Tropical Fish Forums

[OrandaLover0905]

Hi For my christmas this year I am geting a 55 gal tank Saltwater .... The probollem is I don't know anything about it ... like what fish can live wth other fish .. I want Big and medium sized fish .. thats where you guys come in.. I need a little help on beginning my first Saltwater tank

thanks
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[sirreal63]

A 55 gallon is too small for big fish. Marine species can get very large. You need to get a few books and study the fish and the requirements for keeping them, what you ask from us is much more in depth than simply what fish we think you should keep in a 55 gallon. A 55 gallon is a horrible tank for saltwater, it is too narrow to allow much swimming room for anything but small fish.
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Out on the road today...I saw a DeadHead sticker on a Cadillac...
Jack
110 Gallon DSA Pentagon

[number6]

Orandalover, there are a couple of messages to you here: http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=35788

What size of fish would you consider medium sized? 3 inches? 6 inches?

The general guidelines for salt water are less fish per tank than in a fresh water setup.
I have seen many 55g SW tanks with just a pair of clowns and a wrasse in there and the tank didn't feel at all empty...
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"Just don't look in my fish room honey... it's just better for all of us. "

[Pete Harcoff]

As others have said, the "big" marine fish (I.e. angels, triggers, puffers, tangs) are too big for a 55 gallon.

You'd have to stick with smaller fish like gobies, chromises, clowns, etc, and even then you should only stock about 4-5 fish max.

[SLACkra]

some larger marine fish (they are large compared to most fw fish) that would do well in a 55g would be, a dwarf angel(fire, coral beauty, pearlscale ect), larger clown species, maroon clown or tommato clown, blue/gold cheeked gobies are always a good adition, largish fish and they do a good service by cleanign the substrate of ditrus ect and mixing thigns up.

I would also throw in something like a lawnmower blenny. imo add fish that are useful like the gobies/blennies that clean up the substrate or eat algae first. better to have a good maintenance crew than a bunch of lazy fish that just sit there looking pretty!(though dwarf angels do graze on algae and look cool)

also what do you want to keep? do you want invertbrates, live rock, corals ect? or a mix of fish inverts and live rock or just fish and live rock? various different choices change which creatures you can have. no invertabrates and maybe you can have a small pufferfish species, but add inverts and those nice shrimp or crabs will become lunch to a puffer.

imo do heaps of reading, look at heaps of different tanks and decide what you want then do heaps more reading and come up with tank design incorporating filtration(what type how much ect) nutrient export(how? protien skimmer, remote dsb, refugium?). are you planning on having an overflow and a sump?

andrew