Stocking new 55gal

blitt

blitt

Member
I'm a month or more away from introducing fish to my new tank. When I do stock it I wil have 25#s of base rock and 50#s of live rock and 60#s of live sand in the tank. I'm researching fish now so that I can make educated decisions when the time comes. My favorite fishes thus far are as follows:
Valentini Puffer
Naso Tang
Picasso Trigger
Clarkii Jumbo
Bangaii Cardinal
Bicolor Dottyback
White spotted File Fish
Royal Gramma
I want to be able to have Inverts as well
Orange Linkia starfish
one or more shrimp Fire or Cleaner
Purple Lobster
Conch
Horse shoe Crab
I plan purchasing the smallest/youngest fish I can. I know I won't be able to have all of these my tank is too small. I'm afraid that the top three listed fish will eat any inverts when they grow large enough. Any advice on a seccessful combo of the listed animals would be greatly appreciated.
 
I

ivanfj

Guest
Valentini Puffer <----
Naso Tang
Picasso Trigger <----
Clarkii Jumbo
Bangaii Cardinal
Bicolor Dottyback
White spotted File Fish <----
Royal Gramma
Say goodbye to inverts if you wanna keep these 3. I am sure that the puffer and the trig will eat your inverts, not too sure about the filefish but I think it will also. If you are looking for fish that are more active in swimming, you could look into some dwarf angels or some wrasses.
 
lionfish12

lionfish12

Active Member
A horse shoe crab can get HUGE... please do not get one of them.. The naso tang is out.... Go for a few smaller fish such as clowns, bennys, file fish, and other 2-4'' fish..
If you wanted to you could get a yellow tang... they are the only tang i would recomemd in a 55... The tamg police might say other wise, but a few people have yellow tangs in 55's on this site.
 
drakken

drakken

Member
The orange linka does not do well in aquariums. If you insist then wait a minimum of 6 months (a year is better and never is best) for the tank to be established.
I's skip the purple lobster too. I had one and got rid of it after it killed my favorite blenny. Purple lobster will attack small fish that hide in the rocks of on the bottom like firefish, gobies and blennies.
Good choices:
Dwarf angel
Blennies
Cardinal
Clowns
royal gramma
firefish
Six line wrasse
Chromis
 
pufferman

pufferman

Member
do you have any trouble feeding your filefish? I think they're nervous fish and hard to feed....and also should be housed only with passive tankmates.....your filefish might be outcompeted by other fishes...like trigger...and puffer...etc....
 
chandler04

chandler04

Active Member
I have a yellow tang in MY tank
Yup, say bye bye to inverts if you got puffers, triggers, eels, groupers or filefish. Get a yellow tang though, small one to start, Should give you at the very least one year. Wrasses should be good. Another cool fish for that size tank could be a Dwarf Angel or some sort of a butterfly, just don't go for corals, thats all I can say.
 
blitt

blitt

Member
hey Pufferman I don't have a file fish I'm just starting up my first saltwater tank and looking for ideas of ways to mix my favorite fish and inverts. thanks for the reply though.
 
killafins

killafins

Active Member
if this is ur first tank, let me give u a fantastic idea. Don't go overboard. Be happy with three types of fish, say a clownfish or two or three and bangaie's, make it look cool and get some inverts. have a ball with a small amount of fish, you will be safer that way, and may i say that my clownfish for 2.5 years has passed away, i think it was that logn and now i no longer have tank, because i went overboard.
 
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