are these fish compatible?

browniebuck

browniebuck

Active Member
Hello! This is my first posting.
My wife and I bought a 55 gallon aquarium off of ---- in December. The tank has been up and running for about a month and a half now. We added live rock (about 30 lbs) and live sand (about 60-70 lbs or 2 inches) in mid December. We then added several turbo snails, a queen conch, and three red leg hermit crabs after the sand settled (I know that we went kind of backwards by adding inverts first, but we were a little impatient). On New Year's day, we added two maroon clowns (1-1.5"), an Eibli angel (1.5-2"), two skunk cleaner shrimp. Two days ago, I added a porcelain crab as well.
I am running two Whisper 60 hang on power filters, an Odyssea protein skimmer (for up to 75 gallons), and an air bubble strip along with the sand and live rock for filtration (I do not want to get into a sump yet, as my tank is tempered glass and cannot be drilled).
QUESTION: We are looking to add to our tank, and want to know if what we want to add will be compatible not only with what we currently have but what we are planning to add in the future.
1 naso tang (small)
1 blue hippo tang (small)
1 green mandarin goby
1 psychedelic mandarin goby (my local fish guy said that if we add them at the same time and make sure that we don't have two males, we should be fine adding both)
1 blue or orange linkia starfish
Any problems or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
I am sad to say that none of those are suitable for your tank at this time.
First, it is quite young....do you have SPECIFIC tank parameters?
Linckia stars need VERY large tanks with lots of live rock. Mandarins also need lots of LR to grow the food they eat. Neither are suitable for your tank...the Linckia stars will probably never be suitable. One of the mandarins may, assuming the tank has time to mature. But 30lbs is not enough.
The tangs get far too large for this tank. The naso is definitely not suitable, the blue really is not either.
I know it is very exciting but your tank is actually quite small and VERY young. It is easy for things to go very wrong very fast, and lose a lot. So patience is critical. We will be happy to help you choose suitable tank mates, but it is defintiely time to review things.
Some of your equipment may also need changes. For example, I don't recommend the air strip, but you should have additional powerheads.
 
happyvac

happyvac

Member
Ophiura is correct. All of those fish require an advanced level of care and a larger tank.
You might look into getting a few small fish, like some Gobies or Chromis.
 
bellanavis

bellanavis

Active Member
I always thought those filters were for freshwater, and not good for saltwater, but I could be wrong, I hope someone who knows more then me addresses this, I am curious to know, since we have quite a few of those filters laying in the basement, and if it would work, it could not hurt to add them to the tank. Also, what was your reason for not wanting a sump?
 
poniegirl

poniegirl

Active Member
Well, they already have an angel in there, so no more than one angel per tank or they will fight.
A 55 gallon is really on the small side to have a "school" of fish. I have a 55 myself.
Be sure to get fish for all levels of your tank. Bottom or rock dwellers, mid and upper tank swimmers.
You should be able to keep about 6 fish, if they will reach an adult size of no more than 3 inches or so. Also depends highly on compatibility.
Smaller flasher or fairy wrasse are nice
One or two chromis
You could add a blenny or goby for the bottom dweller spot, but research carefully which species for size, temperament and be sure they will eat processed food (frozen mysis) before you purchase.
I would add more live rock. Not only excellent filtration, but your fish will need hiding places and the rock does produce it's own forms of life.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Originally Posted by BellaNavis
I always thought those filters were for freshwater, and not good for saltwater, but I could be wrong, I hope someone who knows more then me addresses this, I am curious to know, since we have quite a few of those filters laying in the basement, and if it would work, it could not hurt to add them to the tank. Also, what was your reason for not wanting a sump?

They are fine for saltwater but the gallons per hour are relative. THey are, IMO, really designed for FW systems, so you should double up. The reality is that ultimately people use them for circulation, and maybe to run carbon. Several (and I did this on a small tank) can be modded to be small refugiums. But ultimately they are not as effective as a wet/dry, refugium, or lots of LR, and certainly more circulation is required than they provide.
They are perfect for running on QT systems however
 
teeithigh16

teeithigh16

Member
i have only run a penguin 330 over the back for years and never had a sinlge issue in my 40" long. maybe just lucky...
have 3 chromis, 1 Y. Tang, 1 blue hippo, 1 bi color blenny, 2 false percs, 1 purple pseudochromis, 1 coral beauty.
60 lbs of LR, 50 lbs of crushed.
 
bellanavis

bellanavis

Active Member
Thank for clearing that up for me Ophiura. I think I will set up a QT tank with the filters Ihave laying around, very good idea!!!!!!
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Originally Posted by watson3
Please look at their other posts...

Wow, you are right. I have to think they maybe really don't care? Have lots of money to blow? I dunno, but it is unfortunate.
Some info provided in response to these posts to help, but no further comments from them.
 
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