Fish choices

[Fraja79]

I’m having a really hard time figuring out what fish to put in my small aquarium. It’s just a 55 gallon. I have a clown GOBY, Scissortail Goby, royal gramma and lawnmower blenny. I’m trying to figure out what kind of fish would hang out at the top of my Aquarium. I bought a blue reef CHROMIS and one of them killed five of my fish. They just seemed to kill each other anyway. please help me stalk my aquarium.

 

[lapin]

If you have low flow
Banggai Cardinalfish
Pajama Cardinalfish

 

[Subsea]

If you have low flow
Banggai Cardinalfish
Pajama Cardinalfish

Those do very well in schools as they hang out in the open. Often called dither fish as it helps for other fish to overcome shyness and swim in the open.

 

[Subsea]

@Fraja79

Discribe your rock scape as far as hiding places for fish.

A full tank shot with white light would work.

 

[fandaga]

I love my CB cleaner wrasse. The fish is out all the time and quite the character. But any small wrasses probably would be good.

I would also recommend a Midas Blenny.

 

[Fraja79]

@Fraja79

Discribe your rock scape as far as hiding places for fish.

A full tank shot with white light would work.

I have plenty of rock for fish to go in and out of. I just bought radio on XR 15 pro lights. I think my water flow is probably about medium.

 

[Fraja79]

@Fraja79

Discribe your rock scape as far as hiding places for fish.

A full tank shot with white light would work.

Sorry, I don’t wanna mess with the lights as far as the settings

 

[Fraja79]

I love my CB cleaner wrasse. The fish is out all the time and quite the character. But any small wrasses probably would be good.

I would also recommend a Midas Blenny.

Have you noticed if the wrasses you have are eating your snails?

 

[fandaga]

No, the cleaner wrasse eats frozen and dry food and occasionally Nori. It definitely is harmless to inverts. In the beginning it was harassing my crocea clam by cleaning any parasites or pods on the mantle. The clam eventually got used to it, and its mantle is fully extended after a few months.

I would recommend getting a captive bred cleaner wrasse if you decide to get one since I’ve read that the wild ones are hard to get eating prepared food.

At one point I had a longfin fairy wrasse. That fish was also great and didn’t bother inverts. I’m sure other small wrasses like McCoskers would be fine.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

I have plenty of rock for fish to go in and out of.

Sorry, I don’t wanna mess with the lights as far as the settings

I would call that a minimum amount of rock. I'd personally shoot for something at least twice that, especially if you want the fish to hang out near the top (give them some structure up there to use).

A 55g tank is less than ideal dimensions; that's a classic sized tank, but one that is really intended for freshwater schooling fish, not reef fish that have very different behaviors. The big problem is that it isn't possible to offer fish a real sense of security with the rockwork since the fish are always within a foot of the front glass, and they can really only be in front of the rock or in back of the rock, which isn't much choice. Even 18" allows for some more complex rockwork that gives a better range of options for the fish to get away from the big scary monster in front of the tank. So, the limitations of your tank should be kept in mind when figuring out if there's "plenty" of rock for the fish.

At one point I had a longfin fairy wrasse

But not anymore?

 

[fandaga]

I would call that a minimum amount of rock. I'd personally shoot for something at least twice that, especially if you want the fish to hang out near the top (give them some structure up there to use).

A 55g tank is less than ideal dimensions; that's a classic sized tank, but one that is really intended for freshwater schooling fish, not reef fish that have very different behaviors. The big problem is that it isn't possible to offer fish a real sense of security with the rockwork since the fish are always within a foot of the front glass, and they can really only be in front of the rock or in back of the rock, which isn't much choice. Even 18" allows for some more complex rockwork that gives a better range of options for the fish to get away from the big scary monster in front of the tank. So, the limitations of your tank should be kept in mind when figuring out if there's "plenty" of rock for the fish.


But not anymore?

Unfortunately, it got a bacterial infection and died. I haven’t lost any fish in a year but haven’t added any fish in a long time now.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Yeah, they're not super hardy in general. Not necessarily a great choice for someone struggling to learn the ropes and possibly having some aggression problems. I'm not sure adding a Midas to the lawnmower blenny's turf is the best idea either -- I've not kept a Midas, but lawnmowers can be kind of intolerant. :)

 

[fandaga]

In my 47 gallon, I have a pair of snowflake clowns, a coral beauty, marine betta, cleaner wrasse, 2 banggai cardinals, pair of mandarins, yellow headed jawfish, Randall goby, and watchman goby. The flow is too high for the cardinals, and they stay at the bottom. The wrasse, clowns, coral beauty, and betta are all usually out near the middle to top of the tank. The coral beauty might be nipping/harassing my scoly but otherwise is fine with SPS, LPS, soft corals, and clam. However, you might run into some problems with dwarf angels bothering corals. The betta is captive bred. I’ve read that wild bettas can be shy. They also have a downside of eating small fish under 1/2” and small shrimp. Mine hasn’t bothered larger shrimp like cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp.