some good reef safe fish & inverts?

[Joshua H.]

What are some good reef safe fish for a 55 gal. currently 2 clowns hermits pepermint shrimp and chocolate chip star. Are dragonets good. How about other crabs (not hermits)

thanks
-Josh

[Bret61081]

in my 55g reef I have a flasher wrasse, royal gamma, midas blennie amung other things. if you are looking for fish that are always out and about those are a few Id look into...

[PoukieBear]

Do you already have corals?

I thought chocolate chip starfish ate corals??

[PoukieBear]

I just looked it up. They do eat corals, so they aren't reef safe.



Link (http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/e_chipstar.php)

[SDguy]

Generally speaking, most "knobby" type sea stars are not reef safe.

[Joshua H.]

No corals. Do they eat anenomes? I will get some of them. I might have get rid of him:( .

[PoukieBear]

No, they don't eat anemones.

[Joshua H.]

what about a hipo tang, copper banded butterfly or heniohcus butterfly? I know the hippo and hiniochus will outgrow the tank. But how fast? If I get them when they are babbies, I can take them back to the fish store when they get too big and make 2x my money. Do you think the butterfly's are good beginner fish? the tank is about 8 months old. do they eat inverts other than corrals? Thanks

-Josh

[Blinkgyrl2987]

I have no idea about the butterflys, but I just got a hippo tang and it is giving me the worst time.... they are fragile ...and I just feel like they stress out and get sick soooo easy its not even funny. technically since this fish needs a bigger tank I wouldnt do it... Your gonna especially wish you hadnt done it when he gets all sick and you have to take him out and treat him in a separate tank ( which is what I'm having to do for mine right now) If I could go back I never would have gotten this fish... and I just dont want to have to tell you I told you so.

You have a nice size tank... 55 gallon is a nice tank but instead of looking at butterflys and tangs that get big ... look at smaller fish ... they dont seem as interesting at first but you can keep more of them and they really do have alot of personality. I love my Bi-color blenny he's small but soo cool and he's out all the time... and darts in his little hole when I get real close to the tank... I must say if you have to have a tang... a small yellow one would be your best bet... mine should really have a bigger tank ... but for being in a 46 gallon he seems so happy and fat.

And hospital tanks are important! I'm learning this the hard way. You wouldnt know until a fish you buy gets sick and then you are destroying your rockwork to get him out. Its such a pain... cuz you cant put medications into a reef tank!... Just my 2 cents... HTH Megan~

[Monkeyfish]

Actually a CC star will eat an anemone. They'll eat just about anything, especially if food is in short supply. Also, they need sponge in their diet or they will die of malnutrition.

Do not plan on selling your fish back to the LFS. Most will not give you anything for it though some may give you a few $ in credit.

I agree with the above post... look at having smaller fish like some of the wrasses, dwarf angels, blennies, some hawkfish and clowns. Most butterflies are not good fish for beginners. A Heniochus will outgrow that tank, but would be okay in the short term.

Don't buy any fish from the LFS unless you can see him eat prepared/frozen foods in the store. Otherwise you may have quite an arduous time in getting them to accept these meals.

[Joshua H.]

Thanks. I never should have gotten into this hobby. It's too expensive to keep nice fish. It's a grand just for a tank big enough to make them happy. Then you have rock, sand, filtration and of course the fish to empty your wallet. Anyway, thanks.

-Josh

[Monkeyfish]

Don't get frustrated. There are a lot of nice fish that will fit into a 55. The problem that I have (and most other hobbyists) is that you usually can't keep all of the fish you like in one tank regardless of how big it is. That's why a lot of us have more than 1 tank ;).

If you're looking for something colorful, but different try a dwarf lion, angler, shamefaced crab, leaf fish (scorpion), dragon sea moth... the list goes on. Get yourself some books so you can see the large variety of fish that are available in the hobby. Good luck and keep asking questions. I researched for 6 months before I even put water in the tank.

[fishfanv]

as for crabs, try a porcelain anemone crab. i have some in my tanks & they're cool crabs. they're filter feeders i believe and are peaceful.