Bioload Too Many Fish?

[Kman2010]

My dad decided that my tank didnt have enough color so he went out and bought more damsels. which makes my tank (55 g's)

2 - false percs
1 - pink spot goby
2 - 4 stripes
2 - blue one dot?
2 - black 2 dot
1 - Mandarin.... who is sadly on his way out after tank breakdown
1 - GSM Clown
1 - Ritteri Anemone
1 - BTA after i pick it up today

all the damsels are 1" or smaller, nothing is bigger than 2 1/2, oh except for my pink spot goby whos ranging about 4inchs.

I honestly dont know if this is a safe practice for my tank, any advice would be great.

 

[JohnK]

Not to sound negative, but I wouldn't be surprised if that ritteri might adjust the damsel population?

Really though, I wouldn't be concerned about the fish, but I would be concerned about a ritteri in a 55.

 

[Kman2010]

Why should i be concerned about my ritteri? personally i wouldnt care if the ritteri starts taking out damsels, its the circle of life.
you got me all worried!

 

[JohnK]

I mentioned being concerned because ritteris are likely to grow bigger than a 55G tank if they are happy. They are very large, and have very specific needs that I seriously doubt can be met in a tank that size.

What do you have for lighting? What's the rest of the set up like?

I'm just offering caution, that's a very special anemone and it's care should be taken very seriously.

 

[Cardiak]

If you are over the limit you will know when testing your water because you wont be able to get your nitrates down. Anyways that isnt too many fish for a 55 so as long as you have a decent skimmer with live rock you should be fine. One question though do all your damsels get along? When I first started my tank I had a few of those guys and they all wanted to kill each other after they had set up their territories.

 

[Kman2010]

i have a decent amount of live rock, nothing extreme though. and a corallife powercompact light, protein skimmer and big hang on filter with 3 different medias. im trying to convince my parents into lending me the money for a t-5 or mh retro. the anemone hasent lost any coloration, but he does tend to stay relatively small.... do you think i should move him up on a high rock to get some light? and move him infront of my powerhead for flow.
i bought the anemone from a mom+pop shop on Wickiden St. Providence, RI.
They have a great painted mural of a reef on the outside. Well regardless i went in to buy an anemone and that was the biggest they had, they the "mom" didnt know what kind of anemone it was. and the "pop" wasent around. I called in later after to ask what kind of anemone it was, he said he wasent sure but it was of the ritteri decent. im posting up a some pictures of before after and recent. you can see my worries in size.

Yeah after i uploaded these pictures i realized that my anemone has lost A LOT of color. what can i do to save it?

 

[NateHanson]

Ritteri are, as far as I know, really really hard to keep in captivity. They need extremely turbulent flow and high light. Far more light and flow than you have. That specimen has amazing color, and I can understand why you were tempted by it.

I think the only thing you could do to save that anemone would be to find a willing reefer who is interested in giving it an appropriate home. Otherwise you'd need to spend $500 or more on new light and more flow. If that's not in the cards, I'd find it a new home.

Maybe Cindy (aka ~Flighty~) can give better advice, since I think she's the resident Ritteri expert on BRS.

Nate

 

[NateHanson]

Here's an old thread for some info. http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9690&highlight=ritteri

 

[alpha0r]

If you are over the limit you will know when testing your water because you wont be able to get your nitrates down. Anyways that isnt too many fish for a 55 so as long as you have a decent skimmer with live rock you should be fine. One question though do all your damsels get along? When I first started my tank I had a few of those guys and they all wanted to kill each other after they had set up their territories.

While I agree that if you can't keep your parameters right your tank could be overstocked, I don't think this is the best way to look at the problem. Many fish need room to swim (tangs) and others are very territorial (damsils). You could have adequate filtration for these fish but still not enough space.

You should also consider how long your tank has been setup. A mature system can handle more bioload. From you pictures, it looks like your rock is not very mature so do consider this too.

 

[JohnK]

Ritteri are, as far as I know, really really hard to keep in captivity. They need extremely turbulent flow and high light. Far more light and flow than you have. That specimen has amazing color, and I can understand why you were tempted by it.

I think the only thing you could do to save that anemone would be to find a willing reefer who is interested in giving it an appropriate home. Otherwise you'd need to spend $500 or more on new light and more flow. If that's not in the cards, I'd find it a new home.

Maybe Cindy (aka ~Flighty~) can give better advice, since I think she's the resident Ritteri expert on BRS.

