Fowlr tank stocking help please, suggestions very welcome

[Awork78]

So, I’ve got a standard 55 gallon FOWLR going, it’s roughly 2.5 months old now. I have around 3.5” of sand, 80 pounds of LR (mostly caribsea life rock with a couple large pieces covered in coralline algae I bought from LFS). I went through the nitrogen cycle successfully with Dr Tim’s system in about 14 days. Went through very light “ugly phase” with brown slime algae, but it only lasted a week. I’m currently stocked with a coral beauty angel, 2 clowns, a royal gramma, a coral Hawkfish, and just added my second diamond goby (first one was fine for a week and a half, then jumped out of the tank in the middle of the night)… LFS advised me to try one more. I have 5 nassarius snails, 5 cerith snails, a conch snail, about 7-8 blue leg hermits, a Halloween hermit, and 2 emerald crabs. I refuse to cover my tank with a glass lid due to worries over gas exchange, I can’t really do mesh or screen due to equipment on the back of the tank (in-tank skimmer, filter outlet and inlet, heaters, wave makers). Another “ugly phase” started a few days ago with a lot of brown film on my rock and glass. I’m trying to leave it for food for the invertebrates. I supplement with a nori sheet in a holder twice a week. Feed twice a day (marine cuisine in the morning, emerald entree in the evening, Sel-chem added to each). Knowing what I currently have, and the only other fish I’m dead set on is a Tomini Tang as the last fish to add… I’d love to know what else I could potentially add to the tank. I’m looking to keep everything peaceful, and avoid anything prone to jumping to its death in the middle of the night. That was a hard $40 to swallow, though he cleaned the sand bed perfectly. Advice and stocking lists are greatly appreciated.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have 4 tanks all lidless, I;ve been lidless for 20 years, and I've had maybe 5 or 6 fish jump out. If you have enough rock, which you do, then fish will always dart to their home in the rocks, they won't go straight up. The other reason to jump is because of aggression.

One fish could be a fluke, but if another jumps then I would suspect a bully.

I feel your close to the max capacity, I think you can fit the tomini, but your tank is borderline size for them, and that could backfire on you down the road.

Just my 2 cents, good luck

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@i cant think

 

[Will-BRS]

I’d be inclined to add something like an azure damsel. Other damsel’s would be decent as well, just do a bit of research because some get huge and extra mean. A dottyback would be another good choice, and you can get them captive bred which is a big win for me. Orchids and splendids are my favorites. Lastly, with a caution, I’d say a chromis may be cool. I’m not a fan of adding them in groups as I find they tend to stress each other out, but something like one green chromis may be cool.

 

[Awork78]

I have 4 tanks all lidless, I;ve been lidless for 20 years, and I've had maybe 5 or 6 fish jump out. If you have enough rock, which you do, then fish will always dart to their home in the rocks, they won't go straight up. The other reason to jump is because of aggression.

One fish could be a fluke, but if another jumps then I would suspect a bully.

I feel your close to the max capacity, I think you can fit the tomini, but your tank is borderline size for them, and that could backfire on you down the road.

Just my 2 cents, good luck

I’m wondering if it was my hawkfish… he’s pretty small and seems to leave everything alone for the most part, but he is quite curious and gets close to other fish to watch them or whatever he’s doing. I got some gel-based frozen food and stuff a little in the rocks to give him something to hunt at night per the LFS recommendation. They also suspect the hawkfish being the cause of my goby’s premature exodus from the top of my tank.