Dwarf Angel or Small Butterfly in 55 Gallon Reef Tank

[crestedgecko]

Hello. I have a 55 gallon reef tank and was hoping to get an angel or butterfly as my centerpiece fish. I was thinking of either getting a cherub angel, flame angel, coral beauty angel, longnose Atlantic butterfly, or klien's butterfly.

Other inhabitants of the tank are:
a Clarkii Clownfish (I'm thinking of removing her)
a sixline wrasse
a green reef chromis
an indigo dottyback
xenia
acanthestrea
favia
green star polyp
Montipora
zoanthids
clean up crew

Which of the fish do you think would be best for my tank in terms of size requirements and other care factors. I am aware that none of them are reef safe and are hit or miss. Which would you recommend that would be comfortable in a 55 gallon for its full life and tends to be less coral nippy.

 

[brett559]

Coral beauty or flame angel would fine. Your tank needs some red. Get one. My LFS owner has been servicing tanks for 30 years - he puts a flame in every reef tank he sets up. He says it a much better than 50/50 proposition with both CBs and flames.

 

[crestedgecko]

Thanks for the reply and suggestion! I really love the looks of coral beauties and flame angels and I think one of them would add a nice splash of color to my tank. Since they appear to be on the safer side, I think I might just add one.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I've got a 2" Cherub Angel I want to get rid of.

 

[crestedgecko]

While I am 90% sure that I am going to go with either the coral beauty or flame angel, out of curiosity is a 55 gallon suitable for a klien's? I'm not fully sure if a 55 gallon is large enough for one, but the people I asked at a couple of lfs seemed to think it was fine. I have also read on the internet that a 55 gallon was appropriate but I'm not sure I'm convinced, so I was wondering what opinions on here are. I asked about the Atlantic longnose because I had seen it suggested on some fish forums as suitable for smaller tanks like a 55 gallon, but as I have never seen them in stores and can't find much information on them I doubt I will get one anyway. My tank has 90lbs of live rock if that info helps. The rock is placed in the middle of the tank so it does not touch the glass which means there is swimming space in the front, back, and sides of my tank. Thanks for replies in advance.

 

[suta4242]

If you can find a juvenile kleins in good nick then that would probably be a better choice over the long nose simply because its a consistent competitive eater. Thats the good news.

The bad news is it will almost certainly chomp at a number of corals in a mixed reef ( but at least you won't have any aiptasia!).:facepalm:

The butterfly's are also more likely to carry a wider range of parasites compared to the Angels...do you like quarantine....?

Hope that helps. :wave:

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Dwarf angel. I had a flame back in a 60 and the fish loved the room it had to swim.

 

[mitchrapp]

Liveaquaria lists the min tank size for a Klein's butterfly to be 120 gallons, so no, a 55 gallon is not big enough. In fact, liveaquaria does not list any butterflies suitable for a 55 gallon.

 

[crestedgecko]

Thanks for the replies. I guess since they require a much larger tank then mine and are more likely to carry parasites and eat coral that definitely rules them out. I'll just stick to getting a dwarf angel.