Take a look at my stocking plan

[QuoVadis]

So I just found out someone will be giving me a standard 55g free, so I will be turning my current 20g into a sump for the new tank. So anyway thought I'd run my new stocking list past you and see if you see any potential problems.

1(2?) Ocelleris clownfish (already own one - considering adding another small one to make a pair)
1 Tailspot blenny (already own)
1 Scooter blenny/dragonette (already own)
1 Yellow clown goby
1 Neon goby
1 Orchid dottyback
1 Coral Beauty angelfish
1 Starcki damsel (or yellow tail or a azure)
1 Copperbanded butterflyfish
1-3 Green chromis - I thought I would get 3, because I like their activity and i think they make a tank look very reef-y. But I have heard that they sometimes kill each other off, so I thought I could buy three, and if they pair up and kill the other, or only one lasts, so be it - if all three live that's great too.

I tried to select different types of fish to minimize aggression, and obviously I will be adding the more aggressive fish last (damsel, dottyback, angelfish). I'm kind of weird about colors, I like every fish to tie in with another fishes colors, so my color theme is yellows-oranges and blues-purples.

 

[sponger0]

Very high bioload for a 55. Thats what I see.

 

[QuoVadis]

Well I guess I come from the nano-school of saltwater who typically stock tanks a little heavier. In smaller tanks 1 small fish per 5g is fairly reasonable, which is the same as what this comes out to, not counting the 20g refugium into the figure. Of the 11 fish, 4 stay right around 2in (or less), 4 around 3in, and 2 around 4in. Even though it is a higher number of fish, most of them produce a fairly low bio-load.

 

[sponger0]

I have a 40 breeder that is fully stocked at 6 fish. 13 fish is way too many for a 55 gallon.

Your looking at max maybe 8 with proper filtration.

 

[CHSUB]

dottyback are killers, and in a 55 might be a problem? cbb i would skip, to hard to feed and with a tank that small no3 and po might become a problem with providing enough food...otherwise ime ok!!

 

[sponger0]

And also butterflys are for more advanced aquarist.

 

[EllieSuz]

I have five fish (none of them real large) in my 60 and I worry about being overstocked. Your list is too ambitious for that size tank.

 

[QuoVadis]

I wasn't going to get more than 11 fish, with the flex being in the chromis and clowns (I loved the pair I had awhile ago - jumped out while I was on vacation and the cats knocked the lid off- so that makes me want a second,) but even the ocelleris can get aggressive if they are breeding, so I'm probably just staying with one clown. And I may just get one chromis since I think that would be enough to give me the color and activity I want, without the killing. Also all these fish will be added very slowly after being in quarantine for a month to make sure they are healthy and eating, so if it seems to be getting too full I will stop adding.

I know the CBB are very difficult, but I have heard once they are healthy and eating they are decently hardy. I will only get one if I can find one that is already feeding at lfs, and that is very healthy. I have a lot of experience with freshwater fish, including some difficult ones, and I have done a lot of research on wetwebmedia, forums, etc. on CBB, so I think I know what I'm getting into. The CCB is a long way down the road at this point anyway. Re the orchid dottyback, I never even considered dottybacks due to what I know about them, but through a lot of research I found that as a rule orchids (not to be confused with purple dottybacks) are fairly non-aggressive, except with other dottybacks and basslets.

 

[CHSUB]

i have only had purple dottybacks, so you have me there. the cbb, be careful, when i bought mine 12 years ago, i to asked the lfs to feed it and he did.....live brine! i could never get the fish to eat anything else, he lasted about 6 months!

 

[waltj11]

I would recommend 2 clownfish bcs a pair is much better for the overall tank.
If u really want a goby, go with just one.
The coral beauty and the dottyback should be fine.
Also, chromis are basically damselfish and so are the clownfish. I own 4 chromis and I attempted to own 9, and 5 eventually got killed off by an aggressive blue damsel. I would try to keep this tank more peaceful and leave out the damsel and go with the 2 or 3 chromis.
The butterflyfish is a risk.
Personally, i would recommend a small tang. i.e. sailfin or tomini.
Good luck tho. My tank is a 75 gallon-- it is better to have an understocked tank than an overstocked tank. The reward in having a healthy ecosystem is much greater than having 11+ fish in a 55g. Also the more fish the more waste. just something to think about.

