Welcome to the forum. I answered some questions in your quote in red below to make it a little easier to follow along:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Salt H2O guy http:///t/391393/fish-compatability-in-a-new-tank#post_3470727
I have a new 56 gallon aquarium that's been cycling for about 4 weeks now. There's 30 pounds of nearly cured live rock and the same in live sand currently providing plenty of ammonia for my biological filter. What are your readings at this point? How did you cycle the tank? At any rate, I'm looking for advice as to how to stock this tank once it's safe for livestock. My plan is to add a yellow tang (Tank is not large enough for ANY tangs), lion fish (what type? some are not compatible with others and two of certain varieties could be too much for a 56 gallon tank), two clowns (again, what type? also dependent on the lions you want to keep. Most lions will eat the clowns), and two purple wrasses (can you be more specific? there are many "purple" wrasses. Also, this can be dependent on the lions you keep)... as well as a coral banded shrimp (not recommended with lion fish. I actually had one that used to grab onto my lions fins and ride around the tank on it), hermit crab, brittle star, and emrald crab (the lion will probably eat this)... also about two anemones. Two anemones with a lion in a 56 is not a good idea. Anemones with lions in general really aren't a good idea.
My question is are these animals generally compatable with each other? Not really I'm aware that a lion (again, really important that we know what type of lion you're referring to) will eat anything that will fit in its mouth and that the banded shrimp like to snip with their pinchers. Will this be too much load for the size of my tank? Yes, you're current stock list is too much for your size tank
I appreciate any advice!!
Thanks!!!
We need to know what type of lion you're planning on keeping. Also, keep in mind that lionfish are not easy to keep, especially for a new hobbyist. Most need to be weened off live foods and onto frozen. Only the smaller varieties such as the dwarfs and fu manchu will work in your size tank. With your size tank, if you really want to keep lions, I wouldn't really recommend keeping other fish. Most other fish that would work in that size tank would be too small and the lions would eat them. There are a few exceptions to this, but the large majority would be eaten. Lions produce a lot of biological waste as well.
Your tank is also not large enough for ANY tangs. I know some sites will tell you that a yellow tang can go in a 55 gallon tank, but this just simply is not true. Tangs are open water swimmers that really need a MINIMUM of a 6 ft long tank in order to live a happy life. Putting a yellow tang in a small tank usually stresses them out and causes them to become even more aggressive than they naturally are. It can also stunt their growth and cause many health issues.
The biggest issue I see with your current wish list for stocking your tank is that you want two different types of tanks and are trying to combine them into one. Which won't work. It looks as if you want a reef (one with anemones and clowns and corals, etc) AND an aggressive fish only (one with lions). Unfortunately, the two just don't mix well, especially with the size restriction of your tank. I've seen some people have success with lions in a reef in larger systems (100+ gallons), but it's much harder to accomplish in a smaller tank. You could make your tank a reef WITHOUT anemones and be okay with a dwarf lion, but you'd have to be careful with how you lay out your rockwork and corals as well as with what fish you kept with it. Even though lions are considered "aggressive", they're not mean. They're called aggressive because they eat live things. Most lions are actually very, very peaceful and don't do well with behaviorally aggressive fish (triggers, angels, etc).
