50 gallons (227.3 liters) can be a perfect volume for a saltwater tank. It is large enough to allow you some pretty interesting fish options, without breaking the bank or needing you to move out of one of the rooms in your home to make space.
50 Gallon tank dimensions
A 50-gallon aquarium is a common and practical size to think about (it’s 5x’s bigger than a 10G or 2.5x’s bigger than a 20G); ratios that come to mind fairly easily for most of us, but an actual, literal 50-gallon tank is not all that common.
Here are a few popular tank dimensions in the 50-gallon range:
|
Tank |
Length |
Width |
Height |
|
Sea Clear 50 Gallon Acrylic |
36 in. (90 cm) |
22.6 in. (57.5 cm) |
20 in. (50.8 cm) |
|
Waterbox AIO 50.3 or Peninsula 50.3 |
35. 4 in. (89.9 cm) |
19.7 in. (50 cm) |
17.7 in. (45 cm) |
|
Red Sea Max E 170 (45 gallon total volume) |
24 in. (60 cm) |
22.6 in. (57.5 cm) |
22 in. (55 cm) |
|
Red Sea Max E 270 (56 gallon) |
36 in. (90 cm) |
22.6 in. (57.5 cm) |
22 in. (55 cm) |
|
55 gallon fish tank |
48 in. (121.9 cm) |
13 in. (33 cm) |
21 in. (53.3 cm) |
|
40 gallon breeder fish tank |
36 in. (91.4 cm) |
18 in. (45.7 cm) |
16 in. (40.6 cm) |
|
40 gallon long fish tank |
48 in. (121.9 cm) |
12 in. (30.5 cm) |
16 in. (40.6 cm) |
If you are specifically interested in a 40-gallon or 55-gallon tank, you can dive deeper into saltwater fish stocking guides specifically for those sizes here:
61 Best saltwater fish for a 50-gallon tank: key attributes
Here are a few of the key attributes that the best saltwater fish for a 50-gallon tank share:
- Medium-sized or smaller
- Hardy, tolerant, easy-to-feed
- Don’t require an expert level of care
- When combined in a community, the different fishes you choose occupy a variety of different spaces/niches within the tank environment
- For example floor/substrate, site-attached, perching, open-water, top of the water
50 gallons is the threshold volume recommended to keep the following saltwater fish types:
Community
- Community saltwater fish available now that your tank is 50 gallons or more
- Dwarf Angelfish: (Pygmy Cherub, Pygmy Yellowtail, Flameback)
- Engineer goby (with deep sand bed)
- Reef safe wrasses: (Carpenter’s, Lubbock’s Fairy Wrasse, Melanurus, Yellow Coris, McCosker’s, Sixline, Royal Flasher wrasse)
- Marine betta
Aggressive
- Alternatively, you could create an aggressive and semi-aggressive-themed tank with these saltwater fish that need about 50 gallons as a minimum tank volume:
- Eels: Snowflake eel or Jeweled Moray Eel
- Dwarf Lionfish: (Fuzzy, Dwarf, Mombasa)
- Pufferfish: (Sharpnose or Valentini)
How many fish in a 50-gallon saltwater tank?
A 50-gallon saltwater tank can safely house up to 13 saltwater fish if you take care to mix compatible species that are medium-sized or smaller and that occupy different parts of the aquarium.
Here are some recommendations on the best saltwater aquarium fish species and the number of fish per 50-gallon tank:
- 1 Angelfish: (Pygmy Cherub, Pygmy Yellowtail, Flameback)
- 1 Basslet: (Royal gramma, Blackcap, Chalk, Assessor, Swissguard, Candy) or 1-2 Dottybacks: (Orchid dottyback, Neon)
- 1 Blenny Fangtooth type (Canary, Striped, Blackline, Forktail, Midas)
- 1-5 Cardinalfish: (Banggai, Pajama, Longspine, Flame, Yellow)
- 1-5 Chromis: (Blue/green, Green, Blue Reef)
- 1-2 Clownfish: (Ocellaris, Percula, Pink Skunk, Orange Skunk, Maroon, Tomato, Clarkii)
- 1 Dartfish (Zebra barred, Scissortail, Firefish, Purple Firefish, Helfrichi)
- 1 Filefish: Aiptasia-eating
- 1 Shrimp goby (Two spot, Yasha, Yellow Watchman) or 1 Sleeper/Sand Sifting Goby: (Diamond, Gold Head) or 1 Coral Goby: (Citron Clown, Yellow Clown, Green Clown) or 1 Cleaner Goby: (Blue Neon, Yellowline, Sharknose, Hybrid)
- 1 Hawkfish: (Longnose, Falco, Arc Eye, Flame)
- 1 Hogfish: (Yellow candy)
- 1 Marine Betta: (Did I mention I love this fish?)
- 1-5 Reef safe Fairy or Flasher Wrasses:(Carpenter’s, Lubbock’s Fairy Wrasse, McCosker’s, Royal Flasher)
- Or 1 other reef safe wrasse: (Melanurus, Yellow Coris, Sixline)
A quick note: the intention here is to recommend either a basslet or a dottyback, not both. The same applies to the gobies–either a shrimp or a clown goby or a cleaner goby, but not one of each.
