Species Only 55Gallon

1968oldsma

Member
I have a 55 gallon long tank that is in the cycling proccess right now there is no live rock in it at least not yet i will be honest i did the damsel cycling process i'm a member of a few other boards and didn't even hear about theh shrimp thing till i was 3 weeks into the damsel thing. Right now i'm fighting with those damn Diatoms those things are fugly oh well. I'm thinking about doing a species only tank and i'm looking for some recomendations.
I was going to put some live rock in there maybe a few days down the road as me and my fiance are a little broke from just getting a new puppy. Basically my question is how many fish, and what speicies of fish you like i enjoy the idea of inverts as well. I've been looking at the DIY section and i'm thinking about building my own hood just cause i enjoy the look. I have a Over the tank filter,heater i'm new to this so i would enjoy a few suggestions that route as well sorry for the long post. Brian
 

jcarroll

Member
I have a 55 gallon and it just finished cycling a week ago. I also did the damsel method. Here's my "wish list" of possible fish that will work with our size tanks
fire fish goby
bi-color blenny
royal gramma
4 or 6 line wrasse
manderin (4 or 5 months after cycling)
ocellaris clownfish
purple firefish
sand sifter goby
inverts
cerith snails
nassarius snails 20 or so of each snails, although I heard they'll starve if there's no algae for them to eat, not sure if that's accurate
5 astrea snails
2-3 emerald crabs
5 peppermint shrimp
brittle starfish
fighting conch
I'm not saying to get all of these, that would be too many fish. They're just ideas
I first took out all of my damsels because they're aggressive. In order to fetch the little suckers I had to remove all of my rocks. My lfs took them back for $1 a piece. After that I added 2 emerald crabs, 1 peppermint shrimp, and one sand sifter starfish. Then I added 2 ocellaris clownfish and I love them! A week from now, just got the fish today, I'll go back for another one. You have to add them slowly.
Also, do you have crushed coral or live sand? I had crushed coral and switched to live sand because it's easier to take care of. May want to consider the same if you have cc. Hope this helps you as much as it helped me!
 

drummerbum

Member
if your going to do a species only tank try something that is recommended species only like seahorses. or oh oh oh put a bunch of blue/green chromis in there it would be cheap ang you'd have a massive school that might be cool.:D :D :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish
 

thejdshow

Member
I am currently cycling with the damsels, I would love to keep them if possible, was wondering if you guys kept your damsels after you were done... I heard they can be ruff on clownfish
 
A

andretti

Guest
Some fish stores will take them for credit (usually 1/2 of what you paid for them) Blue devils and dominos are the worst as far as being bullies. I've kept mine each time I cycled my tank. A word to the wise; use green chromis damsels to cycle your tanks (if you're going to do it the fish way) They are not agressive like the previously mentioned damsels.
:happyfish
 
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