50 Gallon stocking help...how many fish?

[Ninong]

thanks guys.
McCosker's is my favorite fish, but it's hard to find female for them.
and I don't know how to tell the difference between male and female either.
Can I put one male McCosker's and one male Carpenter's?
Or one male McCosker's and one male long fin fairy wrasse?

Just call LiveAquaria and tell them you want three females (or 1 male and 2 females) of whichever flasher wrasse species you're most interested in. They will put you down on their waiting list. Or, if you're lucky enough to have an LFS that carries these, just tell them what you want and ask them to let you know when they can get them for you.

It's very easy to tell males from females in any of the flasher or fairy wrasse species. Coloration of the males is much more spectacular and all of the fins on the males are much more extended and spectacular. I don't think it would be a good idea to put more than one male wrasse of the same genus in a 50-gallon tank.

About the flame angel, I know it's not 100% reef safe, But I do love the color of them.
I only keep LPS and Sofies, no SPS. Seem there is no 100% reef safe angel out there.

I have kept both flame angels and coral beauty angels in a 120-gallon reef aquarium with SPS and tridacna clams without any problems whatsoever. It's hard to predict their behavior, so your mileage may vary. However, they are usually reported to bother LPS corals and clam mantles. I had mostly SPS, plus a few LPS and several clams without problems but I didn't have any open brains or any of the other corals that they are known to bother.

 

[Potsy]

I have a 50 gallon reef with an azure damsel, bangaii cardinal, female lyretail anthias, and black ocellaris clownfish. None of the four fish is bigger than 3" and the tank looks active enough to me.

I'd go with the flasher wrasses and maybe two or three small colorful, peaceful fish - gobies, clowns, cardinals.

Make sure you cover that tank if you put flashers in there.