Marine Life List for a 55

[PacketsofKetchup]

I am currently in the process of setting up my 55 gallon and right now it is in the process of cycling. I have a emperor 280 mechanical filter running along with a seaclone 150 protein skimmer. 1 power head, the name escapes me currently but its something like hykei or along those lines. I am wanting to do a FOWLR tank until I can gather up the money to make a reef tank. Which will cost me another $2,000 it seems. Nonetheless, I have 33 pounds of live rock currently and like i said, just recently hit the diatom bloom portion of the cycle. The question I have is I am wanting to do the following livestock setup and I was wanting opinions on rather or not this would be ok....The wife and I have went through many books and magazines and websites and we have agreed on the following fish/cleaners....

2 orange clownfish(percula)
1 chocolate chip starfish
1 blue and yellow hippo tang(Dori)
1 flame angelfish
1 Heniochus Butterfly
1 Shy Hamlet
5 Cleaner Clams
5 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs
5 Scarlet Leg Hermit Crabs
1 Emerald Crab
1 Sally Lightfoot
1 Sand Sifting Cucumber
1 Featherduster
1 Purple Lobster
2 Cleaner Shrimp
2 Fire Shrimp
5 Peppermint Shrimp
10 Turbo/Astria Snails
2 Mexican Turbo Snails
10 Cerith Snails
1 Red General Starfish

In a perfect world based off of looks and availability this is what we would love to have...Does anyone see a problem with this all working happily together in a FOWLR?

[leebca]

I moved your post into its own thread.

If the 55 is the 'show' model of that size, the dimensions don't favor a FOWLR system. The footprint is too small. This means less biological filtering availability. A low tank, long and wide is better.

Regarding your list, some of my observations:
The tank is too small for:
Cucumber
Choc. Star
Tang of any kind
Red Star

I don't recommend:
hermit crabs

I recommend:
more snails
making sure you haven't overstocked the aquarium (see below)
Just choose one or two shrimp from that list
Reconsider feather dusters at this time, since some inverts and fish may pick at them
Much more live rock

(Answers to 'Why?' for most of the above can be found in the below-linked posts).

For your consideration, I recommend you read these:
Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium (Since your original post was attached to this thread, I assume you've read it, but include it here since I moved your post)
and
Fish Stocking Limit - for FO and FOWLR
for starters, then check out other posts of interests using this Table of Contents:
Table/Contents - Link List

Hopefully, you can learn by reading, since there is a lot of reading that can be done to learn more about marine aquariums.

Good luck!

[Seige]

1 chocolate chip starfish
1 Red General Starfish

They will starve... I believe they recommend a 500g tank with a DSB and only after you've added a detrivore kit and allowed 6+ months for it to seed the whole sand bed.

2 Cleaner Shrimp
2 Fire Shrimp
5 Peppermint Shrimp

Choose 2 of 1 type. You could try 2 types if they keep to opposite ends of the tank but it's not recommended.

1 blue and yellow hippo tang(Dori)

Needs more swimming space.

2 orange clownfish(percula)
1 flame angelfish
10 Cerith Snails
10 Turbo/Astria Snails

Add some Nassarius snails too to keep your sand bed sifted.

Add the flame angel last after all your other fish.

2 Mexican Turbo Snails

They eat a lot. I'd only get 1 and only if you get long hair algae.

5 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs
5 Scarlet Leg Hermit Crabs

ok but only get 1 or 2 of each. They'll kill your snails. Make sure you get lots of extra shells for them so they don't kill as many.

1 Emerald Crab

Will eat your snails. May nip at your corals. I've had one for 2 weeks and so far it's been fine. Almost attacked a snail but I saved it by giving the crab a piece of shrimp.

You could try a Strawberry crab.

If you don't mind losing some snails you could add 1 small bumble bee snail but it's not recommended. I have one and it's interesting to see it appear every 3 to 5 days from wherever it go's. Don't think it's attacked anything yet because it pretty much lives on 1 section of the reef where I haven't seen any snail deaths so far. I wouldn't risk more then 1 though.

In my opinion the diversity of life forms is worth the occasional loss of a snail. I may change my mind if they start mass killing of my snails or decide to take a chunk out of one of my corals.

1 Featherduster

Wait until your tank has aged for about a year. You may also want to grow plankton for it.

1 Heniochus Butterfly
1 Shy Hamlet
5 Cleaner Clams
1 Sally Lightfoot
1 Sand Sifting Cucumber
1 Purple Lobster

Not sure.

[PacketsofKetchup]

Other than just bare shells, how do you know if there has been a snail/crab death? I have found one little body in the sand of a blue legged crab.

[Seige]

Can't say for sure but I would think that unless you see it happen, the only other evidence is 1) the empty shells, 2) your hermit wearing a new shell.

