stocking help

You make a great point. My clown throws sand up around his frogspawn with his tail. He likes his rock and the sand around it to be clean and low. Pisses me off!!! I have to go clean up after him almost daily.

 

Sounds like my old tomato clown. I got rid of him the very day before I went reef. His constant excavations resulted in deep recesses, sand storms, and the potential for LR to come tumbling down. I didn't want to take the chance, and drove him to the LFS.

Unfortunately he never made it, but that's a story for a couple of years ago. The tomato clown was on the passenger seat, in a gallon size ziptop bag. When the excrement met the rotating blade; his temporary home hit the dashboard with enough force to explode much like the zombies hit by the cars in Grindhouse, by Quentin Tarantino. It was a snap decision, but with no choices I could see, I gave him a sneaker/pavement burial. Sad day. Didn't want the poor fish out of water flopping around until he drowned.

 

oh i see
well i thought about what i want in the tank.
so thank you all for helping me what to get in the tank

 

If your not going to have any sand sifting gobies definetly get at least 4 sand sifting sea stars and at least 10 sand sifting snails. I have these snails with an antenna on them, my LFS carries them but I always forget there name. The great for sifting sand and cleaning up un-eaten food. As far as fish...

gobies
blennies
copperband butterfly (I have one in my 55 reef and never had a problem with him (feed him clam and he is a great show piece)
reef safe wrasse ( have a six-line and a yellow coris. The six-line will nip at new fish so add him first)
clowns
tomoni tangs are great for a 55
get a coral banded shrimp they are awesome
green chromis (get two if you decide on these)
the cardinal bangi can be a challenge to keep, some people have great success while others can't keep on alive if they had to save their own, (Pajama Cardnials are cool as they are nocturnal and fun to watch at night)

The list goes on but basically you want fish that will not get that big and will not disturb your corals. Good Luck

 

+1 on the sand sifting part of your CUC. my diamond goby died and in about a month the sand was nasty and browning despite having quite a few nassarius snails (the ones pstroh was talking about). my new goby has been in the tank for three days and the sand is pristine. just make sure your rock is secure and on the bottom.

i would think very long and hard before you buy a sandsifting star for a new tank. they scavenge the sand. they need at least 3-4 inches of sand in a well established tank (i dont think a 55 is enough tank). if you dont have the food (crud) in your sand, it will burrow to the bottom, starve, rot and pollute your tank.