Question about base rock and stocking tank

[elmuyloco5]

Hi,
I'm getting ready to start stocking my 55 gallon tank. I plan on it being fish only at this time. I have some base rock in the tank that is turning colors and I was curious if this means that it is still alive, or what? It's turning a golden yellow color mostly with some spots that are a bright blue and pink.

I'm also trying to decide what to stock with and the LFS here are horrible!!! My husband and I went to get some green chromis last night and the teenage clerk literally ripped apart the whole tank. SHe was even taking the net and jamming it inbetween decorations trying to get the fish out. We left, of course. You can see why information is on the short side there. Anyhoo....we have three kids that want a Nemo (but they're not picky they will take a tomato or a maroon etc. as long as they can all it Nemo), so I'm trying to figure out what would be the best to stock with. We are on a limited budget and blennies and goby's are expensive here. We like a lot of the damsels but are afraid to mix. We also like the cardinals, bannerfish, and triggerfish. I know triggers are agressive, so I'm trying to see if a more aggressive tank would be better and if we could find a "nemo" to fit in. I also like the blue cleaner wrasse but heard that they are hard to keep alive, is that true? Anyone's input on possible stocking would be appreciated. I'm in Hawaii so the indo-pacific ones tend to be on the cheaper side.

Thanks in advance!

 

[electrikat]

Avoid the damsels if at all possible. They are mean and don't mix well in a community tank. If you get triggers you can't have snails and hermit crabs. Maroon clowns are also aggressive. Green chromis, other types of clowns, cardinals, blennies, gobies, firefish, some wrasses, are all good picks if they fall in the budget. I would say yellow tang but your tank is kinda small for them. The puffers and triggers eat the snails and hermits so I wouldn't recommend either of them. The chromis and cardinals like to school so you could go with 3 or 4 each of that type with a couple of O. clowns or percula clowns. The rock sounds like it is growing some coralline algae. Any rock will become live rock after it has had a chance to get a bacterial colony growing on it. It just won't have some of the other life forms that normal live rock has on it. Good luck and have fun. Our home page has a fish compatibility chart on the left side that tells info on fish and the size tank they need and what they eat.

 

[StripesTheEel]

some great choices that will get along are:

clowns - as you suggested you want
dottybacks are a suggestion - unsure of pricing out that way though; a royal dottyback or strawberry dottyback; nice little fish.
triggers are a no go altogether unless thats all u want to have in the tank!!

for a 55 gal i'd suggest 2 clowns, a dottyback, a goby of some sort, a firefish, maybe a shrimp and a dwarf angel (flame is a hardy little guy)

but as kat said damsels are very territoral.. if u do end up getting them, introduce them LAST!!