# Saltwater version of AqAdvisor - stocking calculator



## yhbae

Hi guys,

I have released the saltwater version of the AqAdvisor. For those who have been following the freshwater version will know that this version will evolve rather quickly as well. 

Currently it features a rather limited number of species and since it has been adopted from the freshwater version, some elements might be out of place.

Please feel free to make suggestions and criticize the application. I'll do my best to improve the application.

Enjoy!


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## yhbae

What's new for 2010 04 30 build:

- Added Bicolor Blenny (Ecsenius bicolor).
- Added Firefish Goby (Nemateleotris magnifica).
- Added Green Clown Goby (Gobiodon atrangulatus).
- Added Picasso Triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus).
- Added Six Line Wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia).
- Added Black Seahorse (Hippocampus erectus).
- Added Coral Beauty/Twospined/Dusky Angelfish (Centropyge bispinosa).
- Added Purple Firefish/Purple Dartfish (Nemateleotris decora).
- Added Neon Blue Goby as an alias to Neon Goby.
- Added Orange Lined Cardinal (Apogon cyanosoma).
- Added Scissortail Goby/Scissortail Dartfish (Ptereleotris evides).
- Added Snowflake Eel (Echidna nebulosa).
- Yellow Tail Damsel (Chrysiptera parasema).

- Water change volume has been adjusted down significantly.

- Total number of species in DB has been increased to 30.

To access the application, please click on AqAdvisor site.

If you have any saltwater species that are missing in AqAdvisor DB, please let me know!!! If you disagree with any of the results produced by AqAdvisor, please let me know that too.


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## yhbae

What's new for 2010 05 03 build:

- Added Royal Gramma Basslet (Gramma loreto).
- Added Yellow Clown Goby (Gobiodon okinawae).
- Added Yellow Watchman Goby (Cryptocentrus cinctus).
- Added Green Mandarin Goby (Synchiropus splendidus).
- Added Court Jester Goby (Amblygobius rainfordi).
- Added Chalk Basslet (Serranus tortugarum).
- Added Blue Gudgeon Dartfish (Ptereleotris hanae).
- Added Yellowhead Jawfish (Opistognathus aurifrons).
- Added Longnose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus).
- Added Dispar Anthias (Pseudanthias dispar).
- Added Bellus Angelfish (Genicanthus bellus).
- Added Pacific Redstripe Hogfish (Bodianus sepiacaudus).
- Added Achilles Tang (Acanthurus achilles).
- Added Black and White Chromis (Chromis iomelas).
- Added Sailfin/Algae Blenny as an alias to Lawnmower Blenny.
- Bioloads for all species have been adjusted down.
- Size of Ocellaris Clownfish has been adjusted down to 3.5 inches.
- Size of Tomato Clownfish has been adjusted down to 3.5 inches.
- Size of True Percula Clownfish has been adjusted down to 3.5 inches.
- Size of Lawnmower Blenny has been adjusted down to 5 inches.
- Minimum tank size requirement for Ocellaris Clownfish has been reduced to 24x12.
- Removed "filters" selection box for now as it is not directly relevant to saltwater species.

- Total number of species in DB has been increased to 46.

To access the application, please click on AqAdvisor site.

If you have any saltwater species that are missing in AqAdvisor DB, please let me know!!! If you disagree with any of the results produced by AqAdvisor, please let me know that too.


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## yhbae

What's new for 2010 05 04 build:

- Added Falco Hawkfish (Cirrhitichthys falco).
- Added Red Spotted Hawkfish (Amblycirrhitus pinos).
- Added Spotted Hawkfish (Cirrhitichthys aprinus).
- Added Caribbean Hawkfish as an alias to Red Spotted Hawkfish.
- Added Threadfin Hawkfish as an alias to Spotted Hawkfish.
- Added Tail Spot Blenny (Ecsenius stigmatura).
- Added Longfin Fairy/Blue and Red Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis).
- Added Striped/Sankeys Dottyback (Pseudochromis sankeyi).
- Added Kauderns/Bangaii/Longfin Cardinal (Pterapogon kauderni).
- Added Bamboo/Cat Shark (Chiloscyllium plagiosum).
- Added Black Banded Shark (Chiloscyllium punctatum).
- Minimum tank size requirement for Green Mandarin has been increased to 48x18.
- Green Mandarin has been re-classified as a Gragonet. Compatibility warnings are changed appropriately as well.

