Stocking my 55 Gal.

[Garrett]

Everyone,

Well here i am my tank is 7 months old. I have a Clown fish about 1.5" long, a Bar Goby 3-4" Long, Coral Banded Shrimp. I currently have a Yellow Tang, but am going to get in store credit for him since i found after that my tank is 2 small. As well as several other small crabs. My question to all of you is what could i put in? How much? Before there was a Coral Beauty, but unfortunatly it died in a pH accident. I like most angel fish but i have read that they do not get along with others sometimes. What other fish do ppl like in reefland? Any suggestions.

Thanks,
Garrett

[Old Man Of The Sea]

Sorry Garrett, to how frustrated you might be for one thing on having a 55 gal tank, it leaves you with little room for live stock. As for angels, I could only suggest to you the Flame Angel, you tank is too small and the flame is one the best most can pick from and can do rather well. Other smaller angel, or most, are in need of a greater amount of care to where water and diet comes in>

[zhenya]

Hi Garrett,

What type of set up do you have, a reeftank or FOWLR( Fish Only With Live Rock)?

This will help in answering your question in more detail.
Secondly, angelfishes are almost all are delicate fishes and need somewhat mature aquariums, and some are notoriously specialized feeders.
Having said that, smaller angels in the genus Centropyge don't do too badly in aquariums with live rock and could be kept successfully.
Here's some info about the genus: DwfDwfAngels

[Garrett]

zhenya,

I have a Emperor 400 Filter, Prizm Protien Skimmer. Currently no live rock yet it's been cold here (Ohio) and i don't have any space to put it in my apt to cure it. But that's on the list to do as soon as it gets warm. I'm not tied only to Angelfish i just had one before and enjoyed it. I'm open to different species. I'm interested in what other ppl like and have had sucess with.

Thanks

[zhenya]

zhenya,

I have a Emperor 400 Filter, Prizm Protien Skimmer. Currently no live rock yet it's been cold here (Ohio) and i don't have any space to put it in my apt to cure it. But that's on the list to do as soon as it gets warm. I'm not tied only to Angelfish i just had one before and enjoyed it. I'm open to different species. I'm interested in what other ppl like and have had sucess with.

Thanks

Well, it is perfect time then to do some research and do some reading on the fish you would want to keep.

My advice would be to wait a bit more, get some live rock( cured if you don;t have the space to cure it yourself) and after waiting couple of weeks more you can begin to approach your stocking list. You should really make a list of the fish you like personally, then you can go down that list researching it and asking all the questions. ;)

[dibenni]

Garrett,

I agree that you should get the live rock cured and in the tank before you continue with your stocking.

However, if you want a little help making up that stocking list here are some fish that I enjoy and would do well in your 55:

- Bicolor Angel (I am partial to this of all the dwarf angels - I have one in my 55 and he does great)
- Royal Gramma (they can be agressive, so I would suggest stocking all othe fish first if you do decide to go with this and put the gramma in last - then it should be fine)
- Purple Anthias (I think they add great color to any tank)
- Pair of percular clowns (classic in any saltwater tank - you said you had a clown, so this depends on what you already have. if you have one percular i would go grab a second now - you probably don't even have to wait for the live rock since they are very hardy fish)
- If you are going with a FOWLR tank, then there are some butterflies that you could keep in a 55. They are very delicate though and you want to make sure your tank is well established before adding them.

The key is to decide what you want before you start stocking because you should not put too many fish in a 55 (5 - 7) depending on size. So you don't want to waste one of those spots on something that you would later want to replace.

Good Luck!

Nick

[Garrett]

Thanks for all of the info. I've been looking at live rock for some time now so i'll go from there.

thanks all

[hymie069]

get rid of that prizm skimmer! they suck!

[Poseidon]

Some good advice has been given here, especially getting the live rock. Also as mentioned above, the prizm skimmer is less then ideal. I believe a protein skimmer is a very important part of your filtration system, if you have a good one, it will allow you to keep more delicate species. If you have a less then ideal skimmer you will probably face inconsistant nutrient issues. Meaning you will have times where algae blooms out of nowhere, then goes away, NItrates will spike quickly then fall, and depending on load levels in your tank there may even be times where the dissolved O2 levels fluctuate. None of those are good things, and a good skimmer will make those problems go away.

