Help me pick my next fish

[rayvette]

I have a 55 gal that has been set up for about 4 months. It contains:

several hermits and snails
3 peppermint shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp
1 chromis (I had 3 but this one harassed the other 2 to death)
1 firefish
2 tank raised clowns
1 yellow watchman
1 condy anemone
1 flower anemone
40 lbs of sand
40 lbs of aquacultured live rock with all kinds of stuff growing on it

I like the way the tank looks but its a little sparse in the fish department. So I am looking for a larger fish than the ones I have now that is both colorful and reef safe. Any recommendations?

[an411]

I am a fan of Tangs and flame angels. Not sure if a 55 gallon is big enough for those types

[reefergeorge]

A tang would not be a good choice.
You could get a dwarf angel. Like a flame or coral beauty, but they could be coral nippers.

[Amoore311]

Puttin in my vote for a Midas Blenny



This one of my personal favorite fish. Tons of personality!!

[fish4lyfe]

if your experienced and have alot of live copepods and a fuge, you could put a mandarin in there. they are very beautiful fish.

[i have crabs]

A few barnacle blennys.

[fishyz]

a fairy or flasher wrasse. Beautiful color, and they are always out and about.

[rayvette]

Is a 55 too small for a yellow tang? LFS says it's borderline.

[bmk]

Hi
55g is way too small for any tang, min size is 100g+

Barry

[Dave Cox]

55g for four months.... Hmmm...

In my opinion the size rules out a Tang, and the maturity (or lack of it) rules out a Mandarin...

The fact that it's a reef system rules out most of the pygmy angels unless you're prepared to take a risk on a Flame Angel - beautiful fish, but could be a nipper...

Pick one of the smaller wrasses, perhaps... ?

[DrBegalke]

Chrysiptera talboti or Pomacentrus alleni.

Both are very hard, good for a beginner, appropriate for a 55g with the fish you already have, and not very expensive.


http://www.wetwebmedia.com/c_talboti.htm

[joesfiddy]

my coral beauty doesnt touch any of my corals

[Reefmore]

I just got Wheelers Shrimp Goby with a Tiger Pistol Shrimp...Just way too cool to watch them...

Just a fish????? My favorite was a Bi Blenny...TONS of personality!

[stingythingy45]

I have a 55 and I'm thinking about a coral beauty.
Does anybody here know if a Potter's Angel would work in a 55?
Also rayvette,you only have 40 lbs. of sand?

[reefergeorge]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11738200#post11738200 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by joesfiddy
my coral beauty doesnt touch any of my corals
Mine doesn't either, but my tang has to go after anything new in the tank. Including corals.

[rayvette]

Stingythingy45, yes only 40 of sand and 40 of live rock.....at some point I may add another 20 lbs or so of rock.

Reefmore, I was looking for a fish that would spend a little more time in the middle of the water column.

The clowns are up top for the most part, the firefish refuses to explore the middle and left side of the aquarium and the YWG is inside a rock for the most part. The only thing I really have doing any swimming is my 1 chromis....and he has the attitude of a piranha! Leave it to me to get an oddball fish!

[stingythingy45]

The reason I ask is because that must only cover the bottom with on maybe 2 inches of sand.Do you have a remote sand bed?
DSB is good for nitrate eating bacteria.I have at least 100 lbs in my 55 gallon.

Also,my green chromis killed the other 2 chromis with it.
But it's not aggressive at all,just hangs out in the PH stream all day.I swear I could set a clock by him though.It swims down to a place in the rock at 10:15 sharp to go to bed.lol

[rayvette]

No remote sandbed.

Yeah, my chromis occasionally takes a nip at the clowns during feeding time as they wait for me to open the lid. But totally ignores the firefish.

So I wanted something a little bigger than 2 inches to keep my Mike Tyson chromis in check!

[Tswifty]

i like the flame angels... and an angel will def keep your chromis in line

[kaledrina]

A dwarf angel or a pair of fairy wrasses. They all move around and add color. :)

[Norward]

For those of you considering adding a pygmy/dwarf angelfish to your tank, I highly recommend this article as a decision-making resource: www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/jf/index.php If the link doesn't work, copy and paste it into your browser.

[Mavrk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11741370#post11741370 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Norward
For those of you considering adding a pygmy/dwarf angelfish to your tank, I highly recommend this article as a decision-making resource: www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/jf/index.php If the link doesn't work, copy and paste it into your browser.

That is a great read. Thanks for the link.

I just got a fairy wrasse (red velvet a.k.a. rosy-scales fairy), and love it.

I had a flame angel in my old 55. The tank was FOWLR so I cannot attest to reef safety. However, I had a couple of rocks full of small feather duster worms. The angel ate them all. Still, it was a beautiful fish and was very hardy.