- Bug fixed: Temperature switch link near the bottom of the page was directing saltwater page to freshwater page. This has been fixed.

- Total number of species in DB has been increased to 62.

To access the application, please click on AqAdvisor site.

If you have any saltwater species that are missing in AqAdvisor DB, please let me know!!! If you disagree with any of the results produced by AqAdvisor, please let me know that too.


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## NC Frank

I think you need a bigger tank for the Mandarin. Great job as always!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## yhbae

NC Frank said:


> I think you need a bigger tank for the Mandarin. Great job as always!
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Someone already pointed this out so I increased it to 75g. Does it need even bigger tank than this?


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## NC Frank

I would say so but there are experts here who could better answer.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## wake49

125 gallons with 150 lbs of live rock and a very mature system.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## yhbae

wake49 said:


> 125 gallons with 150 lbs of live rock and a very mature system.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Is that a recommended volume or a minimum volume? On another source, they are insisting that 75g is the minimum.


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## wake49

That is what makes stocking a saltwater tank more difficult than just number-crunching. Different sources give you different answers as to how to stock a tank. Most marine misconceptions about stocking arise because people try to follow the "so many inches of fish per so many gallons" rule. Marine fish are more territorial and certain combinations of fish change the minimum tank size rule. 

The reason I say this is that a Mandarin can thrive in a 75 gallon tank with lots of rockwork and a very large refugium for pods to populate. The same exact fish might not survive in a 125 with minimal rockwork and no sump at all. If you have a scooter blenny, goby or any other pod hunting fish, I would say that 200 lbs of rock and a big refugium were necassary.

The bottom line is that I do not have a "minimum tank size" for a Mandarin. I have a "Minimum Live Rock" requirement for the Mandarin, and that is 125+ lbs. If you could cram that into a 29 gallon aquarium, I would say that is a perfectly sized tank then...


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## yhbae

wake49 said:


> That is what makes stocking a saltwater tank more difficult than just number-crunching. Different sources give you different answers as to how to stock a tank. Most marine misconceptions about stocking arise because people try to follow the "so many inches of fish per so many gallons" rule. Marine fish are more territorial and certain combinations of fish change the minimum tank size rule.
> 
> The reason I say this is that a Mandarin can thrive in a 75 gallon tank with lots of rockwork and a very large refugium for pods to populate. The same exact fish might not survive in a 125 with minimal rockwork and no sump at all. If you have a scooter blenny, goby or any other pod hunting fish, I would say that 200 lbs of rock and a big refugium were necassary.
> 
> The bottom line is that I do not have a "minimum tank size" for a Mandarin. I have a "Minimum Live Rock" requirement for the Mandarin, and that is 125+ lbs. If you could cram that into a 29 gallon aquarium, I would say that is a perfectly sized tank then...


This makes more sense... Thanks.


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## yhbae

Note: I just wanted to explain that the way AqAdvisor works is not purely through number crunching. It is also a knowledge capturing system. This is why I am interested in these details since I can "describe" this into the app's DB and users will see them in one form or the other.


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## wake49

Give this a read: Marine fish compatability, creating a stocking list 

I would consider it a very good guide to Marine stocking.


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## yhbae

wake49 said:


> Give this a read: Marine fish compatability, creating a stocking list
> 
> I would consider it a very good guide to Marine stocking.


Excellent - much appreciated!


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## wake49

Give this a read: Saltwater Filtration 101, How it Differs from Freshwater 

This will help you with the method a lot of salties use for filtration.


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## yhbae

wake49 said:


> Give this a read: Saltwater Filtration 101, How it Differs from Freshwater
> 
> This will help you with the method a lot of salties use for filtration.


Will read this one too - thanks!