For a FOWLR tank, I think the skimmer is your single most important purchase. Make sure to get a good one.

[Garrett]

I have been looking at a New protien skimmer, the current one was a hand me down from a friend i got everything from. I have noticed that sometimes the top has bubbles and sometimes it doesn't. With that said what are some of the better skimmers? I will probably use the in store credit toward my live rock and get a clown fish. That's the plan of attack at least

Thanks for all of the info this place is the best

[Garrett]

Update...

Due to an unexpected move i had to tear down my whole tank and sell all of the fish that i had. In doing so i decided to put a sump in with continuous siphon overflow and go that route. I got a CPR overflow which i believe is rated at 600 gph and a sump which i believe holds about 10 gal the return in a Mag 9.5 pump controled by a ball valve. I have about 50 lbs. of live rock that i had purchased before breaking down the tank the coraline algae is doing good. I also purchased a CPR Bakpak II skimmer which is working well (better than the prizm i had). The tank has been running for 3 weeks now and i'm getting ready to put in a clean up crew. As for fish i'm looking at

Cleanup Crew:
10 Mex. Turbo
10 Nassarius
and a sand sifting star fish.
A yellow cucumber later

2 Black Perculas or 2 Maroon Clowns
Flame Angel
Bar Goby

From what i have been reading it's hard to pair maroons so if i would do that i would need to get a bigger one and a smaller one. I think i would sit tight for a while on those fish. With only a 55 gal. i can't really do much else can I?

Your thoughts??

Thanks

[wozza]

well it sounds like your tank set up is come along loads and should be fine for a FOWLR tank.

as for you live stock options all seems well apart from the sand sifting star a single 4" star needs a tank of about 500Gal with an active DSB to properly thrive.

Also while the maroons will be able to live ok in the 55G tank as they grow older they can get very aggressive and teratorial and in such a small tank may bully the other fish.
also in addition to your current fish list you may want to consider a wrasse of some kind my favorate is the sixline wrasse and also eat many unwelcome guests in a aquarium, these fish are pretty much bullet proof my sixline got sucked into my downpipe and went into my sump put it back in to my main tank and is fine.

Good luck with what ever you decide. james

[Reefland]

You could definitely look at other small fish. I always enjoyed the Black Cap Basslett or Royal Gramma's.

[wozza]

hehe scott im sure you said nearly the exact same thing to me when i was setting up my 60gal, you sure do like thoes fish dont ya!!

[Reefland]

I think they are great little fish with lots of color. They aren't the most active, but that is one of the beautiful things about some reefs. You never see everything at first look, and sometimes not the second or third, but all of the sudden to see a beautiful fish dart in and out of the reef structure is really cool. Hey, and they are inexpensive too.

[wozza]

i totally agree scott i like to not see all the fish in a tank at once it would just get boaring after a while. its good to get a nice supprise every once in a while

[Reefland]

That is what we really enjoy with our Flamehawk. But the Black Cap's, can't beat watching them hang out upside down in their home.

[Samper]

The flamehawk Neocirrhites armatus and royal gramma Gramma loreto are my favorite two fish...ever. Their personalities and coloration just set my system off. The only problem I have with either of them is that they devastate my pod population.

[Minh Nguyen]

Some of the most interesting fish I have had are Yellow head Jawfish, Orchid Dottyback, Cherub angel, Some of the shrimp goby, Royal gramma.
I would only keep smaller fishes in a 55 g tank.

[Garrett]

Wow! awesome responses thanks everyone...i've made a couple of list and would like to get everyones opinion on them.

Group #1
Royal Gamma
Pair of Black Percula
Bicolor Angel

Group #2
Pair of Black Percula
Flame Angel
Six Line Wrasse

Group#3
Six line Wrasse
Royal Gamma
Clown Goby
Bicolor Angel or Flame Angel

I still have a couple of weeks before i even get the first fish so still just looking..also any ideas on what order to put them in??

Thanks again