Tropical Fish Forums

[Banker Boy]

Hello A of A. Haven't been out here in quite awhile.
Family member just gave me a 55gal salt water set up unexpectedly so I have not thought about stocking at all. Set up has plane old single strip lights, a what seems to be PreSkim 55 or PreSkim 75, power heads, and substrate. I have a 29gal with seeded substrate and live rock I can move to the 55gal. Leaving out clowns (would like something other than what everybody else does), I'd like to hear other stocking suggestions. From cleaning crew on up. I have ideas but I think seeing others suggestions is always good. Thanks. Look forward to seeing the ideas.

[smbrach]

Hello,
I see that no one has posted on your thread, so I"ll give it a try.

Are you planning on a fish only 55 gallon? If not, I think that you will need to upgrade that lighting. There are many options. Personally I have power compacts, but if I could, I would upgrade myself to a new T-5 fixture. The light output is more intense. Also, I'm not sure, but I think if you want to keep live rock, you need stronger lighting as well.

I'm not sure what skimmer you are talking about. I did an internet search and it didn't bring up anything. I think that you may want to upgrade that as well. I personally use an Aqua C Remora on my 55 gallon, and it works well. There are other good ones on the market though.

Stocking ideas? This really is a personal decision, so it's hard to suggest. I personally like clown fish, especially if you have a host anenome. That's really when clown fish are interesting. And I wouldn't shut them out just because they are common. There are many different types of clowns, and they are neat fish to watch. I also like the wrasses. Depending on what you put in your tank, you may have to go with a reef-safe wrasse, my personal fav is the 6-line. I have one and it is very active, and beautiful. Also, I find the pistol shrimp and shrimp goby pairs to be interesting. I just bought my first pair, and they are neat to watch.

As far as critters, I like to keep just a few scarlet hermit crabs, or the dwarf white legged hermits. Not the blues, they really seem to go after the snails. I like cerith, nassarius, nerite, and astrea snails. I have a green mythrix crab, but not sure if it really does any good since I rarely see it. Also, I think urchins are cool, but again, type will depend on if you want corals. I have a reef safe tuxedo urchin, and it is neat.

Not sure if this helps or not, your tank is an expression of what you like. Make sure that you read up on what ever you decide to buy, before you buy it and Good luck!