I'm starting a saltwater aquarium and wondering about compatibility

[William Chiavetta]

I am starting a tank and have a couple things but I'm not sure if what I want will work together with my equipment.

I have a 55G tank with a Fluval 407 aquarium
I have 2 ocellares clowns to stay
I have 1 blue hippo tang that I'm going to give to Paul Cuffaro when it gets too big
I have 1 powder blue tang that I'm going to give to Paul when it gets too big
I have 1 cleaner shrimp that is in the aquarium for life hopefully
I'm interested in corals and these are the fish I'm planning to get:
Longnose hawkfish
common firefish x4
Linkia starfish
Carribian sharpnose puffer
mandarin fish
short spined sea urchin
Coaral beauty angel
Leapord wrasse
flame scallop
dwarf golden moray eel
I'm also interested in getting some sort of nudibranch but don't know too much about them.

I'm open to any advice and thank everyone in advance for replying.

 

[Uncle99]

The long nose will eat your shrimp in 5 seconds, so his life will be quite short.

The scallop and the starfish will starve.

Your list is one of the most challenging I’ve seen in a while.

 

[William Chiavetta]

The long nose will eat your shrimp in 5 seconds, so his life will be quite short.

The scallop and the starfish will starve.

Your list is one of the most challenging I’ve seen in a while.

Why would the starfish and scallop starve? I was planning to feed them.

I am disappointed about the long nose because I was looking forward to him.

Thank you so much for the feedback I really appreciate it

 

[Uncle99]

Why would the starfish and scallop starve? I was planning to feed them.

I am disappointed about the long nose because I was looking forward to him.

Thank you so much for the feedback I really appreciate it

Stars and scallops have a dismal captivity record.
Feel free to try though. They should not be sold IMM.

The long nose I have, great fish, but hit all three of my shrimp upon entry, so hard, they broke in pieces. Quite savage.

I should have done my homework.

 

[William Chiavetta]

Stars and scallops have a dismal captivity record.
Feel free to try though. They should not be sold IMM.

The long nose I have, great fish, but hit all three of my shrimp upon entry, so hard, they broke in pieces. Quite savage.

I should have done my homework.

Thanks for the feedback I really appreciate it

 

[RedOtterCoral]

What are your tank dimensions?

 

[Glowurm]

I am starting a tank and have a couple things but I'm not sure if what I want will work together with my equipment.

I have a 55G tank with a Fluval 407 aquarium
I have 2 ocellares clowns to stay
I have 1 blue hippo tang that I'm going to give to Paul Cuffaro when it gets too big
I have 1 powder blue tang that I'm going to give to Paul when it gets too big
I have 1 cleaner shrimp that is in the aquarium for life hopefully
I'm interested in corals and these are the fish I'm planning to get:
Longnose hawkfish
common firefish x4
Linkia starfish
Carribian sharpnose puffer
mandarin fish
short spined sea urchin
Coaral beauty angel
Leapord wrasse
flame scallop
dwarf golden moray eel
I'm also interested in getting some sort of nudibranch but don't know too much about them.

I'm open to any advice and thank everyone in advance for replying

Wow i'm new to reefing but that is a lot of livestock some of which require very specific needs for a tank which is smaller than my own... scale it back a little fella!!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I think you should get a much larger tank, one that will appropriately accommodate the size of fishes you want to keep. Or else get fish that are appropriate for a 50 gallon

 

[William Chiavetta]

Wow i'm new to reefing but that is a lot of livestock some of which require very specific needs for a tank which is smaller than my own... scale it back a little fella!!

I'm up for the challange!

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Mandarin you’ll need to establish a pod colony and an established mature system. Puffers usually eat your crusties.

 

[JayM]

I'm up for the challange!

You may be, but you aren’t the one living in the glass box.

 

[William Chiavetta]

You may be, but you aren’t the one living in the glass box.

