just starting out with 55 gallon

[newbie55]

I just picked up a 55 gallon setup from local petstore on saturday; he gave me 30 gallons of water out of the tank and kept the sand and crushed coral in it. also kept the half dozen or so small blue legged hermit crabs which seem to be surviving quite nicely.
I got new light for it, 2 36 overlapping 110 watt fixtures, they were $150 each, seem to throw down a ton of light.
I put in a 10lb live rock last night to start building a good safe harbor for fish who might like that kind of thing.
So it's been almost a week, the tank seems stable and clear, i'm ready to start adding a few fish. The local shop doesnt have much by way of selection (one picasso trigger about the size of a quarter for $50, and a larger lion fish about the size of my hand for $75; everything else is damsels and the like)
After doing much research online, here are the fish that interest me. I would like to have between 3 and 5 fish eventually in this tank, and hopefully an anenome down the road but thats not as important. The following is a list of fish I like; i realize they are not all compatible, so looking for outside assistance from folks who might suggest the best mix
1) Picasso Trigger
2) Fu Manchu lion
3) Panther Grouper
4) Porcupine Puffer
5) any kind of angler.
6) spiney starfish
My goal is a reasonably peaceful tank with hardiest possible fish since I am a rank novice at this. I would rather not just start out with damsels. also, would like to know what anyone's experience with mail order fish is; or whether I should just bite the $$ bullet and stick with my local shop; he goes to chicago every few weeks and takes requests.

 

[blutang]

First of all I would suggest waiting longer to add fish so that the water can cycle completely, and if you want a peaceful tank you definitely don't want any of the fish you suggested, because these are some of the most aggressive fish around. If you want an aggressive tank you have got a perfect one in the works.
Good luck!

 

[newbie55]

all of these are "solo" fish? by peaceful i simply mean not discovering one morning that all other fish have been eaten. I thought the picasso trigger was the least agressive of the triggers?
at the local shop, the trigger is in a little perhaps 5 gallon tank alone. the lion is in a 55 gallon reef that only has smallish bottom dwelling fish in it.

 

[blutang]

See thats the one thing that is so frustrating sometimes about this hobby everyone has their own opinions. Personally I think that the Picasso Trigger is an agressive fish, I think that the Niger is the most calm. Porcupine fish are the fish that you have to worry about eating your other fish. I personally have had a Porcupine Puffer eat on of my damsels so that is very possible that he could eat your smaller fish. Once again this is my opinion take it for what its worth and see what everyone else says.

 

[jamos6]

Well My Picasso Trigger I have had for @4 months was in the tank with a snowflake eel, a fumanchu lion, a coral beauty, and a juvy blue angel. Anyways my trigger seems so peacful but i went out of town 2 weeks ago for 2 days and he ate my coral beauty and this past week he has eaten my baby blue. I would say they might seem peaceful but are NOT. You could get 1 that is though but that is my .02
thnx
james

 

[flamehawk]

These are pretty agressive fish. Assuming that the crushed coral and sand were already cycled,and that the 30 gallons of water was added you can probably start adding fish SLOWLY in about a week. My suggestion would be to get more l/r. About 1 lb per gallone. Accounting for water displacement this means about 45 lbs for a 55g. WHat kind of filtration do you have? Skimmer? etc. If you have adequate filtration and skimmer you may want to consider starting off with a clown fish of some sort. I really like the yellow stripped maroon clown. The panther , picasso, fu manchu, puffer adult sizes are all to big for a 55g. After about a month of succes with maroon, I would add a flame hawk, a dwarf angel( flame or coral beauty or b--color), and royal gramma. This will give great color to the tank and allow for all to be pretty happy. That's about as far as you can go with a 55. Another option w/b a yellow tang with a dwarf, maroon clown and gramma. These are my suggestions and I'm sure others will chime in with theirs. The best of luck.

 

[templar]

The best thing for you to do right now is to decide exactly what kind of tank you want it to be, such as a reef, fish only, or aggressive. Then you can start deciding on good combinations of fish. I personally wouldn't do a 55g aggressive, I just don't think it's big enough to have enough variety. But if you can handle having 2-3 fish in the tank then give it a shot, but have some really good filtration if you go aggressive.

 

[von_rahvin]

all of those fish are VERY agressive, also all those fish grow, some to be quite large! you want to have you tank cycle with some cheaper fish, then after a bit you can add some of the larger meaner fish slowly. also templar is correct you need to decide beforehand what kind of tank you want. Alot of look really cool, but they can not live together. your LFs may not be the best source of information, since they do have money involved.

 

[newbie55]

thanks to everyone for your input. I have decided to hold off on the "dream fish" for a while, decided to start slow and small, looking for feedback on one of my choices though. I am starting with a domino damsel, a yellow tail damsel, and (yes I know they get huge, hold on a bit) an orange shoulder tang.
Here is my thinking on the tang. I am getting it small, 2 inches approx (will be arriving today). My hope is to grow it for a bit, then trade it to the lfs for something of similar size/value that goes well with my smaller tank.
Do other people buy fish that are too big for their tanks fully grown, with the same idea of selling/trading it off before that happens? Thanks.
I am already thinking about the next tank (100 gallon+) a few years down the road, assuming I enjoy this new hobby.

 

[blutang]

Newbie....I think you have made a very wise decision. You will be very happy with a community tank.....Congrats on your getting it started and I hope you stay with this hobby, it can be really rewarding.

 

[dasnake03]

All of my fish in my 90 gallon FOWLR will gat too big for my tank eventuly,but when that time comes I will have to deal with it.Just buy small fish that get along and don't get big,and you should be alright.Another thing,what type of filtration do you have?If you don't have a skimmer,get one.
[ October 11, 2001: Message edited by: dasnake03 ]