Stocking ideas for 55gallon

[DIZZLE808]

Hi everybody, so I'm struggling to decide what fish to house in my tank. Before velvet wiped out my tank this is what I had:

2 clowns
1 lemon peel angel
2 blue/green chromis
1 Kole tang

1 cleaner shrimp
1 coral banded shrimp
2 feather dusters
1 strawberry crab
A few hermits and snails

Right now I have:

1 clown
all the inverts except the feather dusters
And a small colony of zoas

 

[J8kpin]

It looks good, but kole tangs should be kept in 100 gallon plus. What types of clowns do you have??? A good replacemant for the kole would be a royal gramma. I have 2 percula clowns

 

[MarinaClown]

If I were you I would skip the green Chromis. If it's a standard 55er then it's not deep enough to spread the traffic. Between live rock and such you will probably have just one lane for swimming. Lemon peel angel will eat corals. He shouldn't be listed "with caution" anywhere. I have seen many and none was reef safe. Kole tang is fine in 4ft tank so you are good.

 

[DIZZLE808]

Yea I wasn't planning on putting in any chromis or lemon peel this go around. Still on the fence about the kole tang though. I'm just trying to bounce ideas off of people of what to actually put in the 55 this time cuz I'm drawing a blank

 

[czwicky]

Barnacle blennies, Midas blennies, dwarf hawkfish, firefish, a fairy or flasher wrasse. All of the previous (most of the wrasses)are good for a 55g and are fish you don't see every day. Firefish are the most common out of those. I personally love barnacle blennies and I'm getting 3 for my new 65g.

Also all are reef save although some wrasses/hawkfish will pick on inverts

 

[carey]

I'd warn you about the barnacle blennies. lol Mine is very nasty. Constantly chases the other fish. he is a good eater though. hehe
I like the midas blennies, mine is constantly out and about, very active. I also like the fairy wrasses, wish i could keep them but my wrasses are mean. And in my opinion no tank is complete without a hawkfish of some kind. I have three, a flame, arc eye and a falco. They all get along with the other fish too.

As for a tang, I had a 55g before and I really wouldnt even put a Kole in one, sorry. They do swim quite a bit, maybe not as much as a yellow or blue, but they still swim ALOT.

 

[J8kpin]

Agreed. Koles can get quite big, ive seen one in my local fish store. If that is what you want, thats ok, just keep in mind that eventually, you will need to make an upgrade. Best of luck!

 

[DIZZLE808]

Yea I know they can get to a nice size. The last one I had was about 5 inches. Like I said I'm still on the fence about it. Reason being is that their color doesn't "pop" you know what I mean. I'd like to have a lot of color in my tank. One downside about living in Hawaii is that there are a ton of critters that we can't have for obvious reasons. I'm actually on my way to my lfs right now to check out what they have... Maybe make a purchase.. cause we all know how hard it is to walk out of the fish store empty handed lol. But we'll see. Thank you guys for your input.. Keep it coming!

 

[J8kpin]

U live in hawaii?? Lucky! Just kidding, but i know what you mean by the color, and there are lots of little guys that are colorful. Just a suggestion, but if you go to a 75 or 100, you could get both a kole tang and perhaps a yellow. The problem that could happen with a tang in a little tank, is that aggression can become a problem...

 

[DIZZLE808]

I'm not really a fan of yellow tangs for some reason. Once we move out of our current apartment I plan on upgrading to nothing smaller than 150 gallons so I'll have a lot more options then. Sadly my lfs didn't have much selection today. I'm curious... This book I have says that a blue chin trigger can be housed in 55-75 gallon.. I know bigger is better obviously but has anyone successfully kept a blue chin in a 55?

 

[J8kpin]

No, the only trigger that i have kept is the humuhumu trigger

 

[DIZZLE808]

No, the only trigger that i have kept is the humuhumu trigger

In a 55? Love the humu though. Was our state fish for a while but not anymore apparently.

 

[J8kpin]

I wouldnt in a 55. I had one in the 100. What about the chevron tang? Expensive, but breath-taking! Will need a bigger tank eventually