Best fish for a 55 Gal

[cashemin44]

Alright folks, help me out. I want to find out what are the best, coolest fish I could put in my 55 gal without worrying of them busting it in a year or so. I have a Whiteface Tang that I know I'll have to bring back in a year or so. Damsels, yeah I have'em. I have a Diamond Goby which is cool and I'm tired of trying to keep clowns alive. I'm on my third pair and I tell my fiance who wants them that this is the last try at them. I have inverts in a separate 10 gal from a reverse quarintine treatment. It's growing on me and I might just keep them all in there instead of putting back in the main tank. SO, FISH ONLY, what are the suggestions. I am willing to take extra care steps, water changes, ect to possibly have a larger fish. Input please.........

 

[seannmelly]

Get rid of the damsels and get a few chromis, they school and add movement and color to your tank. Sixline wrasse gets a max size of around 3", a dwarf angel would work too.
melly

 

[lion_crazz]

A fuzzy dwarf lionfish is a beautiful and friendly fish that is not expensive and definitely will not outgrow the aquarium. That is a great fish to base your tank off of. They are wonderful fish.

 

[jmick]

A few fairy wrasses would be a great addition.

 

[cashemin44]

The Mrs. says the lionfish is scary. I thought it was awesome. I bet if we got it, i'd be doing all the feeding, the water changes, the testing, ect by myself cause she wouldn't come within 3 feet of the tank, haha!
Update: Clownfish have been moved from the invert tank to the main tank that has the copper treatment. They are actually moving around. The 3 stripe damsel harrassed him a little but the tankboss, White face tang stepped in to keep the peace. Maybe this time around they'll live!
If I was lying to myself, I'd go out and get a dogface pufffer or a Trigger, but I know I'll have to wait until we get a bigger tank. This is our first. We LOVE the hobby. From seeing some of the other pics on this site of other people's tanks, I think we totally guessed wrong on "dressing" up this tank with a dumb background and freshwater fake plants. I plan to rip them out soon and just keep the dead coral rock. Looks like it'd be more colorful to slowly convert the tank to a mini reef. This is what I'm guessing to do since our budget doesn't warrant us to go all out tomorrow.
1. A really expensive light ( please help with the name )
2. A protein skimmer
3. A sump
4. Some live rock
5. Then start adding my speciemens
Is this the right order?

 

[lion_crazz]

No, I would do live rock first. The reason for this is because you want your live rock to be as established and mature as possible before you buy corals. Thus, let the live rock establish and mature while you are not doing anything wih the tank. Just to be clear, I would not suggest doing "some live rock". To keep a healthy reef tank, you will need at least 1 lb. of live rock per gallon of water.
Then, get your sump and skimmer. Then, after those three things, get your lights. There is no sake in getting the lights first.
My fiancee said that at first about the lionfish as well, and now, she loves the fish. It is her favorite fish. Honestly, it is so cute and friendly that you forget it is poisonous.
I am not sure I am understanding all of the details, but copper in your display tank could be a very big problem for a future "mini reef". You will have to be 110% sure that all the copper is out of the tank before you make any plans to buy live rock or coral. That will take many water changes, and a lot of carbon.

 

[cashemin44]

Oh, we figure about 6 months or better before we try anything, even introduce the inverts back. Do you think it'll take longer? Even with poly filters changed out frequently?

 

[lion_crazz]

No, 6 months would be an appropriate time.