is my stocking level ok for this tank

[Anonymous]

this is going to be a 55g FOWLR. it is going to have about 40 lbs of live rock and maybe a few assorted corals. (very few)
This is my list
2x Ocellaris clowns
1x Royal Gramma
1x firefish goby
6x scarlet hermits
11x blue leg hermits
3x emerald crabs
1x cleaner shrimp(the one with the skunk stripe down the back
1x serpent star

that is my plan for initial stocking.
I had hoped to add at a later date
1x mandarin (i know old tank and i will have a refugium and a brine hatchery to feed him)
1x yellow tang
1x coral beauty or flame angel

i have home made wet dry (15 gal sump)running and turning the tank volume over about 14 times an hour. there is good flow from my inlet manifold.

Let me know if i am pushing any limits here

 

[Len]

The intial stock looks good to me with the exception of the 3 emeralds. IME, they tend to kill each other off, so probably best to stick with one for a 55. Two cleaner shrimps, however, would be good.

Make sure to add them slowly.

As for your planned additions later on, I would drop one of the fish to keep the stocking levels lower. Personally, I'd avoid the angel since mine have always picked on corals. A small yellow tang will be okay IMO, but make arrangements for it should it grow too big.

Adding a skimmer to the wet/dry will help a lot. You might even consider removing the bio-media from the wet/dry once you have a good skimmer in place.

 

[Anonymous]

oh yeah, forgot to mention i am in the process of making a diy skimmer counter current. i will be phasing out the skimmer with mangroves that i am acclimating right now.

hehe, you broke my heart because i was liking the angels more than the tang. i thought both may be overkill.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with Len that your initial stocking list looks good. I would only put one of the three in your "later" list though. My first choice would be the angel; it sounds like you won't have many corals, and there are quite a few that pygmy angels for the most part don't nibble on. Since it also is a bit smaller than the tang, and less aggressive, it would allow you to keep one other small fish, like a different goby, or a blenny. I would skip the mandarin altogether in a tank that small.

 

[Baianotang]

Its good right now, but later on you´ll need modifications. (bigget tank)

 

[Anonymous]

for 4 or 5 fish i will need a bigger tank?
most of these fish will remain tiny. especially the firefish and the gramma.
Perhaps a large refugia?

 

[Anonymous]

The mandarin and the tang are the only things you might need a bigger tank for. All the rest of your fish will do fine in that space. The tang, IMO, should go in a 75 gallon, bare minimum. They put out a lot of waste, and need room to swim. A 125 would be much more suitable.

As for mandarins, they do well with an abundance of mature live rock. It sounds like you've already found this out. 55 is probably the minimum for this fish, IMO, even with a refugium going, and that would be if there were no competitors for food, which you are adding. It'd be much better in a 100 or so.

 

[Anonymous]

I like the thought of a mandarin in your tank...Ill have to disagree with matt here for a minute...given a mature tank with a fuge for pod growing a SINGLE mandarinfish should be fine...He is right, in a 100gal he would do better but I believe he'd be ok in your 55 gal...ONCE it matures...its not so much the brine shrimp unless you get an aquacultured one(mandarin)...ones from the reef itself are less likely to eat frozen foods..Unless you feel like hatching brine shrimp every day, youll find this a tedious task and may give up on it...brine shrimp are not as healthy for them as the pods are either...as SeaMaiden calls them the pringles of the Reef world..

 

[Anonymous]

i was leaning away from the tang and more towards the a dwarf angel so that wasn't a problem. i definitely know that it is for a well established tank. i may add another 20gal sump just to grow out the pods that a mandarin needs to eat.

i have been doing a lot of reading and definitely want to do things right. it is simply more responsable in a moral standpoint as well as on the pocketbook.

 

[Anonymous]

The Reefs Love You For That!


...ps I call brine shrimp the popcorn of fish food

 

[Anonymous]

what about pork rhines?

 

[HClH2OFish]

what about pork rhines?

Only for hog fish.....

 

[Anonymous]

i think i spelled rinds wrong? is it rhine or rind?

oh yeah..lol hydrochloricwaterfish...took me a minute to get that one... :lol:

 

[HClH2OFish]

Rind is the correct spelling for the snack...

Rhine is the name of a river in Germany

 

[Anonymous]

cool.. thanx and for the record i know the Rhine river is a name of a river in Germany...

 

[Anonymous]

If you like angel fish, I've got a Pygmy Angel. He's a very small, but feisty little guy. FWIW, he doesn't touch my corals, either.
~wings~