It's not gonna be overstocked. all of the fish will be small while they're in there

 

[William Chiavetta]

Mandarin you’ll need to establish a pod colony and an established mature system. Puffers usually eat your crusties.

according to the people i talked to the Caribbean sharpnose puffer is the only puffer that can coexist with everything else I have

 

[William Chiavetta]

I think you should get a much larger tank, one that will appropriately accommodate the size of fishes you want to keep. Or else get fish that are appropriate for a 50 gallon

It's not gonna be overstocked. all of the fish will be small while they're in there

 

[William Chiavetta]

What are your tank dimensions?

5 ft long

 

[JayM]

I am starting a tank and have a couple things but I'm not sure if what I want will work together with my equipment.

I have a 55G tank with a Fluval 407 aquarium
I have 2 ocellares clowns to stay
I have 1 blue hippo tang that I'm going to give to Paul Cuffaro when it gets too big
I have 1 powder blue tang that I'm going to give to Paul when it gets too big
I have 1 cleaner shrimp that is in the aquarium for life hopefully
I'm interested in corals and these are the fish I'm planning to get:
Longnose hawkfish
common firefish x4
Linkia starfish
Carribian sharpnose puffer
mandarin fish
short spined sea urchin
Coaral beauty angel
Leapord wrasse
flame scallop
dwarf golden moray eel
I'm also interested in getting some sort of nudibranch but don't know too much about them.

I'm open to any advice and thank everyone in advance for replying.

It's not gonna be overstocked. all of the fish will be small while they're in there

It's not necessarily just about fish size. Compatibility and bioload are just as important. Maybe even more so.

First thing I noticed was 4 firefish. There's a chance that 3 of them will be murdered by the 4th in the long run. And that's only if they don't get eaten by the eel first. And speaking of eels, they all tend to be messy, and have a high bioload for their size. Puffers are also known to be messy.

The hawkfish is going to want to eat your shrimp. He may or may not actually try to.

Mandarins and starfish are tough to keep alive in new tanks.

Clowns and tangs can be very territorial and aggressive. The more fish you add, the more likely it is you'll have problems.

I know you said you have rehoming plans in place, but both of your tangs will outgrow your tank sooner than you think.

5 ft long

A 5' 55 gallon tank is only about 12" x 18". It's gonna be tough to aquascape with enough hiding/sleeping spots for that many fish. It's also going to mean that you'll be lucky to have about 45 gallons of actual water volume. You're likely going to have trouble maintaining stability.

I'm definitely not an expert by any means, but I've got double the water volume with less fish and it doesn't take much for things to get crazy in the first few months.

Everything else aside, I would advise you to do your wallet and your sanity a favor and change your plan.

 

[William Chiavetta]

It's not necessarily just about fish size. Compatibility and bioload are just as important. Maybe even more so.

First thing I noticed was 4 firefish. There's a chance that 3 of them will be murdered by the 4th in the long run. And that's only if they don't get eaten by the eel first. And speaking of eels, they all tend to be messy, and have a high bioload for their size. Puffers are also known to be messy.

The hawkfish is going to want to eat your shrimp. He may or may not actually try to.

Mandarins and starfish are tough to keep alive in new tanks.

Clowns and tangs can be very territorial and aggressive. The more fish you add, the more likely it is you'll have problems.

I know you said you have rehoming plans in place, but both of your tangs will outgrow your tank sooner than you think.


A 5' 55 gallon tank is only about 12" x 18". It's gonna be tough to aquascape with enough hiding/sleeping spots for that many fish. It's also going to mean that you'll be lucky to have about 45 gallons of actual water volume. You're likely going to have trouble maintaining stability.

I'm definitely not an expert by any means, but I've got double the water volume with less fish and it doesn't take much for things to get crazy in the first few months.

Everything else aside, I would advise you to do your wallet and your sanity a favor and change your plan.

