55 gallon Stock Suggestion??

[Trigger_Happy814]

Hello everyone! Well the tank is fully cycled, and ready for some more livestock!! Right now my livestock consist of 2 Oce. Clowns, a peppermint shrimp, an emerald crab and a dozen hermits as well as an assortment of snails! After setting up tank, I found out that most of the fish I want will not fit a 55 so I really had to change up my gameplan! I eventually want to get coral so that also shortened my list! Im so obsessed with the hobby, that I'm already looking into larger tanks and thinking about starting a FOWLR as well, so I can get some of the not reef safe fish!! I was hoping for suggestions. I want colorful, unique, and lively fish!! I guess it would help if I list all that I am interested in! Again I know I can't have a few of these, but they are on my wish list and all input, and suggestions are welcome! Especially from those that can speak from experience!

Wish list:
1Yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp
2 or 3 Purple firefish, or red cause they are more affordable! Lol
1Engineer Goby
1midas or golden blenny

1 flame angel or coral beauty
1yellow tang

When I started the hobby I wasn't expecting a tank full of gobies and blennies! Lol! Guess that's how the cookie crumbles! So if there are any other suggestions I am open to them! Thanx in advanced!

 

[Trigger_Happy814]

I almost forgot!!

6 line wrasse and Mandarin Goby!!

 

[TheTodd]

No Yellow Tang in a 55g. It needs twice that (six foot tank) to do well. The Angel could be okay. 75g minimum would be ideal though. Maybe consider a Pygmy (cherub or Flameback) angel?

55g is tough, because as you found out. Its right on the edge for not working with a lot of fish. Tangs like Koles, Two Spots, , Tominis work in a 75g fine, but are questionable in less. Same with dwarf angels. Once you get into the six foot tank size, a lot more opens up too.

 

[Trigger_Happy814]

Thanx for getting back with good info! Yada I know the Yellow Tang requires a larger tank, that's why it's last on my list! I'm looking into 100 + gallon tanks now! Just when I see you tube videos I am very tempted! I've seen people with a yellow and blue tang in a 55 gal tanks! Because of my daughter I wanted to do a nemo theme tank, but I would probably need a 200 gal tank! Lol! Thanx for the input! I will look into the one you suggested!

 

[Sniperhank]

With an engineer goby, you'll want to make sure that your rocks are secure either by putting the rock in before adding sand or putting down some egg crate to hold the rock in place before adding sand. They move a ton of sand to make their den, and I sure do love having mine in my 55 reef.
Hold off some time before deciding on any mandarin. Their constant need of pods makes them expensive or starve to death. The only way I've kept one in my 55 is by adding mass amounts of pods bi-monthly and not something I would recommend to anyone else, especially beginning into saltwater for the first time. It was a decision on my end as a challenge that I refuse to fail on...my pocketbook suffers because of it.
Even in a reef tank, I enjoy my coral beauty. Really active larger fish, even though it is a dwarf angel. They are cautiously reef safe as well. There are even different variations of the dwarf angels, depending where they come from, in the coral beauty and the flame angel. Some have more orange, red, thicker stripes...so on. Kinda luck of the draw depending on the LFS you decide to go to in Erie...I hear the Sea Cave on 14th is nice but I have never gone up to see personally.

 

[Trigger_Happy814]

I go to the Sea Cave often! Great looking fish and coral! I just find them to be a little over priced!! The other LFS out here is Buzz n Bees pet store. The problem with them is they never have stock!! The tanks are usually on hold for customers! I'm glad you told me a little about the engineer! How thick of a sand bed do you recommend? Haven't heard about the egg crates, but now I'm interested! Can this be done after tank is full, up , and running? Tanks been up for 3 months now!

 

[Sniperhank]

You could sink the egg crate into the sand with the rocks out. In my tank I only have 50 lbs of sand, so whatever that'd calculate to be. You could even go deeper and look into jawfish, they are pretty cool.

 

[bettaowner]

If you add a mandarin fish you can't really have any other bottom feeders.

 

[Trigger_Happy814]

If you add a mandarin fish you can't really have any other bottom feeders.

Thanx! Did not know that part! It was on the wish list! I did hear that it wasnt a goid idea to have the wrasse and madarin, cause the wrasse will eat the pods! I've made peace knowing I can't have one now! How about the rest of the fish besides the yellow tang? Can they all coexist? Any other fish suggestions?

 

[bettaowner]

I wouldn't add any tangs because they are a hit or miss when it comes to community tanks.

 

[patrickriley2010]

Hello everyone! Well the tank is fully cycled, and ready for some more livestock!! Right now my livestock consist of 2 Oce. Clowns, a peppermint shrimp, an emerald crab and a dozen hermits as well as an assortment of snails! After setting up tank, I found out that most of the fish I want will not fit a 55 so I really had to change up my gameplan! I eventually want to get coral so that also shortened my list! Im so obsessed with the hobby, that I'm already looking into larger tanks and thinking about starting a FOWLR as well, so I can get some of the not reef safe fish!! I was hoping for suggestions. I want colorful, unique, and lively fish!! I guess it would help if I list all that I am interested in! Again I know I can't have a few of these, but they are on my wish list and all input, and suggestions are welcome! Especially from those that can speak from experience!

