Choosing a fish?

[Newbie1]

ill be setting up a 4ft 60 gallon tank. I have corals anemones etc. I’m moving up from 30 to 60Gal. What is a good peaceful fish that is reef safe? Looking for absolutely stunning colors and wow factor. One thing I’ll def get is a zebra rap ( for my daughter).

 

[Harrison Gordon]

ill be setting up a 4ft 60 gallon tank. I have corals anemones etc. I’m moving up from 30 to 60Gal. What is a good peaceful fish that is reef safe? Looking for absolutely stunning colors and wow factor. One thing I’ll def get is a zebra rap ( for my daughter).

I love my Royal Gramma Basslet.

Midas blennies are very colorful too, or a firefish.

 

[Old Fritz]

red ruby dragonet (be careful because they really only eat copepods)

flame angel (they can occasionally nip corals just be warned)

potter's angelfish (I don't recommend keeping more than one angelfish in a tank)

\

flame hawkfish

and one of my favorites

blue star leopard wrasse

 

[Oscaror]

Choati leopard wrasse is in my opinion the coolest looking leopard wrasses, which are great. The color contrast is amazing. Not sure how much they cost I've seen them fetch some coin but a lot of people seem to have them too so I'm not sure

 

[eatbreakfast]

I would advise against a choati wrasse, they are notoriously difficult.

Wait on the dragonet until the tank is at least 6months old. This allows the copepod population to grow and stabilize where it can support a bigtime pod hunter.

Fish I like for that size tank include: flame or longnose hawkfish, royal gramma, yellow coris wrasse, pintail fairy wrasse, swales basslet, purple tilefish.

 

[Newbie1]

All the fishes you guys have listed look great! And thank you for helping out! My two questions are, they reef safe? And would all the fish you guys listed get along?

David

 

[saltyhog]

I like all of the above and would add a Black Cap Basslet to the list.

 

[Amps Reef Life]

Choati leopard wrasse is in my opinion the coolest looking leopard wrasses, which are great. The color contrast is amazing. Not sure how much they cost I've seen them fetch some coin but a lot of people seem to have them too so I'm not sure

Anywhere from 175 to 250.

I would advise against a choati wrasse, they are notoriously difficult.

Wait on the dragonet until the tank is at least 6months old. This allows the copepod population to grow and stabilize where it can support a bigtime pod hunter.

Fish I like for that size tank include: flame or longnose hawkfish, royal gramma, yellow coris wrasse, pintail fairy wrasse, swales basslet, purple tilefish.

Good advise here! The Choati Wrasse is a difficult fish to care for. I have five leopards in my tank and I have tried two Choati and not one has lived. I know how to care for leopard wrasse and they are some of my favorite fish but getting a healthy Choati is key and even then it's a difficult fish.

The pintail fairy wrasse is beautiful and a midas blenny is very pretty but even better they come with AWESOME personalities.

 

[Newbie1]

How many fish may I have in this tank? And one I really want is a zebra eal, (for my daughter).

 

[Pbh-reef]

The number of fish you can get will depend a lot on which ones you choose and what your filtration can handle so there isn’t a simple answer to this question. Larger fish and messy eaters will reduce the number you can get.

A zebra moray gets 5 feet long. Most sources suggest a 125 gallon tank for it. Maybe consider a dwarf golden eel instead?

 

[GHsaltie]

I would recommend you look into a snowflake or dwarf moray eel instead of the zebra. Long term I don't think 60g will be enough for a zebra. I personally have seen a zebra at a LFS that was 5-6" in diameter and almost 5' in length.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Agreed, a 60g is far too small for a zebra eel.

 

[Jesterrace]

ill be setting up a 4ft 60 gallon tank. I have corals anemones etc. I’m moving up from 30 to 60Gal. What is a good peaceful fish that is reef safe? Looking for absolutely stunning colors and wow factor. One thing I’ll def get is a zebra rap ( for my daughter).

Any of the generally peaceful reef safe wrasses are excellent choice for a tank of that size.

 

[Captain Quint]

I like all of the above and would add a Black Cap Basslet to the list.

+1 and is absolutely one of the coolest fish I've had the pleasure to keep. It would be in my top 5 for sure.