Stocking a 60 gal Fish-Only Tank

[CoreyT355]

Hi All,
Looking for some help on stocking a 60 gal tank. My girlfriend works at a long-term care facility, and they have an established saltwater tank. There was a single clown living in it, which recently died. I'm planning on helping them restock the tank with more than one fish, so they have something colorful and hopefully fun to watch. Personally I have a nano-reef, so I have some marine knowledge. However a large (to me at least) fish only tank is new to me.

I was thinking maybe the following:
Coral Beauty or Flame Angel
Goby of some sort
Six Line Wrasse or Neon Dottyback
2 Cardinals is possible
Cleaner or Blood Shrimp
A few snails and hermits for cleanup

I think that covers a lot of color, movement, and fun things to watch in a tank. I'm hoping that would all work in the tank, and with each other. I'm know Cardinals are pretty stationary while wrasses are constant movers. I also have no experience with angels of any kind. I only know they need bigger tanks, and can be aggressive.

Any thoughts on if this would work, any bad ideas here, or better suggestions? TIA

 

[blaxsun]

Yes - all of those fish would work fine. Make sure if you get a goby that it's not one of the sand-sifting variants that require a sandbed.

 

[CoreyT355]

Yes - all of those fish would work fine. Make sure if you get a goby that it's not one of the sand-sifting variants that require a sandbed.

I was actually thinking of a sand sifting one, or possibly a Yasha Shrimp Goby and Pistol Shrimp. The tank has a decent sand bed, but I could add more if needed. Why do you say no sand sifting types?

 

[CoreyT355]

Yes - all of those fish would work fine. Make sure if you get a goby that it's not one of the sand-sifting variants that require a sandbed.

I was actually thinking of a sand sifting one, or possibly a Yasha Shrimp Goby and Pistol Shrimp. The tank has a decent sand bed, but I could add more if needed. Why do you say no sand sifting types?

 

[blaxsun]

I was actually thinking of a sand sifting one, or possibly a Yasha Shrimp Goby and Pistol Shrimp. The tank has a decent sand bed, but I could add more if needed. Why do you say no sand sifting types?

Sorry, my mind was working against me this afternoon - I meant if you don't go with any substrate.

 

[nereefpat]

What are the dimensions of the tank.

 

[i cant think]

I was actually thinking of a sand sifting one, or possibly a Yasha Shrimp Goby and Pistol Shrimp. The tank has a decent sand bed, but I could add more if needed. Why do you say no sand sifting types?

I don’t recommend valenciennea and here’s what I wrote about them a while ago:

valenciennea and how you can attempt to keep them healthy in a smaller tank (4’-6’), I recommend having a rather thick sand bed. That way, you can have a more natural ecosystem. I have been thinking recently and if the sea floor is similar to on land, then it’s going to have microfauna deep down and rise up. So there will be large breeding groups of copepods, amphipods ect.. deeper down and the larger ones will rise up to the surface to possibly eat.
So, in theory if you have a deeper sand bed, you will have that cycle going on. As for deep I mean 3-5 inch. Another plus side to the deeper sand bed is microfauna wont be killed off as quickly and you may not have to replenish for a while once it matures. So what I feel like is if you have a well established (5 year old+) tank with a 3-5 inch deep sand bed, your chances of success with Valenciennea may just rise. I will possibly attempt something like this in the future as a test, as this could be quite a good ride in success if it works.

Now I’m aware not many people want deep sand beds however if you want valenciennea you may need that deep sand bed, this is also because they won’t often eat frozen/prepared foods meaning they’re more likely to wither away. If they do eat prepared foods then their metabolism is rather fast and so will need several feedings throughout the day, whereas other goby genera such as Koumansetta, Gobiodon, Stonogobiops won’t have quite as fast of a metabolism.


I would personally have several gobies but that’s just my preference. I also wouldn’t do a sixline as they will be rather aggressive. On the Angel side, I would personally go for something a bit smaller but again that’s just preference as I find smaller fish but in groups to be more natural in terms of the looks.