Brand-new 57 gallon, fish choice questions. (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

My family just purchased our first saltwater aquarium. We plan to keep 5-6 small fish and eventually some easy corals. Our tank is cycled, and it is time to begin adding new fish to the tank. We would also like to try to purchase tank-raised or captive bred fish.

I am having a very hard time finding fish that will work together!!!!!
My brain hurts.

Anyway, here is a list of fish that we would like to have.

Yellowtail damsel
Kaudern's cardinal
midas blenny
ocellaris pair
pygmy angelfish

these all seem to have some aggressive tendencies, from what I have read. We are mostly attached to the idea of having the midas and clownfish.

here are some other fish we like.

Coral Beauty
red firefish
red spotted blenny
shrimp gobies


PLEASE HELP US PICK SOME FISH THAT WILL PROBABLY LIVE WELL TOGETHER!!!!! I also understand that some of these fish are harder to keep than others. I don't plan on getting all of the fish at the same time.

Thanks, Kathryn

 

[trb]

I've been in the hobby only a few months, but everything I've heard says only one type of angelfish in a tank this size, like the coral beauty or other pygmy angelfish, and buy it last to hopefully avoid territorial issues. My son wants a flame angel, so that will be his last fish hopefully next year after we get a new tank set up.

 

[Rotarymagic]

What's your budget like? I don't want to recommend some fish to you that I keep or think are worth keeping if you're only looking for "cheap fish."

If you are getting clowns and the midas, I would make them some of the last fish added especially if you're going to introduce some less aggressive fish to the mix. I definitely wouldn't do the firefish unless you have a lid on the tank as I've seen them jump out 9 times out of 10. If you going for a dwarf angel and wanting to keep corals, I would avoid Centropyge angels as they are mostly miss than hit with regards to being coral safe. I do love my bellus angel on the other hand which has proven to fit the mold of extreme reef safeness and it is not a bully in my tank (~3inch bellus, 57gallon tank.) I would skip the damsels because they are real bullies (tear up fins on other fish and kill them) and many of them lose their coloration as they get older and are nearly impossible to catch without taking all the rock out of the tank.
If you do a shrimp goby and pistol shrimp pair, I would put them in the tank first at the same time so they have time to establish a burrow and are not stressed by any other fish.

 

[Rotarymagic]

Also... I REALLY LOVE yellow assessors!!! They're pretty hardy fish and don't have much of an attitude.

 

[CBBSteve]

Hi, moonkadiya.

Here's some very good beginner fish for you to consider.

firefish - you already have those on your list - I had a red firefish that jumped into the overflow once, my purple firefish and my helfrichi's have never jumped
royal gramma
chalk bass
pajama cardinal
blue green chromis
yellow tang
foxface rabbitfish
lawnmower blennie

good luck,
Steve

 

[galvezsurfer33]

For sure go with the midas blenny!!! I had one in my tank when i first started reefing and he was one of the heartiest, most personality filled fish ive had! The midas is beautiful especially the ones from sri lanka!