Good First Fish

[faerykisses]

Hello All

I am taking my damsels back, they are just too mean for me...and I'm worried they will stress out my coral banded shrimp after enough time. I have three damsels now: a 3 striped (who has white spots on him, my LFS keeps giving me sick fish!) a domino and a clear one.

I want to take the domino and the 3 striped back. The clear one is nice and not aggressive yet, and healthy.

I am just unsure of what fish to get instead. The guy at the LFS tried to sell us a yellow tang before we even got our damsels ! (damsels were our first fish). But we didn't get the Tang because he was $27 dollars and we were worried about hurting him with our new tank, or worse.

So would a Tang be a good second fish? The only thing in the tank besides the damsels right now is my coral banded shrimp.

If the LFS I go to doesn't have anything that looks good, I'm going to another LFS. Also, is that a resonable price for a small yellow Tang? TIA. I appreciate it.

 

[ClamKnuckle]

Clowns, chromis, blennies, cardinals, gobies....it all depends on what you want in your tank. You should get an idea of what you want to stock in your tank and then decide from there the stocking order.

As far as adding a Yellow Tang next, most recommend that the Tang be the last fish you add to the tank, so I would hold off on that until you decide where your going with it

 

[underdawg]

Yellow tangs are pretty hardy fish except for the fact that they are prone to ich. I personally would probably not get one right away. If not for you having the shrimp I would suggest a triger fish. They are extremely tough. My triger was the soul surviver in my tank after huricane Katrina hit and knocked out our power. Clowns are a very good beginner fish, and very popular. One of my first fish was a koran angelfish. He did excellent. It really depends on what you are interested in.

 

[lando]

You have better options for a 55 gal tank other then a yellow tang. A 55 is just a bit too tight for a tang. It can be done and many have, but it is not really recommended. Look at the dwarf angels, gobies, royal gramma, clowns...you have lots of options.

 

[Nøjo]

How many clowns can you keep in a 55 gallon reef? I have my mind on four (two true percs, and two black and white percs) yet at the lfs they've told me that you really can't group too many together. I was hoping to add them after my tank is cycled.

 

[DragonForce]

I personally would not have anymore than a pair of a single specie.


A really awsome 55gal fish list would be something like this:

1 dwarf flame angel
2 true percula clowns
1 six line wrasse(my favorite!)
1 royal gramma
1 purple firefish
1 shrimp goby(randalls, hi-fin, orange spot,yellow watchman, etc)

I would much rather have a nice little gang of fish rather than a few large fish

Or you could do something a little different and go with:

5 small blue/green chromis
1 flame angel
1 sixline wrasse

 

[lando]

1 dwarf flame angel
2 true percula clowns
1 six line wrasse(my favorite!)
1 royal gramma
1 purple firefish
1 shrimp goby(randalls, hi-fin, orange spot,yellow watchman, etc)

Looks like a great list to me for a 55.

 

[Konrade]

I like that list also, except I would probably go with a coral beauty instead.

 

[atjohns84]

A yellow tang was my third fish that I added. 2 Damsels and then the tang. I paid 19.99 for mine. He is about 3 inches. He has done fine and he is the star of my tank.

I had trouble adding a fourth fish (royal gramma, perc. clown and firefish all died.) My Tomato clown has done fine though.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[faerykisses]

I added two hermit crabs and an engineer goby this weekend. Took the Domino back but now the 3 stripe is trying to dominate the whole tank. I just don't think I want damsels at all. Thanks for the list...I think I will start with that....I appreciate all the comments. Thanks again,

Crystal.

 

[DragonForce]

Good luck, when you take back the 3 stripe, you should probably pick up 15 more hermits, and around 40-55 snails. Make sure you get a veriety. My personal favorites are the margurita snails and nassarius snails. HTH

Good look with your friends.