Couple of stocking questions

[vonjankmon]

Just about finished setting up my new 90 gallon tank. I just have to install the algae scrubber I built for it.

Summary of new set: I am upgrading from a 55 gallon and I had live rock curing for months in a spare 20 gallon I had so there should not be any cycling issues since basically I am putting my 55 gallon into the 90. The 90 gallon has a Eshopps skimmer rated for 150 gallons, a 30 gallon sump, that stays around half full when the pump is running, a 20 gallon refug tank that is basically just full of live rock since half of the DT is going to have seagrass in it, and then the algae scrubber I will be installing. The existing live stock are a pair of seahorses (erectus), a firefish, a black sailfin blenny (that loves mysis shrimp for some reason, oddest thing), two peppermint shrimp, and my existing clean up crew that I have already ordered more of. (Mostly snails with a few small hermits)

I just ordered the seagrass and plan on ordering another pair of seahorses in the future.

After all of this I have a bit of room for more live stock I believe. Right now I would like to get a goby and pistol shrimp pair and then I was thinking of a pair of Kaudern's Cardinal fish. Both of those pairs are reasonably safe for my seahorses and I think they would compliment the tank well. My 55 gallon was lightly stocked so I am not really sure how my 90 gallon would be with the live stock I am planning, looking for some opinions.

So 90 gallon DT, with an extra 35G of water between Refug and sump.
4 Seahorses (Erectus)
1 Firefish
1 Black Sailfin Blenny
2 Kaudern's Cardinals
1 Shrimp Goby
1 Pistol Shrimp
2 Peppermint Shrimp

Overstocked, understocked, or just right?

 

[Jmck]

there are a lot of problems with your stocking.

Firstly, take out all of your hermit crabs, they tend to cause damage to sea horses. This means also no pistol shrimp because he can cause damage to the horses as well. The shrimps you need to watch out for, they can get eaten by the sea horses. Something I got told on the first day before i bought some originally.

And you cant have a lot of fish, because they eat too fast and starve the horsies, atm you are ok, but add too many and you could be in strife.

Adding more sea horses is fine, you can have up to about 5 pairs in a 90 i believe.

When its setup, you could try getting a mandarin as they feed slowly as well so they work well with sea horses. im not sure about cardinals though.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah sea horses usually have to be kept in their own tank, with no other fish and very few inverts. They just aren't community tank animals. Those other fish you have picked out do tend to be non-aggressive and pretty shy, so if you were going to try seahorses with other fish, I think they would be good choices.

...I don't know. I think it might work!

 

[vonjankmon]

I guess I should have been a been more specific about my setup and experience with Seahorses. I have successfully kept seahorses in my 55 gallon for almost two years now. I would not consider myself an expert but I would consider myself well experienced and am aware of what works and what does not with my existing live stock. The blue legged and scarlet hermit crabs that only grow to .75 to 1 in in size are safe. I have had anywhere between 5-20 in the tank over the two years (they tend to kill each other if there are not enough extra shells, something I learned the hard way) and they have never bothered the horses, even when the horses were juveniles. I have a feeding station setup for my seahorses so there is not a problem of competition at feeding time between them and my other fish. And the pistol shrimp is not dangerous to seahorses for two reasons, the horses are to large for it to see as a potential meal and it does not truly hunt with its claws, it generates a water blast with its large claw that stuns its prey, its smaller claw is then basically used to grab the prey and drag it into the burrow. I would more than likely be cautious when I got my second set of seahorses because as juveniles they would probably still be to large but better safe than sorry. A good guide to tank mates for seahorses is at seahorse.org - Tankmates

Seahorse.org is THE place for seahorse info IMHO.

My questions about stocking are more about capacity of my new system as I have always run my tank very lightly stocked and experiences people have had with some of the new fish I would like to add. I have read some conflicting information on how passive the Kaudern's Cardinals actually are, I am a bit concerned about how they may interact with my Firefish since both will be in the middle of the tank in the open. The goby is a bottom dweller and the blenny just hangs out on the rock work or where ever he can perch. Fosters and Smith has a group of Red Spot Cardinalfish for sale right now that I am also considering since they only get to about 1.5 in, they might present less of an issue with my fire fish but I need to do more research on them. I have considered mandarins but I am waiting to see how the ORA captive bred ones turn out. Seeing a lot of stories about their first broods going on hunger strikes after being shipped out.

 

[Jmck]

well to address if that would be overstocking, I would say no. you have a lot of space to put fish and more horses