Fish wish list

[Red Beard]

Starting a 55g Fowlr (possibly future reef) with 20g sump. I plan to have about 40-50 lbs of live rock. This is my stocking list, in order of how I would stock them. Going by the rule of thumb I heard of 1 in. of fish per gallon....(if this is true)

(Adult Size)
Chromis (3) 2.8 inches ea.
Cardinal (2) 3.3 inches ea.
False percula Clown (2) 3.2 inches ea.
Lyertail Anthia (1) 5 inches
Dottyback (1) 3?
blenny (1) 5
reef safe star fish ? (1) matter?
Yellow Tang (1) 7.5 inches
cleaner shrimp (1) matter?
cleaning crew matter?

total inches of fish(adult sizes) =/= 42.5 in. (none heavy polluters, I don't think)

Doing the research, I believe they will all get along, and are coral/reef safe.

1) Will I be overstocked
2) Any special needs that I may be overlooking
3) Any recommendations on altering this list?


THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!

 

[Aquarium1]

That rule of thumb is much outdated, especially with sw. It's mainly only true with small sland fw fish and that's about it. Can't really help you with stocking in sw but I'll follow along.

 

[severum mama]

Hi Red Beard and welcome to AA!

I'm afraid that your stock list just includes way too many fish for a 55 gallon. I noticed that you mentioned a total for "inches of fish". IMHO the inch per gallon "guideline" shouldn't be used for FW, but it is especially useless for SW tanks. In a SW tank, you'll need to stock a lot less heavily than you would for a FW tank. I would suggest going through your list and narrowing it down to the "must-haves", and then maybe you could post a revised list and see where you are then. Also, I believe that Anthias are fish that do better when kept in groups, although I don't have much personal experience with them so someone please correct me if I am wrong. Oh, and if it helps at all, I believe that tangs are pretty big waste producers, lol.

 

[Zer0]

I completely agree with SM. Tangs do have larger bioloads than most other fish, so if you wanted to have that Yellow Tang, then you definitely couldn't have all those fish you wanted. Also, on that note, Anthias need multiple daily feedings, and that could get pretty messy in a small tank such as a 55G, especially if you had a tang and all those other fish. Also, Lyretail anthias won't be able to go in a 55G tank.. it's way too small for their eating habits and their swimming habits. They need to be in a 100G tank at the minimum. I also wouldn't put any tang in a 55G tank.. but if you really wanted to i guess the yellow tang would be a good candidate, but a better one would be a Kole Tang.

The dottyback is also supposedly an extremely territorial fish.. so he would need to be added last.

 

[ilostnemo]

if anything thing its 1 inch to 5 gallons of water

 

[Red Beard]

OK, I thought I might be a bit heavy...lol...but suprise suprise, the LFS clerk thought I would be good (I think I trust you guys more). So after looking again, I would drop the tang, the anthia, and maybe the dottyback.

I want to keep 3 chromis, because I believe they are "schoolers."
I will probably drop down to 1 clown.

New list
3 chromis
2 banggai cardinalfish
1 false percula
1 blenny
cleaner shrimp & snails
and maybe eventually adding reef safe star fish if water looks perfect

Does this look better?

Might consider dropping the Chromis if I could substitute 1 or two more exotic looking reef safe fish, or other "schoolers."

 

[Jimbo7]

I would ditch the chromis, not worth the space IMO. clownfish usually do better in pairs, or always seem to be more active to me. I would up one clownfish and then look to do something big and fun for your last fish. I would look at butterflyfish. I know it says they arent reef compatible, but do some research on one if you like it. For a lot of them all that means is they will pick on shrimp or anemones, or other large inverts. You have your fish count about right now though.

 

[ilostnemo]

i personally like the chromis lol

 

[Hinds04]

as do I, 5-7 chromis together look awesome

 

[Mitchell0605]

That new list is nice. I also recommend a pair of Clowns though. A breeding event can start occuring regularly between them. Keep the Blenny. Something on the substrate will be good after all the fish in the water column. Why not (if you get rid of the Chromis for a Clown) also get a Sixline Wrasse. A fantastic fish, I love mine. Beautiful and useful (they eat some pests) and they are always weaving amongst the rocks.

 

[thincat]

Do your research and look at where your intended fish feeds. Does it feed in and among the corals, a good indicator that it eats corals ( future reef) or does it feed in the water colume..a good indicator that it does not feed on any corals. Does it eat other fish, if it does all your other fish will be stressed as this fish gets bigger. Does it eat algae...good for a reef tank. Does the fish get nasty as it ages...Most Damsels do get nasty as they age and so on. A little research now can avoid lots of headaches later, not to mention tearing down your reef to catch that rogue fish. IMO

 

[Greenturtle]

My 3 new bluegreen chromis are schooling/shoaling in my 76 gallon just fine. They are very hardy and are great first fish. And are totally reef safe. They love swimming around the rocks. Mine usually swim into a cranny and the somehow through the rocks to get to the other side. It's hilarious.

Also, you're stocklist is mine exactly, except I'm going to get 2 Ocellaris clowns and no percula, a kole tang, and a diamond watchman goby. All I have are the CUC and the chromis currently.

 

[TLTGF]

Just for comparison here is my 54 gallon stocklist:

4 green chromis (all over tank - light blue)
1 flame angel (mid to upper level - orange / red / blue)
1 sixline wrasse (weaves into reef, mid to lower - orange / green / red / yellow)
1 diamond goby (bottom - white / yellow / blue)
1 royal gramma (Bottom to lower mid - purple / yellow)
2 B/W clowns (All over - Black / White / Orange)

And I'm overstocked no matter who you ask - My goal however was to get a fish at all levels of the tank as well as have multiple colors - so far I have lost my flame and my gramma to an unknown at this time cause, but once its straightened out I will try to add the same fish again.

 

[Greenturtle]

That is kind of what I am trying to do (different colors). I scratched off the goby from the list and replaced it with a flame hawk. My future stockin list for my 76 g will be...

3 Blue Green Chromis (blue / green)
2 Banggai Cardinalfish (black / white)
2 Ocellaris Clownfish (orange / white / black)
1 Flame Hawkfish (red / black)
1 Midas Blenny (yellow)

And then these two, whose colors are hard to describe.

1 Kole Tang
1 Sixline Wrasse