Sometimes snails get stuck on their backs so don't presume they've been eaten. I use a long semi-rigid plastic tube to flip them back over. The tube works well for feedings too because I can stick bits of shrimp in the end and feed it to my shrimp, crab and my brain and frogspawn corals.

[PacketsofKetchup]

I do have quite a bit of bare shells around it looks like!

[Seige]

Do you mean recent kills or shells you added? How many predators do you have in your tank now?

I don't think I've had a snail die in at least 2 weeks and I have 6 predators (4 hermits, an emerald crab and a bee snail).

I'm happy I found 2 new critters in my tank today I hadn't seen before. A copopod and a worm I think, not sure, it just stuck it's head out of a hole in my LR to grab some algae.

[PacketsofKetchup]

I have no "predators" i dont think....all there is in my tank currently is the detrivore kit and a "small cleanup crew" from inland aquatics...blue legged hermit crabs I know are in there...anything else I have no idea really....

[Seige]

not sure but I'm guessing hermits will attack each other especially if the one being attacked is dying. They can die for other reasons like toxins, stress, etc.

I wouldn't worry too much about one death. Just pick up a bunch of shells so your blue hermits can try on different shells when they want. Your LFS will probably give them to you free if they have a lot. Not sure about your LFS but my LFS gets about 300 snails in and dozens die off. So when I order snails I ask them if they can throw in a bunch of shells while they happen to be in that tank.

I highly recommend the Sally Lightfoot. Thanks for the idea. She's been all over the tank eating algae constantly and isn't shy, going right into the dens of my shrimp.

I definately would try one pair of shrimp first. Then based on where they set up base camp, decide if another pair can fit in comfortably. Even then the different pairs could attack each other.

I might try the purple lobster too. Interesting picks you made.

[PacketsofKetchup]

WEll thank you.....I like the larger fish and such.... Being up in canada I would imagine getting things for you would be pretty tough....I will trade you one cleaner shrimp for a fully dressed mountie on horseback

[Seige]

You'll need a bigger tank then. Not necessarily immediately but you may want to think about upsizing in a year or so as your fish grow.

Can I ship the mountie C.O.D.? Canada doesn't have much "tropical" area. We should have never sold you California.

Actually geting stuff here isn't too bad. The stuff in Canada is limited but Inland Aquatics and a few others said they'll ship here so I'm good.

I have no room for a cleaner shrimp unless it's one of those expensive fire shrimp.

[PacketsofKetchup]

I tell you what, I think the people here would die if a mountie went down the road...I just think thats funny a cop on horseback carrying a sword Yeah, well atleast you all have free healthcare! I think having this baby in the next 60 days will end up breaking me, I am considering selling body parts to finish this tank before the boy gets here!

[Seige]

Ya especially because the mounties where those pants with the big butt's. I think they have to turn sideways to get through doorways they are so wide. ROFL

You can be one... I heard on the radio today they want to hire 2000 new mounties.

Well if you run out of money you can always feed the baby fish food. If you do, you should get a shirt that says "My baby only eats escargot!"

[PacketsofKetchup]

Too funny.......
If my son is half as picky as I am, I will be in serious trouble
Would you agree that probably the best cleaner in the tank would be a Nassarius snail? I am completely torn between getting 2 nassarius snails or more live rock!

[Seige]

ummm just 2 snails? I have around 45. You have a 55g right? Maybe you can turn in a few hermits for snails. Just keep 1 hermit for interest... You don't want a lot of hermits.

I'll rank my snails...

Mexican Turbo: Big dude. Eats a ton including long hair algae others won't touch.

Cerith: Slow. Eat decent amount. Can get stuck on their backs.

Nassarius Vibex: Small. Zippy fast at times. Fun to watch at times. Eat ok amount. Can unflip themselves and flip each other over.

Black Turbo: Slow. Eat a decent amount when they move. Seems like they rest a lot. Can get stuck on their backs.

Astrea: Slow. Don't seem to move around a lot. Can get stuck on their backs.

Bee: No idea. He dissappears for 2-7 days then reappears usually on the same rock.

Strombus Conch: Another big dude. Barries itself in the sand and resurfaces 2 days later about 2" from where it dissappeared.

[leebca]

I recommend reading these articles:
The Grazing Snails, Part I - Turbo, Trochus, Astraea, and Kin by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com
The Grazing Snails, Part II - Abalones, Limpets and Nerites by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com
The Grazing Snails, Part III: Conchs, Ceriths, Cowries, and Columbellids by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com
and
Aquarium Frontiers Library

[Seige]

Thanks for the links Lee

[PacketsofKetchup]

Yes, absolute excellent reading......It seems like 80% of this hobby is reading LOL

[Seige]

Wait a sec. I totally missed something. You get LR for the price of 2 snails? LR here costs $8 a pound so a rock easily costs me $30-$50 and it's barely "live".

Maybe you meant base rock.

That said... I'd get at least 5 or 6 Nassarius snails. At times they are far more interesting then the other snails.