55 stocking- single species

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marsh

marsh

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Messages
883
Location
CA coast
I have a 55 that I am breaking down to move to another room, it has a HOB skimmer and T-12 lights that look fine but won't support any corals.

I am moving the algae blenny, 2 small Chromis and inverts into a new reef tank my husband set up and I want to find a new fish for this tank, something awesome.

I looked into puffers but this is too small for any species of SW puffer.

I was considering a large school or a single fish, maybe even a "map" turtle or pair.

Any ideas? I also love sea horses and have plenty of macro algae.
 
The tank is 55 and it could be a sea horse only tank, I am moving all the inhabitants to another tank before I break this one down completely.

How do sea horses fare in 55 gallon tanks? I have live rock and sand to re-use that won't fit in the reef tank.
 
My lfs has a dwarf fuzzy lion fish for $45, and again, I would keep him as a single inhabitant to the 55 with about 50 lbs rock ad plenty of hideouts.

Any warnings or pros/cons to know about fuzzy lion fish? I checked out live aquaria and they said 50 gallons minimum.
 
marsh said:
My lfs has a dwarf fuzzy lion fish for $45, and again, I would keep him as a single inhabitant to the 55 with about 50 lbs rock ad plenty of hideouts.

Any warnings or pros/cons to know about fuzzy lion fish? I checked out live aquaria and they said 50 gallons minimum.
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how bout a pair of marine bettas they are really nice looking fish:cool:
 
I disagree that 55 gal is too small for a sw puffer have a look into toby puffers, I have a valentini puffer 2 clowns a sleeper goby and some shrimp in a 34 and if you look on liveaquaria there are a few puffers that are fine for 30 gallons

The seahorses would be cool but they need very specific set up for example you cant have a heater in the display tank and they are very fussy feeders etc

The turtles would be cool I had musk turtles and they were brilliant and very entertaining but they are very very messy creatures from my past experience so very good filtration and cleaning the tank often would be a necessity
 
I kind of like the idea of the Seahorses. I believe they would do Ok. As mentioned above they do have a few things that have to be done differently.
 
Never heard of frog fish! Ill look those up.


The marine Betta is beautiful! Bettas are what got me back into aquariums.

I am acclimating my inverts and fish tonight, so by tomorrow I will move my tank. Ill leave the sand bed in as it was merely 20 lbs and I have water mixed waiting to refill.

The eel sounds fun although I eat so much Unagi I would feel shame. And if it gets out I have 4 pets all equally likely to play with/eat it.

Thanks for the info woody. We have pea puffers and I love the massive personality those fish have. I get mesmerized watching them at lfs's.

Anybody have an experience with a dwarf fuzzy? The benefit is the small guy at my lfs has been there healthy several months, and I like their quality over any other lfs local to me.

The closest place for a map turtle is 90miles away in the Bay Area at the "Vivarium" but it's local to my family so I make the drive often.

If the fuzzy is a bad idea I could order the sea horses or puffers from my lfs guy who offers to order for us.
 
Frogfish are inactive predatory fish. A lid should keep the eel from escaping.
 
Frog fish/ angler fish are REALLY cool single species tank inhabitants- you could always turn a brackish green spotted puffer marine- mine is hilarious, I have him with an algae blenny of equal aggression and larger stature, and I finally have more than one fish in my saltwater.... I like the idea of an invert tank too- just saying....
 
puffers are messy fish so the filter has to be good. A brackish water flounder would be cool.
 
Yeah I love the personality of my Valentin puffer always swims to the glass when i walk in and will blow water in the air when he's hungry. Dwarf lion would be cool as would angler just do your research on what you'll go for before you start setting up the tank in my opinion again though the turtle would be amazing but you would need so much filtration and cleaning
 
Woody is your avatar the Valentini? Sounds fun, the pea puffer here is a total food maniac

I see a spotted puffer on Craigslist I might want to buy with a few of the corals he has for sale. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/for/3699482895.html

Looks like a real SW enthusiast, wish I could afford the whole 250gal tank!!
 
Corrals are a risk with puffers just for a heads up if you want corrals too you'd be better with the angler or dwarf lion yeah I'm hoping when I move to my new place I can get a massive tank! Yeah the valentini is my avatar such a cool fish IMO
 
woody390 said:
Corrals are a risk with puffers just for a heads up if you want corrals too you'd be better with the angler or dwarf lion yeah I'm hoping when I move to my new place I can get a massive tank! Yeah the valentini is my avatar such a cool fish IMO
Click to expand...

+1 soooo much personality mine tells me good night every night and blows bubbles when he is hungry he eats right out of my hand absolutely love him
 
Fuzzy lions are cool but you would run a huge risk by having one in your tank. I a species tank, the lion fish will associate you with food and may get too close while you clean the tank.
 
Yeah the frog fish freaks me out! Too scary. Ill get nightmares.

The spotted puffer or Valentini each seem like great choices as I want a puffer more than anything.

I probably need another year of salt water experience before I risk keeping seahorses, I want to be sure I am ready.
 
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