Fish to add to 55

[Rottynbully]

I have a 55 gallon tank which will eventually also have mushrooms, soft coral and some lps. I currently have 2 percula clowns, 1 purple firefish, 1 blue chromis. tank has been up for a little over 2 months and is completely stable. I have just usual clean up crew hermits, snails, 1 cleaner shrimp. I want to add another fish or 2 to the tank i want to keep the tank peacefull so my firefish wont hide right now hes super brave lol.
I have been thinking about a bengai cardinal and a yellow watchman goby? I heard the cardinal might eat my cleaner shrimp? What about a coral beuty angel or a one spot foxface instead of the cardinal and goby?
Would like some suggestions on other fish as well that may work and how may more fish im safe to get?

[BLKBRDTA]

I have a 55 gallon tank which will eventually also have mushrooms, soft coral and some lps. I currently have 2 percula clowns, 1 purple firefish, 1 blue chromis. tank has been up for a little over 2 months and is completely stable.

I have been thinking about a bengai cardinal and a yellow watchman goby? I heard the cardinal might eat my cleaner shrimp? What about a coral beuty angel or a one spot foxface instead of the cardinal and goby?
Would like some suggestions on other fish as well that may work and how may more fish im safe to get?

Your system is just over 2 months old and there will soon be 5+ fish in there, don't forget to take your time and pace your additions. I have a 50g bow reef with only 4 fish in it all smaller than 5", just to give you an idea on my stock list. I would not recommend getting a Pygmy Angel or Foxface until at least 6 months into your system maturing. Both fish are grazers and there will not be sufficient macro nutrients to support either, let alone both. Having said that, yes there is a chance the Bangaii Cardinal may eat your shrimp though it is not a given, you are better off going with the Watchman Goby. A popular community fish of choice that also plays an important role would have to be a Six-Line Wrasse and/or Neon Cleaner Goby.

HTH

[Mthomp]

yeah +1 on tonys post. My tank is just now 3 months old, and i have learned the hard way on taking things slow and adding fish even slower. I just added my 3rd fish to my tank, a sixline wrasse. I have found that by adding to many at one time shocks your system and it is unable to keep up with the bio load. IMO you buy 1 fish at a time wait about 4-6 weeks allowing your tank to handle the bio load then research your next purchase. a 55 gal tank doesnt have alot of swimming room in it so i suggest keeping your fish on the smaller size and limit how many you have to around 5-6

[Rottynbully]

Thanks for the advice . The firefish and chromis were added about 2 or 3 weeks ago the clowns were in there during the cycle. I got some bad advice that cycling the tank with the clowns would be okay( i used live sand and cured live rock and got around 10 gallons of water from a friends established tank tho) Luckily they are fine and very happy. The chromis thinks hes a clown and follows them everywhere and even sleeps where the clowns do lol. The clowns seem fine with him always at their side but do you think the chromis is bothering them? Ill wait for another couple weeks and maybe get a goby ill stick to getting another small fish after that and be done. I heard small groups of chromis tend to not work out and you end up having one killing the othersany input on that?

[MonopolyBag]

I would add more chromis, maybe 2 more. And nothing else. 55g is not huge, so do not overstock your tank. The fish in there now is good. IMO stay away from yellow watchman goby, they get too big and eat stuff, look at shrimp gobies, much smaller and better. They look cooler too. Bangais never eat shrimp form my experience, but some say thy can though. I would just avoid them since you already have enough fish.

I would add maybe 1-2 more chromis and a small shrimp goby, OR one small wrasse of some sort, fairy, or carpenter.

[Rottynbully]

I ended up holding off on buying another fish for now as i got ahold of a 150 gallon tank for very cheap and im gonna save the money for setting that up instead of adding to the 55. God this hobby is addicting