Moved my tank home need advice on stocking

[Phillyfig8]

moved my tank over 200 miles and all my fishies survived no problem. now that the tank is set up again, i was wondering how many bumblebee gobies can I fit in a 25 gallon tank.
right now i have my fig 8 who is not aggressive at all. I have seen him try to hunt ghost shrimp but gives up after they jet away. ive never seen him catch one. i also have a single bumblebee goby in there and freshwater flounder who hasnt grown much since ive gotten him. he is about 2 inches long and about an inch or so wide. i wanted another figure 8 puffer but i dont want the new one to attack my current one, plus 25 gallons is pushing it on 2 figure 8s.
all the fish have seem to recovered well. I had the tank up at school and my friend was supposed to be feeding them but he hadnt fed them for 5 weeks cause he went home. they are all fine and eating well and i think these past two weeks of recovery in my care have brought them back to 95% health.
so i was wondering how many bumblebee gobies i could fit in the tank? i have plenty of hiding places and little caves.

[Pufferpunk]

I would go with 3-4.

[bertie 83]

So you already have a f8, a bbg and a flounder in the 15? I would say you are stocked as is.

[Phillyfig8]

So you already have a f8, a bbg and a flounder in the 15? I would say you are stocked as is.

It's 25 gallons. I believe that 15 is good enough for an f8 do I have 10 extra gallons to work with. The flounder is flat and only needs the bottom of the tank so I don't the a flounder adds any to the stocking unless I get another flounder. The bumblebees are tiny so I think I could have a total of 5-6. I am going to upgrade my filtration but right now I'm turning over the water 4-5 times an hour.

[bertie 83]

Lol I meant 25. It's less to do with the tank position and more to do with bio-load etc. Additional filtration does not enable higher stocking levels, I think you are maxed, others may not agree though.

[bertie 83]

Oh and just to add; a 25g does not hold 25 useable gallons of water, with the displacement from substrate and decor etc you will have somewhere between 17- 21 gallons

[puffykid]

You can't just not include one of the creatures in your tank for bioload just because of the amount of space it takes in your tank. The amount of waste they produce and minimum tank size is also important, I think what you have in the tank is about right. Maybe 1-2 more bbg if you really need to add more to your tank, though as your fish grow they will probably be less happy for the reduce amount of space they will be getting. This isn't a perfect analogy but it'd be like if you suddenly had to share your room with a roommate without increasing the size of the room and in this case their stuff and luggage and stuff = bioload. If you picked up a roommate for your room, neither of you would die because of the extra stuff but it brings in extra variables into the equation such as how you two will get along, "the extra stuff" or bioload that you now have to deal with, and now you both have less space in the room to move around and do what you want to do. This is pretty much what happens when you add in extra fish into tanks, except in this case puffers usually equal to being Voldemort if you do his bidding he will let you live as the roommate.

I'm not telling you not to add anymore bbg, and I even think that you could fit in a few extra ones because they don't grow very large but if you do make sure to not skip on maintenance if possible.

[bertie 83]

I would consider a puffer an axe murderer, not a grumpy old man lol. The stress added to other fish in close quarters with a powerful predator is unknown.

[puffykid]

Good point, edited. = D

[Phillyfig8]

Ok im saying the flounder does not count towards space but does to bioload. If I get a bigger filter then as long as everyone has space then bioload isn't an issue. Like your analogy if I had a roommate and we had more people move in and had the space but we ate a lot more and made more of a mess we hire a maid to clean up the mess aka a bigger filter. My fish are full grown and bumblebee gobys don't really get bigger then an inch.

[bertie 83]

I see what you are getting at and you are thinking along the right lines to a degree. However having bigger filtration does not allow for higher stocking levels as such.

[Iliveinazoo]

1 BBG per 20cm diammeter base of the tank.
I think you must be lucky with your F8's temperment since your flounder hasn't been pecked to death. How long have you had it? Do you give it night time feeds? What SG do you keep your tank at?

[Phillyfig8]

1 BBG per 20cm diammeter base of the tank.
I think you must be lucky with your F8's temperment since your flounder hasn't been pecked to death. How long have you had it? Do you give it night time feeds? What SG do you keep your tank at?

I've had the puffer for about 9 months and the flounder ive had for about 8 months. I got the f8 from a member here. When I first got the flounder he wouldn't eat anything(night time feelings). Then after about 3 weeks of trying I tried live BBS and I saw him snatch one so I knew I was getting somewhere. Then I tried frozen brine shrimp and I pile a mound on top of his face. He snapped at them and a little while later saw his stomach was bulged. It toke about 1.5-2 months to get him where I have him now. He eats frozen foods during the day and I give him bbs whenever I have them, probably about 1 week each month. He seems very happy(whenever I can find his eyes sticking out of the sand) or if he is stuck to the glass.

Edit: did you mean 20 square cm cause I don't think that's right or are you saying how ever many 20cm diameter circles i can fit on the bottom of the tank cause if thats the case i guess 7 but i think that might be too much. Here is my math 20cm equals roughly 8inch. so the area of an 8inch diameter circle is 2*pi*8=50.25. my tank is 30x12=360 square inches. so 360/50.25=7.16 bumblebee gobies.

[Iliveinazoo]

Not that scientific really and no maths required, they are territorial and so need a little space, if you put too many in they will whittle themselves down through competition/stress. Just look at how many 20cm circles (Neale Monks recommendation) will fit across the base and don't exceed that number, stick your 'cave' in the middle of the circle and happy days

I ask because I had a flounder for a while in a mid salinity system, it did well for a few months but then one day the scats found it and picked it to death. And I had to feed mine at night because it never came out through the day and there's no risk of food hanging around until night time with a scat in the tank! It was a cool little fish but I just haven't got the right set-up for another one.

[Phillyfig8]

Not that scientific really and no maths required, they are territorial and so need a little space, if you put too many in they will whittle themselves down through competition/stress. Just look at how many 20cm circles (Neale Monks recommendation) will fit across the base and don't exceed that number, stick your 'cave' in the middle of the circle and happy days

I ask because I had a flounder for a while in a mid salinity system, it did well for a few months but then one day the scats found it and picked it to death. And I had to feed mine at night because it never came out through the day and there's no risk of food hanging around until night time with a scat in the tank! It was a cool little fish but I just haven't got the right set-up for another one.

the puffer doesnt even know he is there. he comes out during the day. Id say 80% of the time he is buried in the sand and all i see is eyes.