? about fish selection on new tank.

Originally posted by Herndo
My tank has just finished cycling and it's almost time to start adding fish. My "showfish" will be a Harlequin Tusk. My saltwater friends as well as two LFS's have all confirmed that a tusk and clownfish will get along fine, as long as the tusk isnt' too big to start with and is added last. Here is a list of fish that I would be interested in having in my tank in order of preference. The Clown is a must for my wife and the Tusk is for me. Please let me know what you guys think could work together. My tank is 55 gallons with 50 #'s of LR. Thanks.

Here are My opinions

Pinkface Wrasse - please give Scientific Name
Paddlefin Wrasse - Please Give Scientific Name
Coral Beauty Angel - No
Flame Angel - No
Blue Green Reef Chromis - No
Flameback Angel - No
Blueline Angelfish - Please give Scientific Name
Green Mandarin - No
Banana Wrasse - Yes but would over crowd your tank with the other two fish.
Auriga Butterflyfish - No
Lemonpeel Angel - No
Black & White Percula Clownfish - Yes
--I would also like a lawnmower blenny, would he work in there? N0

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With the Halequin Tuskand the Clownfish You are pretty full for a 55 gallon tank. The ones that could survive with the H. Tusk and Clownfish would overcrowd it in my opinion.

ray

I agree with Ray; the harlequin tuskfish is an aggresive wrasse and i would suggest keeping it with fish like: larger angels, other aggressive wrasses, surgeonfishes, sociable triggers, puffers, you get my gist? They need to be kept with active fish.

ALso, they are quite expensive. I might suggest if this is your first tank, go with something that doesn't cost over $100. If you lose him then you might be pretty disapointed and rule #1 in this hobby is that stuff dies.

As to the rest of your list:
Pinkface Wrasse - Thalassoma quinquevittatum, agressive wrasee; possible
Paddlefin Wrasse - Thalassoma lucasanum, agressive wrasse, possible
Coral Beauty Angel - possible
Flame Angel - possible
Blue Green Reef Chromis - possible
Flameback Angel - possible
Blueline Angelfish - Chaetodontoplus septentrionalis, NOT possible. It is a very docile fish; won't work with the rest of your fish
Green Mandarin - NOT possible now, needs a mature tank
Banana Wrasse - possible
Auriga Butterflyfish - maybe, but probably not
Lemonpeel Angel - possible
Black & White Percula Clownfish - possible

Heres what i would suggest:

Maybe 2 or 3 of these fish would work in a 55. They are all, mostly, large fish and they need lots of room. I would build something around the clown. If you want to keep multiple fish, get smaller fish:

Pair of Percula Clowns
2 pajama cardinals
2 firefish
lawnmower blenny

The reasons I said no to all the Centropye angels listed ( Flame, Coral Beauty, Flameback, And Lemonpeel) is they require mature tanks with some algae. Also some of them would get pushed arround by the H tusk and proably (in my opinion) would not survive if added after the H. Tusk. I doubt anyone would sit with an almost empty tank for 6 months to a year so he could put them in first.

Ray