first fish for my new tank

[garnto]

well i have yet to even get the salinity spot on yet. i would like to go ahead and read about the first fish i would be getting though

55 gal

i was thinking about getting a pair of clown fish. would they do well as the first fish in?

 

[sassafrass]

I suggest you get the pocket guide to marine fish and first decide what fish you want because until you know that you won't know what order to add them in. As an example if your clowns become a mated pair they can become territorial making it difficult to add any fish less aggressive at that point
Lee

 

[raggie]

try using hardy firsh for first times cromis, damsels these fish are a lot cheeper then clowns, and a good way to get use to the saltwater world

 

[garnto]

i was under the impression that clown fish were hardy? i myself havent researched, but i have been told by a few people that they were

 

[nikon187]

i would research sw for a few months while cycling your tank for fish. I think clowns are pretty hardy fish with all things considered but they can become very aggressive during mating and could claim most of the tank as theirs. Is there any particular clown that catches your eye?

 

[garnto]

not really a certain type as of yet. i just like them in general.

if i were to just get one would that cut down on it being agressive/terri?


the only specific things i want to eventually have are YWG with a shrimp and a blue mandarin dragonet

 

[nikon187]

a mandarine may not be possible in a 55 ( though i think you will be allright if you wait long enough, ie: 6-10months) . how much rock do you have? Yes one clown would be less aggressive ( unless fire clown or marroon clown)

 

[sw1tched]

clownfish are hardy... but more expensive than a chromis or damsel, so people normally go with the cheapest thing to start in case something goes wrong. for around $5.00 you can get a "trial fish" & when you feel comfortable, you can always give it back to the fish store.
-Joe

 

[garnto]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13324323#post13324323 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nikon187
a mandarine may not be possible in a 55 ( though i think you will be allright if you wait long enough, ie: 6-10months) . how much rock do you have? Yes one clown would be less aggressive ( unless fire clown or marroon clown)

i have 35pounds of base rock and will be getting 10 pounds of live rock to seed it.

i think i might get 15 or 20 pounds of the live. if i dont i will be getting either more base or more live later on


i just went through and looked at the diff types and the gold stripe marroon would be the one i fancied the most

 

[nikon187]

marroon clowns are probably the meanest of all clownfish ( biggest too) We have one at work with a huge anemone that will jump out of tank to bite you!

On to the mandarin, difficult fish to keep because of the eating habits. They eat live copepods that come from the live rock, if there isn't enough to sustain the mandarin long term they die of starvation. Shouldn't be added for 6-10 months for a good pod population to develop and even then a refugeium is reccomended to keep the population up. most say a minimum of 75lbs of live rock is needed to keep one healthy and happy. Some can be trained to eat prepared foods but they still need the pods to be healthy.

 

[SoCalSURFrider]

throw some false percs in there... U wont have any problems at all... U could prolly even cycle ur tank with a perc

 

[danielc316]

i started with acouple of cromies, they are very hardy. clowns are good but a little bit more $ than the cromies. either one should be good for you.

 

[sw1tched]

I started with a couple damsels... colorful, active, and inexpensive. most of them have been pulled out of the tank becuase they were nipping at fins & corals.