have a better bacteria set and can handle more fish better.
 
I wouldn't chance it either. The only sandsifter that would really do ok in a 20 is a yellow watchman, and they can get mean with other gobies. Plus you're already kind of at your limit.........
 
Well i dont agree with the limit. But i respect you ladies so i will take your advice.

Hannah, i understand what you mean about the bio load. But there has been 3 fish in my tank for over a month at least...if my tank was bigger how much longer would i have to wait to add 1 fish? All my params are stable, i do my weekly 15% water change. Siphon my sand daily.
Oh well, it was just an idea. Guess ill look for corals! Thats just as fun. :)
 
I would check this thread out: https://www.livingreefs.com/ph-buffering-t37224.html

I dont make up the stocking rules for my own entertainment.

And its not the amount of bacteria you have in there, its the many different types. Over time the species of good bacteria will grow, and the more different species you have the greater stability you will see. Each different species will process the wastes a little different and will survive better in different situations - that is how stability is achieved in tanks that have been set up for a long time.

Also why are you siphoning the sand daily, you shouldnt have to do that. That tells me you have some underlying waterquality issues.
 
If the tank was bigger and your params are stable, I would say you could add another fish at any point in time. And due to your current fish not being really swimmy, you might could get away with adding one to the current set up. But you would have to be veeeeeery careful in your selection to avoid territorial disputes. And you would probably encounter some water quality issues that would affect your corals. Either way, a sandsifter is probably a no-go. Too much risk for Gobi-wan!
 
I understand you dont make up the rules Hannah. Im just giving my opinion, with 4 fish in there for almost 4 weeks my params never budged. Let me tell you that lawnmower blenny was a poop machine, every time i looked at him he was going. And there is id say 90% of my tank is fishless. I siphon every day after i feed...to pick up excess food that doesnt get consumed. Or if i happen to see waste where some current isnt getting i get it out. Thats pretty much it.

Thanks Sam, the sand sifter is out of the question for now, until Goby-won passes on (hopefully not for awhile) I really had no plans on adding any other fish aside from a possible sand sifter. Im quite happy with what i have they are all entertaining. My clowns swim through my fingers when my hands in the tank. lol.
 
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Ah, that is a good reason to be siphoning the sand then.

You can add another fish, just choose wisely, and then stop adding fish.
 
Naw, you guys killed that dream.lol j/k. I have no desire to other than a sand sifter. But the goby wars wouldn't be worth it. thanks for the advice. It is greatly appreciated. ;-)
 
You can overstock a tank, I have my tank overstocked. But I waited a long time before adding those extra fish and I had plan of what I wanted in there so I felt pretty good about everyone getting along. I also designed my tank to provide lots of space for extra fish, there are tons of nooks and crannies so that each fish can set up a territory. So it can be done, you just have to be smart about it and not add fish willy nilly. I had plan. Its harder in small tank because things can change so quickly, I had a mini crash in my tank over the summer.
 
Oh of course i beleive you can overstock a tank. Just imo, i think the 1 fish per 10 gallon rule doesnt always apply thats all. :) Again though, thats just me.
 
New coral today, a candy cane. Also some olive snails. From what the girl told me at the store was they are great sand movers/cleaners..whatever it is they do under there.

Beein in my tank for about a min when i took this.
IMG_20120210_183715.jpg



Olive snail i got 3 they are pretty large.
IMG_20120210_181028.jpg
 
Ya I read that after I put them in, im surprised the girl at the fish store never told me that. They had them in the tank with all of their other snails. I only have 5 nass snails and 1 big ass Mexican snail. The olives do an awesome job of turning my sand, looked like a racetrack this morning. I would rather have them in my tank then the nass snails. Do they only eat other snails or will they eat other stuff, like fallen flakes and leftover frozen food?
 
Ok so lets say after they have consumed all of my nass snails. if they do. (hope they dont) they should be able to survive without any more snails in the tank is what im wondering. The fact is, and it may be heartless to say this, but i got the nass snails strictly for the purpose of cleaning my sand and turning it over and such. The one night ive had the olive snails they have done an amazing job. So id rather keep them then the nass snails to be honest. I jsut want to make sure that they can survive without snails in there to feed on.
 
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The benefit to smaller snails is that they can fit in the nooks and crannies the larger ones cannot. You may start to get detritus build up in your rockwork if you lose all your little guys.
 
Good point, but inve never seen my nass snails ever leave the sand unless its feeding time but still they stay away from the rock work. My hermit crabs go to town on my rocks usually. And id hope they would be safe from the evil olive snail.
 
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