Ok first post so a big hello to everyone.
Right now the stupid noob question.
I'm going to be buying (I think) a 24 gallon nano cube. (this one http://www.store.livingseas.co.uk/ekm ... LAYPRODUCT&productid=2363)
How many fish will it hold? I don't want loads but a rough idea of numbers would be nice.
This is to be my first aquarium ever so I thought I'd start small to get used to routines and stuff before buying a large set up.
Many thanks in advance.
*edit* Great site by the way, has been a great inspiration.

Hi vamp, and a very big welcome to the site

I've not ventured into marine yet but I can tell you that its the hardest type to get right, and the most expensive and has the steepest learning curve. Of marines the nano is probably the most skilled of set ups as the water parameters in a small body of water are much less stable. That said, if you are dedicated methodical and committed there is no reason it cant be a roaring success. If you can afford to though learning on a large set up or a tropical setup might be easier.

24 UK Gallons is about 100 litres, how many fish will depend on the maintenance routine and type of fish but for a reef aquarium about 3" of fish and for a fish only about 6". If you used the tank for tropicals you could safely put over 20" of fish.
and because I'm not an expert these figures are from http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk ... ng_density_calculator.php

Hope that helps

Thanks for the fast reply Eagle. I did think about a tropical tank first but I like a challenge and marine looks more my thing. Typical of me to pick a more tricky option e.g I build my first pc instead of buying a pre built.
Thanks for the link and I'll make sure I do plenty more research before I commit.
Gotta love those marine fish though, cute little devils!
*edit* Love the pics of your tank in your blog. Looks amazing.

So am I right to assume that after I get the tank settled/balanced I can only have 1 fish if its 3 inches big?
Like 1 clown fish or similar?

in my 58 litre nano, i can have up to 4 small fish, you would be able to hold 6-7 i'd imagine but they would have to be small fish to get those numbers. of course, you'll need tons of live rock to go with it as well

Before you buy this tank ask the supplier to confirm if its UK gallons or USA gallons because theres a big difference. Ask them for total litres, this will help in the longrun when adding buffers and other additives

Judging by the measurements given the tank is listed in UK gallons. However the displacement by the live rocks, equipment and to a lesser degree fish will reduce the actual water volume by an unspecified ammount. One of the reasons you cant have as many fish in a reef tank. However you can double or even tripple the limits I gave you eventually. Once you get the hang of things and the tank is fully matured. What you dont want to do is overstock or put too much in at once.

The problem with stocking limits in inches is that a 4 inch fish uses a lot more of the tanks resources than four 1" fish. It's just a guideline.

I think you could have a pair of clowns if you wanted. Provided you cycle the tank well, have lots of live rock and cleaners and buy them small so the tank matures with them.

Thank you all for your replys.
I've decided to go ahead with getting the nano tank and to take things very, very slowly. I'll be starting with just 1 fish after the tank is set up and the cleaning crew are in.
I was never going to go beyond 3/4 fish anyway as the tank is quite small. If all goes well I'll get a really large tank so I can have a big reef set up and more fish.
I'll also try to photo/document everything as I go along so others might get some help/info from it.
Once again many thanks and I'm sure I'll be posting again soon. :)

i think you're getting a good system. if you're going with perc clowns you can easily do a pair... my system is a 58litre system and im planning on ultimately having the 2 clowns i have now, a royal gramma, and if its possible in this tank, a flame angel... if not, i'll go for something smaller. But the general rule i've seen plastered all over the net for the orca is no more than 4. so you could easily do 4 in yours with no probs at all.

I briefly considered getting what you have but I thought i wanted the protein skimmer that comes with the orca... turns out its more of a pain than a help and i dont use it at all. Looking back on it, i probably would have preferred to spend the extra on tank space and buy the required heater for it and just stick to waterchanges and some serious bio-filtering to keep it in check

Just incase anyones interested this tank is US gallons, so is 90 litres.