New Hobbyist Need help Stocking Tank

laxplaya

laxplaya

Member
I have a 55 g tank and thinkin of startin with 50 lbs of live rock and some live sand. I am not sure how many fish i can have but i have made a list, please comment on it if there are any flaws.
-Percula Clownfish
-Royal Gramma
-Pacific Cleaner Shrimp
-Blue Hippo Tang
-Porcupine Puffer
-Red Fromia Seastar
-Bubble Tip Anemone
-Firefish Goby
-Mandarin Dragonet
-Spotted Mandarin Dragonet
-Fuzzy Dwarf Lion
-Some cleaners from a reef kit
(i am not sure the quantities of each fish yet)
 
mcbdz

mcbdz

Active Member
Originally Posted by LAXplaya
I have a 55 g tank and thinkin of startin with 50 lbs of live rock and some live sand. I am not sure how many fish i can have but i have made a list, please comment on it if there are any flaws.
-Percula Clownfish
-Royal Gramma
-Pacific Cleaner Shrimp
-Blue Hippo Tang
-Porcupine Puffer
-Red Fromia Seastar
-Bubble Tip Anemone
-Firefish Goby
-Mandarin Dragonet
-Spotted Mandarin Dragonet
-Fuzzy Dwarf Lion
-Some cleaners from a reef kit
(i am not sure the quantities of each fish yet)
Welcome to the boards. :notsure: I'm kind of a newbie to, But I'll try too help as much as I can. Hopefully someone Will chime in with more details. :jumping:
First 1 1/2 Lbs of live rock per gallon is better.

Make sure you don't add any fish until your cycle is finished completely.(4-6 weeks?)
Tangs need a longer tank, at least 6ft. :happyfish
Puffers are aggressive I believe, so may not be compatable with some of your other choices. (depends on type of tank you want FOWLR, Agressive or reef)
The starfish- do research. they are either not reef safe or need larger mature tank with lots of live rock.
Anenome needs very bright ligh. (What kind of lights do you have?)
Pick which dragonet you like the best. should only have one to tank I believe. Also needs mature tank with lots of pods.
Lions fish will eat your other fish.

Main thing is you decide what you want the most and research it to see what it needs and what is compatable with it. Biuld from there.

Good Luck
 
susiestank

susiestank

Member
There is alot of answers ot this same post in the other topic it is listed under. They basically all say the same thing as you just said mcbdz.
 
nick76

nick76

Active Member
Originally Posted by LAXplaya
I have a 55 g tank and thinkin of startin with 50 lbs of live rock and some live sand. I am not sure how many fish i can have but i have made a list, please comment on it if there are any flaws.
-Percula Clownfish
-Royal Gramma
-Pacific Cleaner Shrimp
-Blue Hippo Tang
-Porcupine Puffer
-Red Fromia Seastar
-Bubble Tip Anemone
-Firefish Goby
-Mandarin Dragonet
-Spotted Mandarin Dragonet
-Fuzzy Dwarf Lion
-Some cleaners from a reef kit
(i am not sure the quantities of each fish yet)

Basically when choosing a tank you need to decide if u want to keep, corals and invertebrates? Or Just Fish. Puffers and Lions will eat inverts therefore they only go in a Fish Only Tank.
It seems to me like you want to keep a reef tank and remember patience is a great thing u must have in this hobby.
Stay away from Mandarins, They feed solely on Pods which are tiny invertebrates and a 1 Mandarin will decimate a 55g of pods probably within a month or 2.
1.) Percula
2.) Royal Gramma
3.) Cleaner Shrimp
4.) Firefish
These all seem like good choices for a Reef tank.
An anenomee is also a good choice for a reef tank however they need special lights that give off 250+ watts of power(recomended)
 
laxplaya

laxplaya

Member
I have researched the hell out of these fish and the only problems i have come up with are the blu hippo and the piuffer. The lion fish i picked is supposed to be and stay small and non aggressive. PLease post if u notice anything wrong. This week i am gettin rid of my freshwater fish and water cleanin it out and putin in LR, LS, and salt water after i paint the back and sides black and get the hole drilled in for my wet-dry. I am really excited about this!
 
laxplaya

laxplaya

Member
Thanks Nick, and what if i only get the spotted mandarin? and dont the little pods come naturally on the life rock? wouldnt that be ok?
 
nick76

nick76

Active Member
Originally Posted by LAXplaya
Thanks Nick, and what if i only get the spotted mandarin? and dont the little pods come naturally on the life rock? wouldnt that be ok?
Actually no...I had the same problem and I was set on getting one. Pods come from the LR however a Mandarin eats ALL DAY LONG, and I stress that. They eat lights on till lights off. The pods can not reproduce faster than they are eaten and eventually the Mandarin will eat them all and starve. There's no way to avoid it. You basically need the equivlent of 100lbs lf LR for the pods to be able to keep up with the Mandarin's eating habbits.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Here are my comments as to your list:
-The hippo will need a bigger tank
-The puffer will eat the starfish and the shrimp
-The lionfish will eat the shrimp
-You will not be able any mandarins with that little amount of live rock - let alone 2 mandarins.
After eliminating all of these things, you are left with:
-clownfish
-gramma
-firefish
-cleaner shrimp
Both the starfish and anemone are questionable choices because the anemone needs strong lighting and the starfish needs a lot of mature healthy live rock.
 
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