friendly tank?

[missmary49]

I am interested in starting a tank with a few key fishes in mind and wondered if anyone had any recommendations to fill the blanks.

Id like to build a 55 gal SW, Id like to get (LR):
1 clown fish, with an anemone,
1 tang, (undecided)
1 mandarin dragonet
1 goby (undecided)
1 copper or longnose butterfly (might consider another type or willing to drop species if too 'big')

1 shrimp (undecided)
2 Snails
1 pin cushion urchin
1 sanddollar
maybe a tiny hermitcrab or a some kind of reef safe crab, but if i have too many cleaners then i can drop it.


my question is are these all going to get along for this setup? and is there another type of small fish i can add or should look into?

 

[CEverii]

I would avoid the tang. The smaller tangs require a minimum of 75g tanks for their swimming room. Those being the Kole and Yellow tang. All others require a 6ft long tank.

Also, i'd avoid the anenome. They don't do very well in captivity. Your clown will be fine hosting a rock or some coral.

 

[CEverii]

Oops...also the Manderin. They usually require a tank with lots of rock and that has been set up for at least a year. Unless you can train him to eat shrimp, he will starve in a new tank.

Also you'll probably want more of a CUC then that. 2 snails and a hermit aren't going to do much lol. I've got about 50 hermits and 20 or so snails in my 75g tank.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I'm no stocking expert, but I'll make a few comments...

I'd skip the Mandarin, unless you decide to buy one of the recent ORA captive-bred Mandarins that just hit the market. Wild Mandarins don't have a good track record surviving in our tanks due to their constant need for food (pods) which is tough to keep in sufficient numbers. Unless you have a 100+ gallon tank, with LOTS of live rock, I wouldn't consider that fish. The recent release of the ORA captive-bred fish might be a better option though, as they will supposedly feed on frozen and prepared foods. Time will tell though, as these are a very new thing.

If you're thinking of going reef down the road, skip the butterfly. They are not reef-friendly and will snack on your expensive corals.

Skip the sanddollar. If healthy, they'll pretty much stay buried in your sand bed and you'll never see it. In addition, they're pretty efficient eaters and will wipe out any living thing in your sand bed in short order. And then they'll starve to death. They're kind of like most starfish - unless you have a very large tank, you most likely won't be able to keep enough food for them.

Just my nickel's worth...

 

[missmary49]

all nickels are welcome

 

[iDream]

mandarin might still be an option, though they are quite the finicky fish, my friend has kept one in his 55G with no fuge or sump for easily a year or two now, definitely without a sunken belly, he's quite plump =]

 

[melosu58]

Every once in a while you`ll find one that will eat prepared foods. I would make sure you see it eat before you get it.

 

[missmary49]

lol,, dinner and a show, sounds good.

 

[missmary49]

Also you'll probably want more of a CUC then that. 2 snails and a hermit aren't going to do much lol. I've got about 50 hermits and 20 or so snails in my 75g tank.

I wasnt sure how much i would need, i dont want to over clean it

 

[pat8you]

You will want a larger clean up crew for sure but there is no magic number for them. Start with 5-7 snails and 5-7 hermits when you first start the tank. Then work your way up until you feel like the crew you have is enough to keep the tank clean. If you throw in a ton of them at once there probably won't be enough food for them in a new tank and many will starve to death. Which is bad for them and bad for your wallet at over a dollar a snail/crab.

 

[b-towndoc]

Still pretty new to this so I can't help you out much, but as far as the CUC, one place I have been impressed with is www.reefcleaners.org. You can email John with your tank specifications etc and they can make a few rec's for your tank. I used them on my tank and it certainly streamlined the process.