 

[SushiGirl]

I have three 4 to 5" peaceful fish in my 55. Twice we have had 1 extra for a total of 4 (also peaceful) & it wasn't so peaceful...1 got bullied to death & the other stressed itself to death.

11 is way too many for a 55, especially your choices.

 

[gofor100]

I personally would leave out the damsel, butterfly and chromis for the following reasons:

> As some have already said, this seems like a little too much for the size of tank you have
> The butterfly is a sensitive fish as it is, so putting it in an overcrowded tank where parameters are more likely to be sub-par is not a great idea
> The chromis will likely narrow the group down to 1 in the end (especially in that size tank)

So now your list would look something like this:

> 2 Ocelleris clownfish
> 1 Tailspot blenny
> 1 Scooter blenny/dragonette
> 1 Yellow clown goby
> 1 Neon goby
> 1 Orchid dottyback
> 1 Coral Beauty angelfish

As long as you have a good skimmer and stay up on your WC's, since most of these fish occupy different areas of the water column, this should work out. You might want to consider removing one more of the gobies since you have a several fish that already stick close to the rockwork, but it probably isn't necessary.

Good luck,

Chad

 

[QuoVadis]

CHSUB: Yes, I am only going to get a CCB if it is eating frozen food. I saw one not long ago at a lfs that was, but right now I have no where to put one.

waltj11: I may get the second clown in place of the damsel. I like the starcki, yt and azure for their beautiful colors, but I have also heard they are usually more laid back (along with the talbots). But they are still damsels... I really think the two little gobies will be fine in a 55 - they aren't that aggressive - just territorial. In a 55 they have room to spread out. I also am leaning toward just getting one chromis, since it seems like they don't mind being long fish (unlike fw tetras, etc.) Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of most tangs, although I do love the looks of the sailfin tang. However, they get way to big and are too active for that size of tank I think. At least that's what I've always heard.

SushiGirl: The fish I chose specifically because most of them fit in different niches, which usually means they will get along much better. Chromis - open water swimmers, Clown and butterfly - swim all over (unless the clown is hosting something), Coral Beauty and damsel - swim among the rockwork, gobies and tailspot blenny - rest on rockwork/protects their little hole, scooter blenny hops everywhere along the rockwork and bottom.

I think as far as overstocked/understocked sometimes people get too hung up over numbers. Maybe it is because most of us have gone through that time as a newbie where we fill tank with tons of fish and never do water changes, then get discouraged when they all die. So then we do some research and realize all the things we did wrong. But I think then sometimes people swing too far the other way and assume that you can never go back to at all higher stocking level. But if you know what you're doing, and you keep up on water changes you can (I think water changes are the key - if you don't think you will be able to/will do weekly water changes you should stock much lower).
I will be doing about 20% water changes a week.

 

[sponger0]

And here I goooooooooooooo...... lol

CBB go ahead a do it..but they have very low success rate in home aquaria for a reason

Scooter Blenny or Occelated dragonette...you need to have the proper natural food for them or they wont last even 6 months. And the copperband may cause some compeition for a scooter. Scooter are more easily trained on prepared foods but still no guarantee they will take it.

Sailfin tangs need a tank of 180 or bigger. They also can be very aggressive.

Now as far as understocked and overstocked. There is alot more too it than water changes. You need to look at their full size. Some may prefer these areas or those areas but that doesnt mean they wont meet. When they meet is the problem. Bioloads are more than just water changes. Your initial list was waaaaaaaay too much. They are going to cross paths and need a certain amount of space. But looks like you have it figured out...let us know how it works out. And inbetween water changes food and waste is still in the tank.

If you poop too much in a toilet without flushing it....its not somewhere you wanna live.

