New 55g setup. Advice for fish appreciated

[TylenolPMe]

Hey guys! New here. I would like some feedback on the fish selection I want for a 55g that was just green lighted for me. Ill be upgrading their home sometime in the future to a 115g and turn the 55g into a refugium...

I currently have the baffle kit for the 55g but no room for the 115g in my space. The 115g will have corals and inverts, so even though my 55g is going to be fish only live rock, I want reef safe fish so I can seamlessly transfer them to the new tank whenever it happens.

Also this 55g is going to be canister filtered. I dont really have room for a sump and I do not want to drill holes for it on the bottom of my 55g as it is going to be converted into a sump later on in life.

I plan on cheapo leds because no corals for now

This is a rough idea for stocking:
Green chromis x5
Firefish goby x1
Royal gramma x1
Banded pipefish x2
Lubbock fairy wrasse x1
Camel shrimp x1
Electric blue scallop x1

Is this appropriate and how many more fish can I put in this system? Any idas for fish is appreciated. Im looking for a fish that grows to a mid size that are showy from the Indo Pacific thats reef safe. Like would a 5-6 inch adult fish be appropriate for my 55g? This is my first mid size tank setup. Thanks for reading and the future help

 

[Reefing102]

In my experience, Chromis usually will kill each other off one by one (if they don’t get Uronema first). If you go with Chromis I’d strongly reccomend getting pre quarantined from either @Dr. Reef or FishHotel or anothe QT livestock vendor. In general if you can afford it, I’d reccomend getting pre QT fish all the time to help prevent diseases and what not.

Also, your banded pipefish likely won’t do well. While they are cool, they are slow eaters and usually easily outcompeted for food. It’s usually recommend they have their own dedicated tank (or they can also usually go well with seahorses).

With that said, for your larger fish, I’d look at your dwarf angels (though they can be 50/50 with corals sometimes (if being moved to the 115) like the coral beauty or flame angel. I’d stay away from tangs until your 115 is set up due to territory issues. Depending on your timeline could look at some larger angels like goldflake or regal (these can be bought captive bred too).

I hope this helps some!

 

[TylenolPMe]

Thank you so much for the response! So I should stick with one quarantined individual. Ill drop the pipefish, but I'm still leery on the angelfish for now. The 55g seems small for most mid size fish that I'm looking at. Ill get those when i upgrade for sure. The flame looks gorgeous though. Agh can't make up my mind haha.

 

[griss]

In my experience, Chromis usually will kill each other off one by one (if they don’t get Uronema first). If you go with Chromis I’d strongly reccomend getting pre quarantined from either @Dr. Reef or FishHotel or anothe QT livestock vendor. In general if you can afford it, I’d reccomend getting pre QT fish all the time to help prevent diseases and what not.

Also, your banded pipefish likely won’t do well. While they are cool, they are slow eaters and usually easily outcompeted for food. It’s usually recommend they have their own dedicated tank (or they can also usually go well with seahorses).

With that said, for your larger fish, I’d look at your dwarf angels (though they can be 50/50 with corals sometimes (if being moved to the 115) like the coral beauty or flame angel. I’d stay away from tangs until your 115 is set up due to territory issues. Depending on your timeline could look at some larger angels like goldflake or regal (these can be bought captive bred too).

I hope this helps some!

^This

 

[griss]

Thank you so much for the response! So I should stick with one quarantined individual. Ill drop the pipefish, but I'm still leery on the angelfish for now. The 55g seems small for most mid size fish that I'm looking at. Ill get those when i upgrade for sure. The flame looks gorgeous though. Agh can't make up my mind haha.

You'd be fine with a Flame Angel. They're awesome fish.

 

[wvned]

There is not a significant difference in the kind of fish you can keep in a 115 gallon tank compared to a 55 gallon one.
If you want 5 chromis get 3 different types.
Dwarf angels are wonderful fish, I have 5.
If you want the pipefish set the tank up for them and add some interesting gobies. Chromis eat like little sharks and are fast.

 

[Uncle99]

Hey guys! New here. I would like some feedback on the fish selection I want for a 55g that was just green lighted for me. Ill be upgrading their home sometime in the future to a 115g and turn the 55g into a refugium...

I currently have the baffle kit for the 55g but no room for the 115g in my space. The 115g will have corals and inverts, so even though my 55g is going to be fish only live rock, I want reef safe fish so I can seamlessly transfer them to the new tank whenever it happens.

Also this 55g is going to be canister filtered. I dont really have room for a sump and I do not want to drill holes for it on the bottom of my 55g as it is going to be converted into a sump later on in life.

I plan on cheapo leds because no corals for now

This is a rough idea for stocking:
Green chromis x5
Firefish goby x1
Royal gramma x1
Banded pipefish x2
Lubbock fairy wrasse x1
Camel shrimp x1
Electric blue scallop x1

Is this appropriate and how many more fish can I put in this system? Any idas for fish is appreciated. Im looking for a fish that grows to a mid size that are showy from the Indo Pacific thats reef safe. Like would a 5-6 inch adult fish be appropriate for my 55g? This is my first mid size tank setup. Thanks for reading and the future help

I like the list but don’t know pipefish. Scallops don’t last long so beware. It’s hard to keep them fed. If you lose the camel shrimp, then a Hawkfish should work.
I’d add a clown pair and a yellow tang to that list. You could switch out the yellow for a Bristletooth, same great cleaner.
Best good looking rock cleaner ever made.
Maybe a Copperband. Best Aptasia defence ever.

I’ve done that in a 55.
At 5 years, the yellow is 4”.
At 2 years, the Copperband is about the same.

Enjoy, and good luck.