Wish list:
1Yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp
2 or 3 Purple firefish, or red cause they are more affordable! Lol
1Engineer Goby
1midas or golden blenny

1 flame angel or coral beauty
1yellow tang

When I started the hobby I wasn't expecting a tank full of gobies and blennies! Lol! Guess that's how the cookie crumbles! So if there are any other suggestions I am open to them! Thanx in advanced!

I don't have a SW and is didnt really read the whole post on the type of fish but I think firefish are cool looking and they say they are easy to care for.

 

[patrickriley2010]

No Yellow Tang in a 55g. It needs twice that (six foot tank) to do well. The Angel could be okay. 75g minimum would be ideal though. Maybe consider a Pygmy (cherub or Flameback) angel?

55g is tough, because as you found out. Its right on the edge for not working with a lot of fish. Tangs like Koles, Two Spots, , Tominis work in a 75g fine, but are questionable in less. Same with dwarf angels. Once you get into the six foot tank size, a lot more opens up too.

This tank at this retirement office in a building I was in had a yellow tang I there 2 clowns live corals and the blue fish whatever its called and something else but I didnt want to walk in and look awkward haha

http://i.imgur.com/BhuQIcy.jpg

 

[Trigger_Happy814]

Lol! Thanx for the pic!!! That's a sweet looking tank!! From the looks of it, it looks bigger than my 55 gallon!! The blue fish is a blue hippo tang!! I was gonna put that on my list, but some would have flipped!! That's why I'm looking to get a bigger tank when u get the experience down!! Thanx again!

 

[Jaketit]

Definitely a six line wrasse!!! They are very active fish and its fun to watch them cruise in an out of your rock work. I have a 55 and my stock consist of a hawk fish, gold striped maroon clown, 6 line lawnmower blenny and a fire shrimp. If you start to get into corals you will find that the fish will start to get less interesting and the corals will become the focus on the tank. That's the case with me anyways. I've learned a few hard lessons along the way on what fish not to keep in a tank with corals. I think smaller fish just look better in a tank that size because it keeps everything to scale. I can't stand when people have a big looking fish in a small tank.

 

[Trigger_Happy814]

Definitely a six line wrasse!!! They are very active fish and its fun to watch them cruise in an out of your rock work. I have a 55 and my stock consist of a hawk fish, gold striped maroon clown, 6 line lawnmower blenny and a fire shrimp. If you start to get into corals you will find that the fish will start to get less interesting and the corals will become the focus on the tank. That's the case with me anyways. I've learned a few hard lessons along the way on what fish not to keep in a tank with corals. I think smaller fish just look better in a tank that size because it keeps everything to scale. I can't stand when people have a big looking fish in a small tank.

Thanx!! I left my LFS the other day. They had 2 beautiful six lines wrasse. A big and a small, and I've regretted not getting, since I left!! I'm wondering now how they will do with the firefish I want!! I was just reading a a different stock list suggeation and a member wished another luck when mixing wrasse and firefish!! Anyone have both in 55 gal tank??

 

[Ericwm]

I had both in my 29 gallon, they got along fine. They were my first 2 fish and were unfortunately victims of my lack of experience in the hobby. I credit their getting along to the presence of multiple small caves they could hide in as to not compete for sleeping/hiding places. If you have a lot of live rock with plenty of holes to hide in and not many other fish that sleep in the rock work then IME they will be good together. That being said here is a website that claims it to be a medium risk...http://www.fishdb.com/db/orca/results.php?a1=222&b2=34

 

[Trigger_Happy814]

I had both in my 29 gallon, they got along fine. They were my first 2 fish and were unfortunately victims of my lack of experience in the hobby. I credit their getting along to the presence of multiple small caves they could hide in as to not compete for sleeping/hiding places. If you have a lot of live rock with plenty of holes to hide in and not many other fish that sleep in the rock work then IME they will be good together. That being said here is a website that claims it to be a medium risk...http://www.fishdb.com/db/orca/results.php?a1=222&b2=34

Thanx for the link!! I guess I should monitor them at least! Lol! Which did you introduce first? I wanted a pair or 3 firefish. Should I get them before the wrasse?

 

[bettaowner]

I would get the fire fish first. Six line wrasses have a reputation for being highly aggressive so I would be very cautious

 

[Trigger_Happy814]

I would get the fire fish first. Six line wrasses have a reputa

 

[Trigger_Happy814]

I would get the fire fish first. Six line wrasses have a reputation for being highly aggressive so I would be very cautious

I guess I will need to monitor! I plan to put 2 or 3 firefish so maybe I will put them in 1st!