 

[Ambition]

1(2?) Ocelleris clownfish (already own one - considering adding another small one to make a pair) A pair would easily take control of a 20 gallon portion of your tank when they start spawning.
1 Tailspot blenny (already own) fine
1 Scooter blenny/dragonette (already own) Need to make sure you have a large pod population in the tank.
1 Yellow clown goby Fine
1 Neon goby Fine
1 Orchid dottyback can be aggressive
1 Coral Beauty angelfish Hit or miss on reef safe.
1 Starcki damsel (or yellow tail or a azure) Go with Azure
1 Copperbanded butterflyfish Skip, IMO they need a larger tank and are extremely hard to keep successfully.
1-3 Green chromis Skip

IMO you should only have 6-7 small fish (up to 4"). My 180 gallon tank will be stocked with 17-18 small fish (non getting over 4") and that is a pretty heavy load for a 180. With reef tanks, there is no rule for inches per gallon. There are many factors that affect a fish's bioload. Size is only part of the equation.

I have a juvie pair of ocellaris (not quite to the size of what you see them in stores yet), and they have claimed an area and will nip the tails of two pylei fairy wrasses (almost twice the clown's size and can have an attitude). If they were mature and spawning it would be an even larger area than it already is.

 

[SushiGirl]

You're definitely going about it the right way as far as picking for different niches. My biggest worry would also be the 2 eventually spawning clowns...they definitely will take control over a big chunk of your tank. Also the 2 perching gobies may desire more range than you're planning for. My boyfriend picked our fish while I was coral shopping, so we ended up with a sleeper goby & a shrimp goby. For several months they kept to their own halves of the tank, but the sleeper ended up taking over the whole tank, which left the shrimp goby hiding in a small spot in the rocks. Now that the sleeper is gone, the shrimp goby only uses half the tank, but it's the middle half. So, you don't really know how much room each fish will want until they get there.

Fish are secondary to us, but we have found that we just can't seem to have more than 3 fish for it to be peaceful. Every time we add a 4th, we lose one.

A very good skimmer will be more important than water changes, and you're definitely going to fight nitrates, so SPS will not be very successful.

 

[QuoVadis]

Yes, my concern with getting a second clown was that eventually they would be more territorial than I want. I've heard a lot more bad things about the bigger species of clown pairs, but I know Ocelleris can still get pretty aggressive when they are breeding. Like I said, I'm not even considering a tang - I don't like any except the sailfin, and they get huge. The way tangs swim kind of stress me out! I already have the scooter blenny/dragonette in my current tank and she eats frozen food like it's candy. She ate frozen the very first day I had her. Both the gobies I selected are very small (usually around 1in) pretty peaceful even with their own kind. I am aware the Coral Beauty may nip and that ok, I will select my coral around her taste.

While this is going to be a reef tank, for me the main attraction is the fish; the corals make the tank beautiful and are cool, but if I don't have fish I like I could care less about them. I only have softies, and a few LPS anyway. I'm not even interested in keeping delicate corals because to me the payback is not worth the cost and the work, when some of my fav looking corals are easy to keep and cheaper.

So I think my revised stocking list will look like this:
1 Ocelleris clownfish (already own)
1 Tailspot blenny (already own)
1 Scooter blenny/dragonette (already own)
1 Yellow clown goby
1 Neon goby
1 Orchid dottyback
1 Coral Beauty angelfish
1 Copperbanded butterflyfish
1 Green chromis

I still want 1 chromis because I want that open water swimmer, but I'll just stick to one. I cut out the damsel and will not get a second clown. I still am going to try the CCB because I love them (also my husband - who can't tell a damsel from a tang and really doesn't care that he can't - likes the CCB). I know they typically don't do well, but if I find a nice, healthy, eating one, I'm still going to go for it.

Also, my skimmer is an Aqua C Remora rated for a 75g.

 

[Fish_King_25]

+1 on skipping the CCB. They are very difficult to keep, and with that bioload, they will not have nearly enough room to be comfortable in a 55g IMO.

Best of luck with your tank!

 

[EllieSuz]

So, despite numerous responses to the contrary, you plan to put nine fish in a 55 gallon tank? That's only about four or five too many. Good luck.

 

[Ambition]

The coral beauty and orchid dottyback will be pretty open water swimmers in a 55. The tank is only 12" front to back, so that means very little room to be anywhere but open water. Also, that only leaves 4" for the CBB to turn around in the tank. Not nearly enough room.