New fish

[keliza]

Just wondering what kind of fish I should put into my tank. It's a 55 gallon, has been set up for a month and established for about 2 weeks with live rock. I have 2 damsels and 3 hermit crabs. What would be a good next fish to get? When can I put bigger guys like angels and tangs in? When can I get a lionfish and is it ok with others?

 

[jacknjill]

first off, you can never put a tang in a 55

 

[mbrands]

Originally posted by JacknJill
first off, you can never put a tang in a 55
Never say never. What if on a rare occasion you purchase a small tang (realizing it will get larger) so that your wife will fall in love with the fish. Once the tang grows a bit, you explain to your wife that the only options are returning the cute little tang she loves so much to the LFS, or upgrading to a larger tank.

 

[pontius]

the only angels for you are the dwarf angels. when can you get one? the first question is, when are you going to take the damsels back? because 90% of damsels are going to make life a living hell for any fish that's suitable for a 55. even the more "peaceful" damsels will probably be aggresive if they were established first.

 

[jacknjill]

Originally posted by mbrands
Never say never. What if on a rare occasion you purchase a small tang (realizing it will get larger) so that your wife will fall in love with the fish. Once the tang grows a bit, you explain to your wife that the only options are returning the cute little tang she loves so much to the LFS, or upgrading to a larger tank.

true, true. but im 14, so im not married lol

 

[mbrands]

Yeah, that could put you into a different situation than me.

 

[keliza]

the damsels can go any time. i dont really care for them, someone suggested we get one to cycle the tank and i found out afterwards that they are aggressive and will probably attack the rest of my (future) fish. i have my eye on a small (juvenile) emperor angel and i realize it's going to get too big for the tank so upgrading to a larger aquarium is a definite possibility but for the moment I'm looking for answers as to what would be good choices to add and when. Thanks for your help!

 

[pontius]

don't do it. many of the large angels, especially emperors, are known for being very sickly, especially when they are juveniles. it will be far too big. if you spend that kind of money on a fish only to have it die, you'll probably be very discouraged very quickly.
many of the dwarf angels are as beautiful as their big cousins. I have a coral beauty. I like the flame angels a lot, and there a lot of other nice ones.
if you get a large angel (even at juvenile age), I believe you'll be disappointed. I never had a real grasp of how big they are until I went to a public aquarium. they had a French and a Gray that were each about 2 feet long and one foot from top to bottom. that's a big fish, even for a large aquarium.

 

[fishieness]

you dont have to return the damsels.
after all, you said you wanted a lionfish right?! heh heh heh
you have live food living in your tank!
yes, you can fit a lion in there, not a big one though. a fuzzy dwarf or a fu manchu, and a few of the other small types. but they will eat any inverts and are not reef safe. Your hermit crabs might be okay, but with most lions, shrimps and such will be gone without a trace.

 

[snipe]

Yup tangs and large angles are out might as well get grip on that now. Now drawf angles as stated would work but in a 55 I would only have 1 since they are territoriel and will fight and most likely kill one the other or bolth. Now clowns, damsles, chromis, blennys, gobies,basslest "one per tank", cardinals, and some others would work. But in a 55 you cant have a hole lot of fish so thoughs fish there give you alot to choose from. In a 55 you might get by with 7 or 8 small fish.