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## yhbae

This is from the first article. For 6ft and under tanks:



> "rule of thumb #1: For tanks under 6' in length the adult size of a fish times 10 should not exceed the length of the tank. Using this rule you are able to reduce compatability mistakes. For example, in a 29 gallon tank of 30'' in length, you should not purchase a fish with an adult size of greater than 3''. This allows you to properly select members of the Centropyge angelfish that will fit your tank. You can easily see that a Bicolor Angel is not a good fit for a 29 gallon aquarium. You should instead consider choosing between the Flame Angel, Pygmy Angel, Flameback Angel, and African Pygmy Angel. Each of these fish stay small and will thrive in this size aquarium."


I believe I am covered for this rule since every species has its own attribute called "minimum tank size". So it is more flexible than what is being suggested here.



> "rule of thumb #2: In an aquarium under 6' in length, do not add more than 1 member of the same genus to the aquarium, unless they are of the same species, compatible as a pair, and added at the same time."


I also have an attribute called "maximum number" for each species. I can set this to 2 which will prevent users from getting more than this. AqAdvisor also has a grouping mechanism and I have already grouped them based on the genus - I can simply make them incompatible as you have seen me doing this before. I believe I am covered with this one.



> "Rule of thumb #3: For an aquarium under 6' in length, consider adding 2 members of group A for every 15 gallons of tank, and 1 species of Group B for every 15 gallons of tank. This means a 10 gallon tank would get 1 fish from Group A and one species from Group B. A 20 gallon gets 2 fish from Group A and 1 species from Group B. A 29 gallon gets 4 fish from Group A and 2 species from Group B. This should help to give you an idea of how these fish will behave in terms of territorial behavior and compatibility. Note, a "species" may consist of 2 fish of the same species. In other words, a 20 gallon tank could probably house 2 Flameback Angelfish successfully, along with 2 fish from Group A."


For this rule, I am going to have to play with my aggression attributes in AqAdvisor. For more aggressive species, I can set their territorial spaces and they get added up. If it exceeds the total tank space, it will generate a warning. I can set separate space for male only, female only and when they are breeding. I'm pretty sure I can use them to give you a similar effect as this #3 rule.

So for under 6ft tank, I think AqAdvisor can handle them as is with correct numbers plugged in.

Will read over 6ft article a bit later.


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## yhbae

What's new for 2010 05 04 build:

- Added Bicolor Angelfish (Centropyge bicolor).
- Added Lemonpeel Angelfish (Centropyge flavissima).
- Added Red Stripe Angelfish (Centropyge eibli).
- Added Tibicen Angelfish (Centropyge tibicin).
- Added Multibar Angelfish (Paracentropyge multifasciata).
- Added Half Black Angelfish (Centropyge vroliki).
- Added Singapore Angelfish (Chaetodontoplus mesoleucus).
- Added Yellow Angelfish (Centropyge heraldi).
- Added Rusty Angelfish (Centropyge ferrugata).
- Added Pygmy Yellowtail Angelfish (Centropyge flavicauda).
- Added Flameback/African Pygmy/Orangeback Angelfish (Centropyge acanthops).
- Added Multicolor/Pastel Pygmy Angelfish (Centropyge multicolor).
- Added Black Nox/Midnight Angelfish (Centropyge nox).
- Minimum tank size requirement for Six Line Wrasse has been reduced to 24x12.
- Mouth size of Yellow Tang has been adjusted down. It will not report a warning that it could consume small live species in the same tank.
- Mouth size of Blue Tang has been adjusted down. It will not report a warning that it could consume small live species in the same tank.
- Mouth size of Achilles Tang has been adjusted down. It will not report a warning that it could consume small live species in the same tank.
- When more than one types of tang are present, a warning with a caution is displayed rather than a strong incompatible message.
- Achilles Tang has been marked as a difficult species to maintain.
- Message for Blue Tans about requiring algae has been removed.
- Minimum tank size requirement for sharks have increased significantly.

- Total number of species in DB has been increased to 80.

To access the application, please click on AqAdvisor site.

If you have any saltwater species that are missing in AqAdvisor DB, please let me know!!! If you disagree with any of the results produced by AqAdvisor, please let me know that too.


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