I have VERY good filtration and I have decided against the hawkfish. I don't think I will have an issue with the firefish but if I do that's something that can happen. I can rehome within a couple of days so if there are any problems I can solve them quickly. thank you for your recommendations and help!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

With regards to the linckia - they're thought to be biofilm-feeders in the wild, and that's not a diet we can replicate. In a normal reef tank (assuming they survive shipping/acclimation), these stars seem to typically last ~8-13 months before starving; some people with very large tanks get lucky and their tank produces enough food naturally for the star to survive, but even with a very large tank, that's not a guaranteed thing (most still starve in a similar timeframe):

Personally, I currently recommend against trying to keep a tropical, true starfish (Asteroid) species, particularly biofilm-feeding species, except for Aquilonastra stars.

That said, if you're really determined to try keeping them anyway, I'd strongly suggest setting up an Aquilonastra farm, a cryptic refugium to farm sponges, and possibly a colonial tunicate farm as well (all of these should be separate from the Linckia's tank so they can't get to the farm and ruin the "crop") - the Linckias feed on these (they presumably emulate biofilms to some degree), and the most successful Linckia keeping I've seen have always involved at least one of these aspects (typically the Aquilonastra stars).

With Aquilonastra stars alone, I've seen people keep them 2-3 years; with the cryptic refugium sponges involved too, the longest I've heard is ~4 years. Still not good by my calculations, but arguably acceptable if they really only live a decade.

For those who are truly determined to keep true starfish against my recommendation, here are some signs to watch for to help track starfish health:

Some ways to potentially gauge the health of the starfish that may be useful:
1 - Visual: is anything visually wrong with the specimen? (From what I know of starfish, these cues are generally pretty obvious if they're there at all - if the starfish is disintegrating, there's something wrong).
2 - Weight: is the specimen putting on or maintaining weight (generally healthy), or is it losing weight (under most circumstances, this would be unhealthy)?
3 - Size/Length: if it's not already full size, is the specimen growing? Is it shrinking (either from weight loss, disease, limb loss, etc.)?
4 - Reproduction: is the specimen engaging in reproductive behaviors/activities (i.e. courting, nesting, spawning, etc.)? (I recognize this one is not as common of an indicator in captive starfish at this point, but there are a few instances of starfish attempting to spawn in captivity).
5 - Longevity: is the specimen relatively close to meeting, actually meeting, or exceeding their expected wild lifespan (or at least surviving for a few years - healthy), or is the specimen dead/dying prior to doing so (unhealthy)?
6 - Speed: how quickly can the specimen right itself when it's flipped over?
7 - Level of activity: how much is the specimen moving around? (Generally speaking, low activity indicates poor health; moderate activity indicates good health; and high activity indicates good health but probable stress - it could be searching for food, oxygen, etc., but it's probably not in terrible health when moving a lot).
8 - Grip strength: does the specimen have a strong hold/grip with its tube feet? (A strong grip indicates good health, a weak grip indicates poor health).
9 - Willingness to eat: is the specimen eating? (Seems obvious, but can be really hard to tell with some stars - some stars leave little trails called feeding scars through the things they're eating; sometimes you can see their everted stomachs; other times, like if they're feeding on biofilm, you may not be able to tell at all - them crawling onto visible food is a good sign they're willing to eat, but - as mentioned above - the food may or may not meet their nutritional needs).

Also:

One important thing to keep in mind with foods for these guys - just because they eat it, doesn't mean it's meeting their nutritional needs; it might be, but it might not be. With how long it seems to take these guys to starve, unless you're monitoring their health closely, you might not notice if it's not meeting their needs until it's too late.

 

[RedOtterCoral]

I'm up for the challange!

I feel like you're trying too much for a tank that small. Those are some very specialized critters each with their own very distinct needs that I doubt you can provide for in a tank that small.

I think your mortality rate will be high, and quality of life will be low if you include everything on your list.

If you add coral that's even less swimming room for your fish, so keep that in mind too

 

[William Chiavetta]

I feel like you're trying too much for a tank that small. Those are some very specialized critters each with their own very distinct needs that I doubt you can provide for in a tank that small.

I think your mortality rate will be high, and quality of life will be low if you include everything on your list.

If you add coral that's even less swimming room for your fish, so keep that in mind too

I am upgrading to a 125g soon and all the fish will be relatively small and when they get too big I will send them to a friend