55G Show Fish????

[bigd]

Hey all,

Just wanted some suggestions on show fish for my 55 gallon long tank. Right now it contains many LPS and soft corals and one false perc clown.

Here are some of the fish I was thinking about Purple tang, blue regal tang, yellow tang, flame angel, coral beauty. Of course not all these fish but I was wondering if you guys could help me out. Is my tank to small for a purple or blue tang?? is a coral beauty reef safe or is a flame prefered. What do you guys like?

 

[spongebob lover]

well what i have read, is that tangs need lots of space and that for them to be happy they need at least a 75 gal tank.
i don't know to much about angels and the coral beauty, but have you thought about wrasses? there's very cool looking wrasses.

 

[JasonD]

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/fish.html

The link gives min tank sizes for fish.

It looks like you would be ok for a dwarf angle, but they recommend 100 gallons for the tangs. You could keep a juvenal tang until it gets bigger then sell it on RF or get a bigger tank.

 

[Blazer88]

I've seen many mixed reviews on min. tank size for a tang. I've been told the most acceptable tang for a tank under 100G is the Kole Tang. I plan on getting either a small Kole or Yellow Tang once I get my 65G up and running and have seen tons of people keep them in a 55G. And I've heard the dwarf angels can be hit or miss when considering if they are reef safe or not.

 

[nasher8860]

Iv'e got a Coral Beauty and a Yellow Tang(Hawaiin) in a 27 gallon right now and they seem to be doing pretty good. Both of them are of decent size. They have been good friends for like 7 months now. I just put them in the 27 like one week ago and no problems yet. I had them in a 65 gallon before. I was afraid of the 65 blowin out on me. So I had to downgrade. But I'm saving up again.
As for the Coral Beauty being reef safe??? I have some mushrooms and 3 diffrent other kinds of corals(I don't know what kind) but he doesn't bother them one bit. He's followed the Tang's example. He nips at the algea. I'm not sure about other kinds of corals though. IMO it's the personality of the fish.
So try to pick a winner...

 

[wrightme43]

I have had good sucess with coral beautys and flames in reefs no problem Bicolors seem to like to nip at clams and meaty lps corals. Have you considered a potteri angel? they look like a extra pretty coral beauty with flame angel colors mixed in. Very nice. Fish are all different and I just always keep a close eye on them with corals. Some that are just known far and wide to be safe will nip and some that are know to be coral destroyers will just leave stuff alone. Its always try and see to me.

 

[MikeS]

for a 55, a good centerpiece is a foxface rabbit fish....55 is the smallest you want to house them in, but it can be done, and they are a nearly perfect reef dweller...

MikeS

 

[bigd]

Foxface...good idea. Would it be to much to house the foxface with a pygmy angel and one false perc(he is over one years old and still pretty small) in my 55. I have excellent skimming and water quality.

 

[Jeff]

Personally I always liked more smaller fish in a 55 than fewer large ones.

I have a coralbeauty in a sps/lps tank and she nips on every surface in the tank. She doesn't focus on corals but every now and then she will nip at one. I assume shes looking for algae, all of my corals look healthy and she doesn't focus on just one coral. I would of loved a potters angel if I could have found a healthy one locally.

When people come over to my house they always comment on the green chormis. I know, not the most exciting fish, but a small group of them are very colorful and add a lot of movement to the tank.