Fish homework to prevent overloading or bad matches...

[royaleFork]

Hi,

I am in the process of getting a 55 gallon tank set up and was doing some research on what kind of fish I would want. What I came up with a list that might be too much, but I think they are all compatible at least. I would like a second opinion and some suggestions to make sure I do not make a mistake when I slowly start to buy fish.

What I want in my tank is a mostly fish tank with a few corals.

Here is the list:
1 Kaudern's Cardinal
3 Similar Damselfish
1 Green Mandarin
1 Bicolor Dottyback
1 Striped Blenny
5 Blue reef Chromis
3 Ocellaris clown fish
1 Cave transparent goby
1 Firefish

I think the total length of these is 61" which is a little over the 1" per gallon rule I have read about.


Thanks!

 

[HiddenUser]

Personally I wouldn't do Damsels as they get to be aggressive and are tough to catch once you decide to get rid of them...Royal Gramma is like a Bicolor Dottyback, but the more peaceful version of it. You'll want to wait to add the Mandarin unless you can find one eating frozen foods.

I think clownfish do better in pairs, but I don't have any real world experience with having more than a pair of them in a tank.

 

[royaleFork]

The reason I chose those Damsels is that they are colorful and very active. Is there a less aggressive fish that could take their place? And I was going to make the Mandarin one of the last fish I bought.

Thanks!

 

[Kworker]

1" per gallon is not a good way to stock, each species has varying requirements that need consideration.

I would do
2 clowns,
5 chromis
1 firefish (helfrichi, red or purple)

or

2 clowns
2-3 Clown gobies
1 firefish


You can replace chromis with a couple other fish, Long nose Hawk (if you wont have shrimp) Or royal gramma are cool.
Also, dottybacks will be mean to everything and supposedly destroy shrimp.

 

[Kworker]

The reason I chose those Damsels is that they are colorful and very active. Is there a less aggressive fish that could take their place? And I was going to make the Mandarin one of the last fish I bought.

Thanks!

Plan your stock list on the light side, after time in the hobby you will be able to decide for yourself about the Mandarin.

 

[HiddenUser]

Lots of colorful fish for smaller tanks here.

I agree that the 1" per gallon is not a good way to stock your tank. You'll want to add fish slowly and observe how they interact with each other...if they start running out of hiding spaces they'll start acting aggressive toward one another.

 

[royaleFork]

I think I will start with 1 Cardinal and 5 Chromis and see where I can go from there.

Thanks!

 

[Jimbo662]

Look at the different wrasses. lots of color and quite a few are not aggressive and are reef safe. I just put a pair of carpenter wrasses in mine. The male is gorgeous...he's constantly flashing in front of the female.

 

[Pete polyp]

The 1" per gallon rule applies to freshwater. Old inch rule was 1" per 10 gallons with a reef, 1" per 5 gallons for fish only. Now this was long ago and many advancements have been made since then.

 

[fishroomlady]

a word of caution - if you go with chromis, they may dwindle in number over time. I had three and then it was 1. I think you may want to explore some more color in your choices. Wrasses are very cool and come in beautiful colors and are very active. I love clownfish - a pair might be really nice.

 

[gunit]

I am thinking of setting up a 55g too (with a 15g sump) and here was my plan for stocking.

Initially after it is cycled:

Pair of Oc. clownfish
1 Bangaii Cardinalfish
1 (maybe 2) Flasher wrasses

After the tank has been running for awhile (> 6 months) I hope to have enough pods to support a Mandarin I'd like to add one. Some Chromis would be cool but I'd be worried that keeping 3 would be too much. Also I was thinking maybe a Flame Angel...