55gallon Stocking Ideas

JestersCourt05

JestersCourt05

Medium Fish
#1
Apr 7, 2005
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#1
Well, I'm almost to the point that I can start stocking my tank. It's just going to be a FOWLR tank to start, since it's my first SW tank, and I wanted to do a community tank to make things easier on me. I've thought about some fish that I could start with, but I don't think it's going to be the best variety to put in there. Here's what I'm thinking of doing, but PLEASE feel free to change it up.

Heniochus Black & White Butterflyfish x1
Tomato Clownfish x1
Spotted Cardinal x1
Pajama Cardinal x1
Flame Angel x2
Firefish x3
Cleaner or Coral Banded Shrimp x1
Sand Sifter Star x1
either Turbo or Nassarius Snail(s) x2-3
7-8 Hermit Crabs ( already in tank )

Well?? How bad would that be?? even better, what would be a better mix? As you can see, I'm going for things that have nice color, not too big in size
( except the Butterfly ), and are fairly easy, and peaceful.
 

KahluaZzZ

KahluaZzZ

Superstar Fish
#2
Jun 12, 2004
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#2
never had tomato, but it's said that they are very territorial and can bully little fishies..like the firefish. BTW i think firefishes prefer to be paired. Firefish like to have loose pieces of rubble, like dead coral branch to hide. They might hide a lot when first introduced.
 

A

aresgod

Superstar Fish
#3
Jan 14, 2004
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#3
I dunno, there are some semi-agressive fish in there, I think you might not see your firefish all to often, and I would worry about the flame angels fighting, unless you could get a mated pair.
 

JestersCourt05

JestersCourt05

Medium Fish
#5
Apr 7, 2005
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NE Ohio
#5
Well, the rock that I have in there now, has a lot of nice areas that they (firefish) can hide in or get through, ( although I would rather have them out in the open ). I just wasn't sure. I thought with the 55 MAYBE I could get away with 2 angels and some semi-aggressive fish, but I guess it's not as big of a tank as I thought. I really liked the look of the Butterfly fish, and the cardinals, but what else would be a good match with those?
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#7
Oct 22, 2002
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#7
The heniochus get way too big for that tank, and are far too active so lose that. If you must have a butterfly you can try a small kleinii or auriga (and know the auriga will grow too big to)

2 Flames are unlikely to work unless you fill the tank up with rock. They are not very peaceful

Why not a pair tomato clowns. They do get agressive, and might give the firefish a tough time, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Plus for a starting point I tihnk you have too many fish. I would get a dwarf angel, the clowns , the firefish and a blenny of some nature, and no more
Cardinals are exceptionally dull. They will be very twitchy as singles as well
 

JestersCourt05

JestersCourt05

Medium Fish
#8
Apr 7, 2005
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#8
wayne said:
Plus for a starting point I tihnk you have too many fish.
Click to expand...
Well, I wasn't planning on putting all those fish in at once, if that's what you thought. I was just thinking of the route that I could take in actually getting the tank stocked. It's going to be little by little of putting fish, and cleaners in the tank. I just wasn't sure if I could pull that list off or not. Now, with the Green Chromis, should I school them in a group of 4-5??? I assume they probably don't get much bigger then 3-4 inches???
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#9
Oct 22, 2002
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#9
No I assumed that was our final list, and I think it's far too many. I think what I described is a pretty heavy load for a 55. Think 5 or 6 total if you want an easy life.

My own opinion is that schools of fish , except the most placid, don't work in small tanks, and in real terms a 55 is a small tank.
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#10
Oct 22, 2002
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#10
im inclined to agree with wayne on this one...that really is too much fish for a 55. the setup wayne suggested is actually very similar to what i have (1 eibli angel, 1 marron clown, 2 bangaii cardinals, 1 bi-color blenny)
 

JestersCourt05

JestersCourt05

Medium Fish
#11
Apr 7, 2005
83
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NE Ohio
#11
Well what about my cleaner crew?? Is that too much in that tank???

I would really like to build the 55 around the Flame Angel. I really love the look of that fish. So how about a tank setup similar to this: ( scratch the firefish )

1x Flame Angel
2x Clownfish ( either Maroon or Tomato )
Maybe 1 smaller butterfly fish ( if possible )
1x Blenny ( not sure which one )
My cleaner crew as mentioned above

Better of a tank selection??
 

JestersCourt05

JestersCourt05

Medium Fish
#13
Apr 7, 2005
83
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NE Ohio
#13
You don't think the wrasse would be too aggressive towards the other fish, even if I put it in last??? Plus getting up to a possible 1 foot ( which I doubt in my 55 ), my clown fish may look like a good meal for it. However, on the flip side, that is a very good looking fish. I saw a wrasse at my LFS ( can't seem to remember which kind ), and I thought it would be too aggressive for the tank. However if you think that it would be a good addition, I will take it into consideration.

*** Maybe I should decide to just do an aggressive tank, since that seems to be the majority of things that I like.. Ha! *****
 

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