What to add next.

snesbit01

New member
I just want to get some opinions before I add anything else to my tank. It's gonna be a few months before I do anything since I recently lost one of my clown fish and I'm in process of making sure my tank is free of pests. My current rank info is I have a 55 gallon tank with an aqueon filter, hob refugium and a aqueon light with a single led strip. I have 1 clown fish, a cleaner shrimp and 5 hermit crabs. Just trying to find something to add that will add more color to my tank. I'm still new to this. This is my first tank and it's been up for just over 2 months. Any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.

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If color is the goal, then, firefish, yellow clown goby, royal gramma would all add a beautiful splash of color. Damsels are also very colorful, but they can be very aggressive so be careful when considering damsels.
 
You really really really want to approach tank stocking as a comprehensive plan, not a one at a time thing. You have lots of options for a 55, if you plan the whole list you can avoid a lot of issues.

A big issue is aggression, but there are a few other considerations. Aggression level is important when you stock a tank because you can avoid some problems by adding fish in order from least to most "mean." That gives shy fish a chance to settle in and claim their space, and when you add meaner fish later they accept the shy ones. If you go the other way, and let a mean fish claim the whole tank, it will often kill any less-tough fish you try to add after. While there is individual temperament, different fish species are fairly predictable in their aggression levels. Some clowns are fairly mellow, while certain species can be very mean.

When I had a 55 I had a pretty happy mix of fish. I based my list on where the fish like to live in the tank, so I didn't have territory issues; and a variety of sizes and locations looks better. I basically had:
2 fish that like to live down on the sand
- watchman goby, engineer goby, etc.
1 fish that liked to prowl around on the rocks
- starry blenny and lawnmower blenny are good because they also eat algae,
3 small fish, and 1 larger that swim around in the water
- small: clown fish, firefish, chromis, Midas blenny, etc. my fave is my chalk bass
- large: I love my melanurus wrasse, but there other kinds too.

I think it would be hard to get 7 fish to share the tank if you just put them in one at a time, but if you plan for it it's doable even with these wild animals.
 
thank you all for all the input. i didnt realize i had that many options for this small of a tank. i still have a while before i feel comfortable adding anything else but at least now i have an idea of what i can add to the tank. thanks again.
 
Check out liveaquaria.com if you haven't already. You can look at the different sorts of fish by tank size, and also learn their diet and personality. So like you click on the section for wrasses and then filter for 55g max size to only see the ones you'd be getting. They have great pics too.
 
I've been on their site before but I didn't know you can filter for tank size. I will try that and see what I can find. Thanks again.

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