Nate

Second that. Sorry to say, but I strongly agree, that anemone is not going to be ok the way things are. Also looking at the pics, I'm actually kind of concerned about it's health as is. Assuming the ID is correct, the color looks quite pale and the size very small - not good signs with a delicate anemone. Ritteri's are arguably the hardest to keep of the anemone's that are currently imported, and many would argue that they shouldn't even be imported because survival rates are so low.

Hopefully Cindy will see this. She's probably knows them the best around here.

Not trying to be negative, just realistic...

 

[Kman2010]

Thank you for the information everyone. The anemone is looking 100X better and is getting bigger by the day. i posted him up on the top of my tank, started feeding him chunks of tuna and bought a powerhead for him. he looks happy.. and im in the market for new lighting, its just the $$$ while im looking for a job.
Also that is an old picture below, i have at least 90 more pounds of purpled live rock from a local reefer.

 

[Cardiak]

90 more pounds? Is there even water in your tank?

 

[Joel A]

hopefully he meant 90 or more pounds?

 

[JohnK]

Be really careful with that powerhead. Wandering anemones have a habit of getting into them and this usually leads to fatal injury.

Is it a tradtional powerhead, or a propeller type pump? If it's a regular PH, having a foam cover on the intake can make it a little safer, but in general PH and anemone in the same tank is asking for trouble.

Gee, sorry I'm mr. negative here, just trying to help

 

[Kman2010]

yeah man take it easy... haha, im just playin i appreciate the knowledge.

 

[DawnOctopus]

That's a really beautiful nem. Can we see a pic of it now that it's "recovering?"

Exactly how many pounds of live rock do you have in your 55? It sounds like you might have too much.

Check out the "for sale" board, maybe you can pick up some used lighting for cheap - You don't want to kill that nem.

I really like your Nightmare Before Xmas names

How do your false Percs get along with your Maroon in the same tank?

 

[Kman2010]

I probably have about 100-150tops pounds or so. Sally and Damian got along really well until i added Jack... then i guess damian got jealous. i have been scavenging through craigslist and the Sale board for months now. im just lacking the funds. ill upload pictures later for yah. i have some good ones of my domino damsels sleeping in him.

 

[afboundguy]

I just wanted to chime in with some lighting advice for your 55 gal. I've been researching a lighting system for my 55 gal once I get the go ahead to spend a ton of money after the wedding (1 more month ) and was looking into metal halides and T5s. I've noticed from some of your other posts that your short on money (who isn't)

One thing to realize is that if you went with MH you might end up needing to drop somewhere around $300-$600 on a chiller so that is something you might want to consider when looking at MHs. I was dead set on getting a MH/T5 retro kit from hellolights but decided not too because of the cost and the possibility of having to purchase a chiller.

Depending on what you plan on keeping T5's are a very good option - cheaper, run cooler and usually longer bulb life (18-24 months). The only thing I wish they had was the shimmer effect of MHs.

reefgeek.com has some of the best prices for T5 retro kits. This is the one I'm going to get http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5...5_High-Output_Retrofit_Kit_w!_Bulbs_by_IceCap $300 (says only $8 shipping) includes your choice of bulbs. I plan on running softies, LPS and some of the lower light clams. I'm sure I could run SPS and I might eventually.

Also if that's not enough light you could get the same kit with an IceCap 660 (http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5...y_High-Output_Retrofit_Kit_w!_Bulbs_by_IceCap) which will overdrive the bulbs to about 85 watts each instead of 54 watts. You would just need fans and the bulb life is cut to around 6 months. I wouldn't hesitate to have SPS with this setup.

This is all assuming that you already have a hood and want to go with a retrokit... if not there are plenty of good 48" fixtures like the Nova Extreme Pro for roughly $400. My only advice would be to get one with individual reflectors.

Hopefully this helps you save months and months of agony trying to figure out what kit to get

 

[JayM]

Be really careful with that powerhead. Wandering anemones have a habit of getting into them and this usually leads to fatal injury.

Is it a tradtional powerhead, or a propeller type pump? If it's a regular PH, having a foam cover on the intake can make it a little safer, but in general PH and anemone in the same tank is asking for trouble.

Gee, sorry I'm mr. negative here, just trying to help

I lost a BTA to my tunze nanostream recently....

 

[Joel A]

100-150 lbs is a bit to much there mate.... Its always good to have rock, but by having that much rock your probably working with 30 gallons of water instead of 55 =).

I would cut it down to about 75 lbs personally... OR, if you wanted to a sump with extra rock in it would be ideal.