You can keep more than one of the same species of reef-safe wrasses, and in many cases, you can actually see amazing colors and displays from it, but I don’t recommend mixing species.
Hawkfish should not be kept with shrimp, snails, crabs.
Perfect saltwater fish for a 50-gallon tank, but with special care
You can also choose from the following list of best saltwater fish for a 50-gallon tank, but each of these has some specific care requirements
Saltwater fish for 50-gallon tank that need a deep sand bed
- 1-5 Jawfish: (Blue-spotted, Yellowhead) or 1-5 Engineer Gobies are great and peaceful saltwater fish–some of my favorites–but they require a deep sand bed (6 inches deep or greater) to be happy. Since these two species would compete for the exact same real estate in the tank, it is best not to mix, you have to pick–are you a jawfish or a blenny person?
Aggressive or Semi-Aggressive saltwater fish that won’t play nicely with the community
- 1 Eel: (Jeweled Moray, Snowflake)
- 1-3 Lionfish: (Dwarf Zebra, Fuzzy, Mombasa)
- 1 Pufferfish: (Sharpnose, Valentini)
- 1-13 Damselfish: (Domino, Four stripe, Three stripe, Two stripe, Blue Velvet, Blue, Azure, Yellowtail, Blue Devil, Any)
Saltwater fish for a 5o-gallon tank that require dietary care/observation
- 1-2 Dragonets: (Mandarin, Ruby Red, Red Scooter) – the care required here is to ensure you have enough copepods and/or baby brine shrimp (with direct feeding) to keep them from starving. They also are shy and gentle and may not last in a tank with boisterous tankmates.
- 1 Algae-blenny (Starry, Lawnmower, Bicolor, Tailspot) – the care required here is that they often starve to death in new tanks that don’t have a lot of algae, or even in algae-infested tanks, once all the algae are eaten. You can and need to ween them over to prepared foods, but this is sometimes problematic. I have kept a fangtooth-type and algae-type blenny in the same tank with zero aggression issues.
Here is a table for you to print out and circle which of the 61 Best Saltwater Fish for a 50-gallon tank you want.
|
Angelfish (1) |
Pygmy cherub |
Pygmy Yellowtail |
Flameback |
||
|
Basslet (1) |
Royal gramma |
Blackcap |
Chalk |
Assessor |
Swissguard |
|
Basslet (continue) |
Candy |
||||
|
Blenny Fangtooth type (1) |
Canary |
Striped |
Blackline |
Forktail |
Midas |
|
Cardinalfish (1-5) |
Banggai |
Pajama |
Longspine |
Flame |
Yellow |
|
Chromis (1-5) |
Blue/green |
Green |
Blue Reef |
||
|
Clownfish (1-2) |
Ocellaris |
Percula |
Pink Skunk |
Orange Skunk |
Maroon |
|
Clownfish (continue) |
Tomato |
Clarkii |
|||
|
Dartfish (1) |
Zebra barred |
Scissortail |
Firefish |
Purple firefish |
Helfrichi |
|
Dottyback (1*) |
Orchid |
Neon |
|||
|
Filefish (1) |
Aiptasia-eating |
||||
|
Shrimp goby (1*) |
Two spot |
Yasha |
Yellow Watchman |
||
|
Sleeper goby (1*) |
Diamond |
Gold Head |
|||
|
Clown goby (1*) |
Citron clown |
Green clown |
Yellow clown |
||
|
Cleaner goby (1*) |
Neon blue |
Yellow line |
Sharknose |
||
|
Hawkfish (1*) |
Longnose |
Flame |
Arc Eye |
Falco |
|
|
Hogfish (1) |
Yellow candy |
||||
|
Marine Betta (1) |
Marine betta |
||||
|
Wrasse (1-5) |
Carpenter’s |
Lubbock’s |
McCosker’s |
Royal Flasher |
|
|
Wrasse (1) (continued) |
Melanurus |
Yellow Coris |
Sixline |
Equipment needed for a 50-gallon saltwater tank
You will need the following equipment for a 50-gallon tank:
- Lid
- To prevent fish from jumping
- Water flow and aeration
- Filter
- Either sponge, hang-on-back, canister, or Live Rock
- Heater
- 200-watts is the right size for this tank
- Lights
- For a fish-only aquarium, just about any aquarium light will work. You won’t need an expensive reef light
Other size tank options
If you’re looking for saltwater fish stocking recommendations for a few other sizes, check out these guides:
A few important related topics to consider
Figuring out what saltwater fish to keep in your 50-gallon fish tank is definitely one of the most fun aspects of planning out your community aquarium, but there is still a lot of important information to share that is beyond the scope of this article. Be sure to check out these other important resources.
- Learn about making your own saltwater
- A step-by-step guide to set up a fish tank
- Decide how much live rock do you need?
- Most important water parameters
Other saltwater fish lists
If you know exactly which species from these lists you want to pick, you can jump right to the specific care guide for them. But if you still want to learn more about your options, these great saltwater aquarium fish lists can help:
Other stocking options
Fish are only 1/3 of the fun you can have with a saltwater tank. Check out these other fun invertebrate options:
Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide is helpful to you in your fish tank planning. Be sure to leave a comment below to let us know what you’re planning for your tank build.
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