is it safe to introduce many fish at once?

[Vince S.]

I want to introduce 5 firefish into my 75 gallon at once. would that be ok?

[organicreefer]

is it cycled?how long ?current load?etc.what fish?how big?

[Aragorn]

In addition to Organicreefer's questions, 5 fish all at once could result in a spike. The way your tank is now, there's enough bacteria to handle what you currently have. Introducing a significant bio-load could result in the bacteria having to "catch-up" which could take awhile. It may not be that much of an issue if you have a good clean-up crew. This way they can handle much of the additional detritus. Just my .02

[rayjay]

When I want to put a lot of fish all at once, I use ammonium chloride placed in the tank to create the necessary bacteria for a heavy load. Once this cycle has complete you can place whatever load you calculated for.

[eses]

It also doesn't hurt to have some saltwater made up and ready just in case you need to change out the water if you have a major spike.

The best way to do it would be to move them from your quarentine one at a time, one week or so apart, in my opinion.

[PerryinCA]

I think you have gotton some really good advice. Be sure to have the skimmer running full on, or the algae tank (refuge..ect) full of scum eating macros. Really as long as they aren't large fish you are adding, they should be just fine, but monitor NH3, NO2, NO3 levels as they can jump. One benefit of doing it this way (if the tank can handle it) is that all the fish adjust at once and you don't need to worry so much about them attacking because of territorialism.
(is that a word? )


--Perry

[FishTechie]

I agree with Perry, firefish are tiny and 5 should be fine at once, i dont even remember ever noticing mine poop, unlike my tang.

Unfortunately firefish are so territorial that my 180 wasnt big enough for my two. they ended up killing each other... so good luck with 5 in your 75....maybe you'll get a nicer batch?