New tank soon

[POLARBEAR0871]

Ok so this is my first thread in salt water. In 15 and I started my aquariums about 8-9 months ago. My mom is buying me a 55g long which is going to be for my freshwater fish. I have a 40g tall and was wondering what should I get to make it a great looking tank I also want a reef so any help with that would be amazing thnx

 

[marsh]

How many different fish stores or pet shops are nearby? I relied on lots of variety while setting up my 55 FOWLR and got great looking rocks and good CUC options as your tank gets going. I also fill the gaps using Craigslist and save a bunch. Lots of dads selling choice equipment out of the garage if you know what I mean.

 

[POLARBEAR0871]

I live in an area wheres there's anywhere from 5-10 pet shops nearby

 

[tjreef]

You want to make the 40 gal a reef? I just went online and looked at what fish I could have in a 40 gal. www.liveaquaria.com has a minimum tank size and u just select the type of fish. Its best to put the fish in from least aggressive to most aggressive. Also depends if you are gonna set it up as a predator tank or go the other way. There are some dwarf lionfish that are really cool but keep in mind there are very few predator fish that you can have in a small tank. You would need a 180gal or bigger for a good selection. If you go the other way there are clownfish ( you can only have a pair and you can mix some of them together like a snowflake and black one but some you cant, I think mostly maroon clownfish because they are more agressive), gobies, dottybacks, wrasse some are reef safe, and others. As for coral it depends on what light you will be useing.

 

[POLARBEAR0871]

The light I have now is a blue light you can see pictures in my profile. And I think I'm going to stick with non predators only because I already have a freshwater predator tank and it costs tons of money to feed them