fish for 40 gal tank??

pebbles

pebbles

Member
Hi, I have had my tank set up for almost 6 weeks I have 30 lbs live sand and 33 lbs live rock. I'm waiting for my nitrates to go to 0 and I plan on doing a water change before getting any fish. But was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on the fish here's a list of what I want 2 clowns, 1 royal gramma, 1 brittle star, 1 small (1-2 inch) yellow tang (I plan to get a 55-75 gal tank in a year or 2) and some kinda gobie or jaw fish (any suggetions for a beginner? ) I will also have crabs & snails. maybe a shrimp. Any help/suggetions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
1) Your nitrates may never get to 0...what are they are now? Rarely are they 0 unless you have a deep sand bed, lots ot LR, and a refugium.
2) IMO, I wouldn't get the tang until you HAVE the next tank. A 40g tank (what are the dimensions?) is very small for a yellow tang for a couple of years. If you already had the other tank - and it was a 75g or larger (a 55g is not much of an upgrade, IMO) then maybe. But in 2 years that tang should be in a 6' tank...not only moving into a 4'.
3) avoid the green brittlestar, a known predator...and wait on adding a brittlestar for at least several months, IMO.
 
guineawhop

guineawhop

Member
if you do decide to put a yellow tang in there that small make sure to have a descent amount of current an hiding places.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
IMO, for a yellow tang it is more important to have open swimming room, especially if we are talking a couple of years (still just not a good idea, IMO). They are open water swimmers...a yellow eye tang would be a better choice since they are rock huggers. But still pushing it. Not sure about the current :notsure:
 
guineawhop

guineawhop

Member
i know they are open water swimmers, but u know as well as i know that they like to hide when people come close to the tank until they become VERY use to human contact
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Yes, this is true, but I wanted to emphasize that it is really not the best tank for a yellow tang, and not too many ways to get around to making it so except with another, larger, tank in the house :)
 
pebbles

pebbles

Member
ok so no yellow tang that's what I told my brother too but he thinks I need a tang. I can do with out for a couple of years. Any suggestions on goby/jaw fish for a beginner??? my nitrates are 20ppm. any suggestions on an addtional pretty fish to add till i can get the yellow tang??? thanks
 
pebbles

pebbles

Member
Thanks the jawfish are cute I have 3 inches someplaces more of live sand and cc under sand in back of tank.
 
jonny bolt

jonny bolt

Member
Get an Orange Spotted Goby like the one to the left :) They are funny the way they hop around on their "feets". Perfect for your size tank.
Since you cant get a Tang cuz of size limits, you could try a Flame Angel or Coral Beauty Angel. But you gotta realize that this a hobby that is going to demand your time, and you need to keep up with things in order to care for these fish.
 
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