question about "reef safe" fish

[zoalover34]

i was lookin at saltwaterfish.com and some of the fish said they weren't reef safe but in the same breed some said that they were reef safe.. now what would happen if i put a fish that wasn't "reef safe" in a tank with reef in it? i haven't set up my tank yet im trying to do alot of research before i start so i don't kill really expensive fish!! any help would be great.. im gonna do a 55gal. and some of the fish i want to be in it include.. Tang, Butterfly, Clown, Angle, Fire Shrimp and some Hermits and maybe some other fish but that's what i want to start out with.. any suggestions or adivce would be great! thanks

 

[ram man]

im not to sure about this but that tank plan might not work, it sounds like to many fish, i know some of the more expirienced salties could make sure, just sounds like to many fish to me, clowns would be reef safe, fire shrimp are reef safe, so are some hermits, from what i have read tanks need tons of swimming rome, depending on the tang, from what i read the minimal should be 75 gallons, but maybe a yellow tang would work, what kind of angle were you thinking of?

 

[dbacksrat]

A dwarf angel should be fine as well as the clown. You should probably avoid a butterfly for now until you gain a bit more experience as they can be hard to get eating. A smaller tang is possible in a 55 but I personally don't encourage it. The inverts sound great.
To answer your reef safe question, questionable fish will sometimes eat corals and inverts. This includes butterflies, some tangs, and some dwarf angels.

 

[FishGeek]

I myself dont trust Angels but many other aquarists do. IMO I think you should do a smaller tang, a Clown, and one other small fish (Goby or something). I advise if you do a Tang to make sure that you aquascape in a manner that the majority of the tank is going to be usful swimming space. Good Luck!! *thumbsups

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I think you might also want to look into fairy wrasses (like instead of the butterfly), since they are reef safe and are awesome little fishes. As dbacksrat said, non-reef safe fish aren't in any danger in the reef, but they can cause damage to the reef (or the little inverts in there).

 

[zoalover34]

i was lookin at alot of the butterfly and a few of them said that you just had to monitor them around the reef.. i really like the way they look but if i spend alot of money on reef and coral i don't think i want the fish to be eating it!! i don't think that 5 - 7 fish is to many for a 55 gallon but i never did a Sw tank before.. another question i had is can you mix live sand with regular sand does it matter? kinda stupid but i was just wondering about that.. and also what kind of "cleaner" fish should i get.. or just stick with hermits and maybe a few shrimp? any help would be great once again! you guys have been REALLY helpful *celebrate since i am new to this and want to do it right..correct me if im wrong but with allready curred rock you can basciall put in straight in and it shoule be fine? how much LR should i have for my 55gal? sorry for all the questions!! im sure ill have alot more! thanks once again!

 

[FishGeek]

Well the reason that we are saying that the fish list you made is too many fish is because in SW the oxygenation is a lot different. You cant put as many SW fish in a tank as you can with FW. Im not 100% on the details of this (maybe someone who is can pipe in). Also it depends on the fish you get what inverts/cleaners who can get. For instance in my tank I cant have any inverts without a shell cause my 2 foot Eel would have them for a snack. Once you figure out what fish you think you want or if you decide that you want a certain invert then you can start deciding the best stock plan. I hope that I helped some.

 

[zoalover34]

i was reading some things aboud live sand can anyone tell me what the "pods and zoo" would be? im guessing this is a good thing? lol thanks

 

[Lorna]

Also, in saltwater the fish are much bigger and are used to swimming in an ocean. A yellow tang is is probably the only tang you should look at for a 55 as all others can grow to a foot in size even a yellow is pushing the limits as they require a lot of swimming space linear in particular. You can mix live sand and regular sand, my preference is to use an aragonite(carbonate as opposed to a silca) sand because of the buffering capacity. Pods are the small copods and such that inhabit the sand bed usually they transfer there from the live rock as most live sand you buy is only bacterially live unless you are buying it from a active tank.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

i have a 3.5-4 inches yellow tang in my 55g and he's active, super healthy and vividly yellow...but he's the boss. I added a lot of rock since i got him, and he looks more relaxed. He digs caves and holes, changes him swimming patterns. Well now he has plenty of choices and looks fine. He's not fully grown but i think it's possible to keep a yellow tang in a 55g...just don't plan to add another fish with the same shape and behavior. My tang can be territorial and killed a banggai cardinal once.

 

[Mushroomman]

Kole tangs stay small and could be (with thought) kept in a 55.

 

[wayne]

Reef safe is a distinctly loose term - only a few gobies and wrasse are 100% safe - everything else is a calculated risk. Once you get to butterflies, some tangs, some angels it's pretty much 50:50