A list of fish for my 55 gallon aquarium

[finleyz]

Hi,

Starting a new FOWLR - maybe a couple of coflakes. No fish or LR yet, just checking my initial list with you guys.

Want lots of colors, as many as possible. Tank's 55 gallons, 4 feet long, with 50 lbs of live sand and 55-75 lbs of LR. Also have a 10 gallon refugium with chaeto and LR. Here's my list:

- 2 False Percula clowns (orange) - heard they like a pair
- Flame angel (red)
- Yellow tang (yellow)
- Blue damsel (blue)
- Orchid dottyback (orchid)
- Mandarin Dragonet (green) - adding after 6 months

- Fire shrimp
- Cleaner skunk shrimp
- Some hermit crabs (blue leg, red leg, green leg)
- Some snails

How's the list? Any problems, aggression? Too many fish? Color suggestions? Need fish to turn sand? Other clean-up crew ideas? Appreciate all your input, thanks.

[Korvix]

The yellow tang will outgrow your 55G tank eventually, I'm dealing with a similar issue with my sail fin tang, got it when it was less than an inch long. As for the cleanup crew, I'd say you'll want a lot more than just "some" snails and crabs. Consider adding an emerald crab, they're entertaining to watch and love to eat bubble algae. I've got a similar fish load in my tank and it's been fine, thanks to good skimming and filtration. Still waiting to add my coflake beauty or flame angel, but that's a different story.

[finleyz]

The yellow tang will outgrow your 55G tank eventually, I'm dealing with a similar issue with my sail fin tang, got it when it was less than an inch long. As for the cleanup crew, I'd say you'll want a lot more than just "some" snails and crabs. Consider adding an emerald crab, they're entertaining to watch and love to eat bubble algae. I've got a similar fish load in my tank and it's been fine, thanks to good skimming and filtration. Still waiting to add my coflake beauty or flame angel, but that's a different story.

Thanks for your input Korvix. I really appreciate it. For the clean up crew, how many snails and crabs would you recommend I get? What types of snails and crabs would be good additions to my tank, I'd love to get some specifics on the quantities and types I should look for.

[flynix]

I agree, yellow tangs do get quite big. Blue damsels can be a bit feisty, so that's something to consider. I've been looking into wrasses, specifically the carpenter and filamented flasher wrasses - they're really colorful and stay relatively small. I'm just waiting for my local fish store to get some in stock so I can pick them up.

When it comes to hermit crabs, I'd recommend going with red-legged ones. Blue-legged hermit crabs can be a bit aggressive. For snails, it's a good idea to get a variety, and you can have a decent number of them without worrying too much about the bioload.

One thing to keep in mind is that flame angels can sometimes nip at corals, so that's something to consider. The orchid dottyback is a great fish, and I'd love to have one myself. Just make sure you get one with a black line through the eye area - that's how you can tell it's a true orchid dottyback. There's a similar fish called a magenta dottyback that doesn't have that marking, and from what I've read, they can be a bit more aggressive.

[zenko9]

I've got a 65 gallon tank, I can kinda relate to your setup. I've got a bunch of hermit crabs, almost 30 white legged ones, they're pretty similar to the red legged ones. My snail crew consists of 5 huge turbo snails, they're about the size of a quarter or even bigger. I've also got an emeflaked crab, love that little guy, thinking of getting another one. For shrimp, I've got 2 cleaner shrimp, an embera, a blood shrimp, and a peppermint shrimp.

One thing I noticed was that not many of my CUC were really digging into the sand, so I picked up a diamond back goby, it's been doing an amazing job of shifting the sand around. I also got a lurematele stairfish, it's got this crazy hairy looking legs and its body's about the size of a quarter. My tank's got 118 pounds of LR, 5 pieces of coflake, and for fish, I've got a flame angel, 4 "nemo clowns", a domino damsel, a royal gramma, and a BTA.

[floralix]

Consider adding Nassarius snails to help with your sand bed, they're great for turning it over.

[finleyz]

I've got a 65 gallon tank, I can kinda relate to your setup. I've got a bunch of hermit crabs, almost 30 white legged ones, they're pretty similar to the red legged ones. My snail crew consists of 5 huge turbo snails, they're about the size of a quarter or even bigger. I've also got an emeflaked crab, love that little guy, thinking of getting another one. For shrimp, I've got 2 cleaner shrimp, an embera, a blood shrimp, and a peppermint shrimp.

One thing I noticed was that not many of my CUC were really digging into the sand, so I picked up a diamond back goby, it's been doing an amazing job of shifting the sand around. I also got a lurematele stairfish, it's got this crazy hairy looking legs and its body's about the size of a quarter. My tank's got 118 pounds of LR, 5 pieces of coflake, and for fish, I've got a flame angel, 4 "nemo clowns", a domino damsel, a royal gramma, and a BTA.

zenko9 said

I went with 30 white legged hermits, to be honest I was thinking of mixing colors but I was told they're more peaceful. I've had no issues with aggression, they all seem to get along. The diamond goby is amazing at sifting sand, but I know what you mean about the color, not the most exciting to look at. I've heard of the yellow clown goby, they're supposed to be great sand sifters too, and they're definitely more colorful. Might be worth looking into, if you want something that's gonna get the job done and add some visual interest to your tank.

[zenko9]

I only went with white legged hermits because my LFS warned me about red legged ones, and I heard blue legged aren't as hardy. As for the goby, I'm not sure if it's the best, but it was the only sand shifter available at my LFS - I'm sure there are other options out there.